MTV Greenlights SCREAM TV Series, Wes Craven In Talks To Direct Pilot
THR is reporting MTV has given the green light for an hour-long pilot based on Wes Craven’s SCREAM. Tony DiSanto and Liz Gateley, the duo behind MTV’s popular TEEN WOLF series, are producing. Craven is in negotiations to helm the pilot. Kevin Williamson, who famously exited SCREAM 4 midway through production due to “creative differences” with the Weinsteins, isn’t expected to be involved.
With the last film having underperformed at the box office (effectively killing any hopes of a new trilogy) and horror TV shows carving up the airwaves (THE WALKING DEAD, BATES MOTEL, HANNIBAL, TEEN WOLF, HEMLOCK GROVE, SUPERNATURAL, AMERICAN HORROR STORY, ZOMBIELAND, GRIMM, BEING HUMAN, and Williamson’s own THE FOLLOWING and THE VAMPIRE DIARIES), it really shouldn’t come as a surprise SCREAM is heading to television.
What is a surprise is Craven’s possible involvement which could be good or bad. On the good side, Craven might be able to bring some of that big screen mojo to the small screen and infuse this series with just enough violent verve to make it worth watching. On the not-so-good side, Craven could phone it in and deliver a dippy teen romance that happens to have a body count. It could really go either way.
Click on the pic to check out the full story…
Wes Craven In No Hurry To Helm SCREAM 5
I don’t understand mainstream media. According to the mainstream (I’m talking about the major outlets such as the Entertainment Weekly, Yahoo, The Huffington Post and the like), SCREAM 4 was a bomb. Out-and-out. Didn’t make a dime for Dimension, The Weinstein Company or Wes Craven. Feel free to click HERE, HERE or HERE to read about how this flick was a massive stinker that failed to connect with audiences and killed a franchise.
I guess that negative brick-a-brak is why I find the next little bit so humorous. EW, a publication that printed numerous comments and pieces about how SCREAM 4 was a dud, actually hit up Wes Craven as to whether or not SCREAM 5 was going to be his next film. Really? You rip the guy apart and then want to know if he’s going to follow that up with something that you’ll, no doubt, rip him apart for. REALLY?
Click on the pic to find out whether SCREAM 5 will be Craven’s next or not…
Theatrical Review: SCRE4M
SCRE4M is a revelation. Bucking tons of negative press and behind-the-scenes trouble, director Wes Craven and writer Kevin Williamson (with an unaccredited assist from Ehren Kruger) have done the impossible and somehow made the third sequel in a series that has been dead for nearly a decade as good as the film that started it all. I don’t know what dark juju they had to conjure up to accomplish this Herculean feat but it worked.
What’s really nice is that this flick isn’t just a comeback for the SCREAM series, but really a comeback for a good deal of the people involved. This is easily the best Wes Craven movie in a decade and it serves as a solid reminder why we should never count a director out no matter how many duds he delivers. One has to wonder what the hell has been holding Craven back these last few years? Watching MY SOUL TO TAKE, I felt like Craven was on auto-pilot, delivering cheap scare after cheap scare. With SCRE4M though, it felt like he was given free reign to do whatever the f**k he wanted. This is brutal film, far more so than either of the previous SCREAM flicks and maybe even a little more than the original. And while the scares here are purely of the “BOO!” variety, you can tell Craven is having fun.
No more evident is this than in the pre-credit sequence which goes meta-within-meta-within-meta or something like that. I felt like Leonardo DiCaprio in INCEPTION was going to pop up and say “We have to go deeper.” Honestly, I don’t know what to call the opening bit other than brilliant. Within seconds of the familiar Dimension Films logo rolling across the screen, SCRE4M brutally eviscerates the current horror landscape. Remakes, reboots, J-horror, torture porn, sequels, no genre cliché is safe from Ghostface’s blade.
Click on the pic to read my full review…
SCRE4M
SCRE4M is a revelation. Bucking tons of negative press and behind-the-scenes trouble, director Wes Craven and writer Kevin Williamson (with an unaccredited assist from Ehren Kruger) have done the impossible and somehow made the third sequel in a series that has been dead for nearly a decade as good as the film that started it all. I don’t know what dark juju they had to conjure up to accomplish this Herculean feat but it worked.
What’s really nice is that this flick isn’t just a comeback for the SCREAM series, but really a comeback for a good deal of the people involved. This is easily the best Wes Craven movie in a decade and it serves as a solid reminder why we should never count a director out no matter how many duds he delivers. One has to wonder what the hell has been holding Craven back these last few years? Watching MY SOUL TO TAKE, I felt like Craven was on auto-pilot, delivering cheap scare after cheap scare. With SCRE4M though, it felt like he was given free reign to do whatever the f**k he wanted. This is brutal film, far more so than either of the previous SCREAM flicks and maybe even a little more than the original. And while the scares here are purely of the “BOO!” variety, you can tell Craven is having fun.
No more evident is this than in the pre-credit sequence which goes meta-within-meta-within-meta or something like that. I felt like Leonardo DiCaprio in INCEPTION was going to pop up and say “We have to go deeper.” Honestly, I don’t know what to call the opening bit other than brilliant. Within seconds of the familiar Dimension Films logo rolling across the screen, SCRE4M brutally eviscerates the current horror landscape. Remakes, reboots, J-horror, torture porn, sequels, no genre cliché is safe from Ghostface’s blade.
Click on the pic to read my full review…
From The Vault: SCREAM 3
With SCREAM 4 hitting theaters today, we here at Adamantium Bullet felt that it might be high time to revisit the horror trilogy that redefined the genre back in the late 90s. Ready yourself for some heavy spoilers and no-holds-barred ranting about SCREAM, the cleverly titled SCREAM 2 and the not-so-final entry in the series SCREAM 3.
Ah, SCREAM 3, the one that killed the series. Well, killed it till today. You get what I’m saying. Had SCREAM 4 not been made, this would’ve been the last installment of the series. The trilogy capper, if you will. The one that went too far and meta’d itself into the ground. This is the film that basically ended Neve Campbell’s theatrical career, led to writer Kevin Williamson’s famous early millennium flame-out and all but killed the “new wave” slasher craze that began with the original SCREAM. After this, the horror genre had to re-invent itself and audiences ended with up stuff like THE RING, HOSTEL and the SAW series. This is a pivotal movie in horror history.
Why? Because SCREAM 3 went too far. Just like that HALLOWEEN pic with the exploding masks and the FRIDAY THE 13th that featured “Roy”, this was the sequel that was made for the money. Not made because the series demanded another installment, not made because the writers (Williamson came up with the story, Ehren Kruger wrote the script) had some amazing genre-breaking idea and not because director Wes Craven felt the need to conclude the trilogy. This flick was made for money, pure and simple.
Now that I’ve gotten that out of my system, allow me to say this: SCREAM 3 isn’t as bad as you (or I) think. Click on the pic to find out why…
From The Vault: SCREAM 2
With SCREAM 4 hitting theaters today, we here at Adamantium Bullet felt that it might be high time to revisit the horror trilogy that redefined the genre back in the late 90s. Ready yourself for some heavy spoilers and no-holds-barred ranting about SCREAM, the cleverly titled SCREAM 2 and the not-so-final entry in the series SCREAM 3.
Rushed into production thanks to the unexpected box office success of the original, SCREAM 2 is one of those rare sequels that manages to go bigger without losing sight of what made the series special in the first place. Strangely enough, I found myself enjoying the movie now than I did when it hit theaters over a decade ago. I guess my tastes have changed. Click on the pic to read my full review…
From The Vault: SCREAM
With SCREAM 4 hitting theaters this Friday, we here at Adamantium Bullet felt that it might be high time to revisit the horror trilogy that redefined the genre back in the late 90s. Ready yourself for some heavy spoilers and no-holds-barred ranting about SCREAM, the cleverly titled SCREAM 2 and the not-so-final entry in the series SCREAM 3.
I really don’t need to tell you that the original SCREAM is awesome, do I? This is the film that single-handedly revitalized the slasher genre at a time when it was considered dead and done. It rebooted the career of Wes Craven (who, at the time, was fresh off directing VAMPIRE IN BROOKLYN), made Kevin Williamson into a screenwriting powerhouse, made household names out of David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Skeet Ulrich, Jaime Kennedy, Rose McGowan and it launched Drew Barrymore to the top of the Hollywood A-list. Simply put, SCREAM is one of the best horror films ever made, it deserves that honor and I’m not going to waste your time telling you a bunch of stuff you already know.
Click on the pic to read my full review of the original SCREAM…
Wes Craven Confirms SCREAM 4 Production Troubles; Teases New Trilogy
For months now, rumors behind-the-scenes troubles on the set of SCREAM 4 spread across the internet like wildfire. Writer Kevin Williamson reportedly left the project and was replaced by Ehren Kruger (which, ironically enough, was exactly what happened to Williamson on SCREAM 3). Wes Craven is supposedly unhappy with the final cut, even going to far as to tweet that he was “no longer in control of the script”. The Weinsteins ordered a slew of re-shoots after test audiences supposedly didn’t dig the ending of the movie. Courtney Cox and David Arquette’s marriage disintegrated while shooting, Neve Campbell’s hair was awful in promo shots, the rumored new trilogy was pared down to a single film, the list of rumors is a mile long.
And while Craven has largely remained silent for the last few months, he has finally decided to open up and clear the air with Total Film.
Concerning his cryptic tweets and the behind the scenes troubles, Craven had this to say:
“I was just stating the fact. In some ways it’s a Wes Craven film, and in way it’s not entirely, because it’s not a script I have control of. It’s ultimately controlled by what the studio wants in the script. My job is much more bringing whatever experience and expertise and creativity I can. [pause] Look, there was a bumpy period when things shifted over from Kevin to Ehren. I signed up to do a script by Kevin and unfortunately that didn’t go all the way through the shooting. But it certainly is Kevin’s script and concept and ideas and themes.”
What a polite way of saying that “Williamson is out and Kruger is in. Deal with it.”
Guess this confirms the rumors that Williamson’s original draft was bloated and overblown. Word has it that the script ran about 200 pages and was more spoof than actual horror pic. Considering the Weinsteins already have SCARY MOVIE under their wing, they don’t need another full-out horror spoof franchise.
Click on the pic to read the full story…
Posterized: PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN – ON STRANGER TIDES, BAD TEACHER And SCREAM 4
Guess since there’s a decided lack of actual news-worthy movie bits today that I should highlight some of the theatrical one-sheets that have hit in the last week. First up, BAD TEACHER with Cameron Diaz. Just like the teaser trailer that hit a couple of weeks ago, I really dig that Diaz is going dark with this one. Gal has basically been phoning it in performance-wise for nearly a decade now. Nice to see that she’s finally decided to wake up and pick a project that requires her to do more than smile and shake her booty.
It’s a cool poster, but did we really need the Photoshopped apple with “Eat Me!” on it? I think not. Click on the above pic to check it out along with some new posters for PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES and SCREAM 4…
From The Vault: MY SOUL TO TAKE
A cheesy and derivative teen slash-a-thon, MY SOUL TO TAKE is definitely one of the weaker entries in writer/director Wes Craven’s filmography but not a bad way to waste a couple of hours. That statement really doesn’t make sense, does it? Well, don’t worry, neither does this flick.
Combining elements of Craven’s own NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET and SHOCKER, SOUL kicks off promisingly enough. The opening ten minutes show the reveal and ultimate fall of a vicious serial killer dubbed “The Riverton Ripper”. Turns out that the Ripper is actually family man Abel Plankov (Raul Esparza) and he doesn’t even know that he’s the killer. Seems Abel has a severe (ha) case of disassociate identity disorder and he doesn’t even realize he’s murdered seven local children.
Things turn from bad to worse when Abel discovers a bloody knife in his basement…a bloody knife with the word “vengeance” carved into the blade. Just like the one that the Ripper is using to kill his victims. Solid start to the movie, right? Little mystery, little PSYCHO and Craven doesn’t appear to be wasting any time getting to the good stuff.
Problem is, Craven is moving a little too fast and he’s playing it way too loose with the details. Within moments of the movie starting, Craven has established that Abel is basically a nut with a couple of extra personalities floating around in his noggin. Simple, right? Wrong.
Click on the pic to read the full review…
Theatrical Reviews
- STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS
- IRON MAN 3
- SINISTER
- PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4
- TAKEN 2
- PITCH PERFECT
- HOUSE AT THE END OF THE STREET
- DREDD 3D
- LOOPER
- RESIDENT EVIL: RETRIBUTION 3D
- THE EXPENDABLES 2
- TOTAL RECALL
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