In anticipation for this year’s Texas Frightmare, where I’ll be meeting two of the stars of MTV’s Scream, Bex Taylor-Klaus who plays misfit, Audrey Jensen, and Carlson Young who plays the unattainable hottie, Brooke Maddox, I decided to rewatch the first seas25on.
In the very first episode all of the main characters find themselves in the middle of a class discussion about the gothic genre making its way from the big screen, to our tv screens. Self proclaimed horror nerd, the Randy of the tv series, Noah Foster, then states that slasher movies would never work as a tv show. This is the first of many meta scenes that take place throughout the series and remind you of the movies it is inspired by.
So, is Noah right? Is there really no chance that a slasher movie would work as a tv series? It would appear not since the series was renewed for a second season that will premiere on MTV, Tuesday May 31st, at 10/9c. I for one, am very excited and counting down the days until season two begins, but let’s get back to the first season.
Fair warning, there is a spoiler down in there, but I HAVE to mention it. You’ll understand once you read it. Plus, MTV actually purposefully spoiled it before the premiere, so I’m going to do the same for whoever happens to read this that hasn’t seen the show yet.
I remember the exact second I found out that Scream was being turned into a TV series very clearly. I was sitting in the car, browsing my social media on my phone while waiting for my mom to come out of the store. MTV posted a number to call on snapchat, and twitter, and so I called it and heard an ominous voice announce the news. Feelings of excitement rushed through me as I learned that one of my favorites movies was being made into a show. This announcement was genius, and clearly 
meant that the show would be similar to the movies. Soon after the initial feeling of excitement came the feeling of being worried, and I was very conflicted over whether or not I wanted this to happen. What I wanted didn’t matter, though. Scream was 100% going to be a tv series. I tried to keep my expectations for the series very low, that way my heart wouldn’t be completely crushed if the show did crash and burn.
When the mask for the series was revealed I felt 
the same way, but eventually dropped my feelings of uneasiness towards it, and began to see it as a scarier and less cartoonish version of the original Ghostface mask we all know and love.
In the end all of my worrying was for nothing because I loved this show! It had just the right amount of Scream-ness, mixed in with similarities of other great horror flicks, like Friday The 13th, even though technically the fact that it’s similar to, and mentions other horror works, is another similarity to Scream . There were tons of parallels to all 4 of the movies, some that I didn’t even notice the first time around, but never anything too overtly similar. Not only does the tv show itself have these parallels, but so did their promotion strategy. MTV decided to give everyone a sneak peek of the long awaited series a few days before the premiere by showing them the first eight minutes of the pilot. Surprisingly, this clip showed actress Bella Thorne, who was the most well known star in the cast and was used to promote the show, being killed in the opening scene, much like Drew Barrymore in the first Scream film. Like the first movie, the show then moves on to show the rest of the characters having to deal with the news of their classmate’s death at Lakewood high school. At first it might seem like each character falls too easily into a trope,or seem to be exactly like who you assume their counterparts from the movies are, but through the magic of television you still find yourself quickly caring about them, and the tv show depends on this because once again as Noah states, “You have to care…You root for them, you love them. So, when they are brutally murdered, it hurts.” , and boy does it. You also soon discover that those so called counterparts aren’t exactly as you thought. You think you know who is who, and therefore you know the ending, but then the next week you aren’t so sure anymore. The show will keep you guessing, and on the edge of your seat with each episode. Even when the ending finally does come, they leave you with a last minute question hanging in the air. Not going to lie, there is a chance you’ll be able to predict the ending, I did see many clues pointing to it in my rewatch, but I’d be shocked if you predicted the cliffhanger. Of course you’ll expect there to be one because it is a tv show after all, which means they pretty much have to end on some sort of cliffhanger to make sure the viewers come back the next season, but it is so out of the blue that if you expected it I’d have to assume you’re into witchcraft. With that being said it isn’t so out of the blue that after it’s revealed you can’t come up with theories on how it can be, but the tagline of the first season was “You’ll never see it coming”, and even after rewatching it I didn’t.
The Scream series isn’t a continuation of the movies, and yet isn’t quite a remake of them either, and that’s one of the things that makes it so great.
You can watch the first season on MTV’s Scream page, by logging in with your cable provider, or rent it on Amazon Video before season two airs on MTV, Tuesday May 31st at 10/9c!
( AMAZING artwork done by www.chasing-sidney.tumblr.com)
