October Horror Movie Challenge 10/29 – 10/30

CRAVIN’ SOME CRAVEN



Scre4m (aka Scream 4) (2011) (1st viewing) d. Craven, Wes (USA) 111min
15 years have passed since screenwriter Kevin Williamson and Craven teamed up to revitalize the horror genre and spawned an entire subgenre of knockoff slashers, but what once was clever now feels quaint and more than a little artificially hip. Series stalwarts Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox and David Arquette are all back, with new blood Emma Roberts, Hayden Panettiere, Marley Shelton and Rory Culkin dropping like flies under Ghostface’s latest reign of terror in Woodsboro. While there are a few bright spots in Williamson’s dialogue (the stream of horror remake titles in response to a telephonic pop quiz had me smiling) and Craven still knows how to tell a screen story, there’s very little inspiration on display. (A franchise reboot commenting on franchise reboot? No thanks, guys.) I’d say it’s a dead heat between Scream 3 and this “was anyone really clamoring for another Scream movie” installment.







Deadly Blessing (1981) (4th viewing) d. Craven, Wes (USA) 100 min
Craven’s third feature film is a puzzlingly neglected chiller concerned with the potential rise of a demon (or “incubus”) in a Hittite community led by Ernest Borgnine. In addition to numerous well-executed scenes of gore and suspense (including a bathtub sequence that Craven would duplicate three years later in A Nightmare on Elm Street), the cast also features Sharon Stone, Michael Berryman, Lisa Hartman and Battlestar Galactica’s Maren Jensen. Not a true classic, but certainly worthwhile and with its pedigree, it’s surprising that no one has bothered to give this the shiny silver disc treatment yet.


RUNNING TOTAL:
First Time Views: 55
Repeats: 54
Total Films: 109