Day Two Hundred and Eighty-five - Scream, "Say a prayer for the Youth of America"

If you were a teenager in the 90's, Scream was the horror film that encompassed your zeitgeist... much the same way that Nightmare on Elm Street was for 80's teens and Halloween was for the youth of the 70's. Written by Kevin Williamson and directed by Wes Craven, Scream managed to not only play with the tropes of its genre, but create an actually terrifying horror film without relying on any supernatural gimmicks... just pure, old-fashioned psychos and their victims.

Set in small-town California, Scream begins with your typical horror movie "first blood" cold-opener where Drew Barrymore (in a role that revitalized her career), bites the big one at the hands of a sadistic psychopath who taunts and toys with her, giving the intended dead false hope by playing a horror movie trivia game. Of course she loses at the cost of both her and her boyfriend's lives.

One scene change later and we're introduced (or, in my case, reintroduced) to the young and chaste (note: important!) Sydney Prescott (Neve Campbell), who has a tepid relationship with her rugged boyfriend (Skeet Ulrich) as she still hasn't gotten over her mother's death a year previous. It seems that the killer has his sights set on her for his next victim, but isn't afraid to add to the body count, slicing a long and bloody path as he hunts her down according to the rules and tropes of horror movies.

While not quite on the nose and obvious about it's "rules" as copycat film Urban Legend was, Scream managed to keep you on the edge of your seat thanks to excellent balancing of tension with moments of reprieve. This is especially true during the final massacre scenes, during the third act, which bounce back and forth between murder sequences and the party goers on the couch. I love the way that Randy (Jamie Kennedy, in probably his one and only quality role), lays out the rules for the mostly drunk/stoned high schools only to have said rules both exemplified and inverted during the climax.

It's true, the film has some weaknesses. It's very hard to see any chemistry between Cox and Arquette (despite their real-life romance). The same argument could be leveled at the "teens" of the movie (who are all played by obvious twenty-somethings, with bit parts for outrageously obvious thirty-somethings), but they're supposed to be in superficial relationships... it's High School. The breadcrumbs/clues are also decidedly lacking and are all dumped on you at the end of the movie when the murderers reveal themselves, but that's kind of the point, now, isn't it?

I still think this is my favorite role for Matthew Lillard ever, as he has sadly tried to bank on his weird personality and nasal delivery instead of ever actually acting... and it's always good to see Henry Winkler.

I want to say that its worst moment was also one of its best, when Wes Craven cameo'd as "Fred the Janitor" in an obvious send up to Freddy Kruger (hat, sweater, and all). It's funny and meta, but also a bit too cheesy for the overall mood of the film.

Despite it's faults, Scream manages to easily win you over with its quirky characters and sarcastic wit. I only wish that it hadn't spawned sequel after sequel, falling into the trap of horror film cliches with eyes wide open, betraying the very premise that made Scream a triumph in the first place (that and they killed Randy in Scream 2... ugh!).

Still, looking back... Scream has to be one of the best horror films ever made and still manages to hold up almost twenty years later, in spite of its cheese.

Plus, killer soundtrack! Nothing manages to give me chills of awesomeness and take me back in time quicker than the downbeat cover of "Don't Fear the Reaper" by Gus and Nick Cave wailing out "Red Right Hand." I spent many a nights back then just listening to the album on repeat. Many 90's horror flicks tried to emulate, but never managed to repeat, that awesome music direction... so good. On a personal note, this was also the first time I was introduced to Moby, who contributed "First Cool Hive" to the album.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~

Day Sixty-three - Titan A.E., or "Come back down to Earth, oh yeah."

I have fond memories of Don Bluth's work in the 80's.

The Secret of Nimh, An American Tail, and All Dogs Go to Heaven were great films that managed to weave death and darkness in addition to basic heroism in children's tales in a way that both frightened and inspired me in my early years. He never really shied away from violence or despair and I loved him for that.

When I first saw trailers for Titan A.E., I was already an adult and thought it was great that he was tackling Science Fiction... especially considering most of his 90's films just hadn't done it for me.

This was especially important because it seemed to have subtle anime stylings as well. Now, that may have just been me projecting. I was just discovering anime as a medium despite having been exposed to it early through the Americanizations of Voltron and Robotech. In my late teens, though, I was finally beginning to realize that there were dozens of schools and styles across the Pacific that Americans were just discovering and spreading. Akima's obvious Asian heritage in Titan A.E. probably just triggered my Weeaboo button when it shouldn't have.

Either way, back then... I was excited for Titan.

Then I saw it.

I thought it was alright, and the grand majority of its CGI animation (the Dredge notwithstanding) was pretty good for the era, but there were better space opera alternatives at the time... like the ill-fated Invasion America.

Coming back to it almost fifteen years later, thanks to Netflix, I feel that my initial hesitance was justified. It's a fun little adventure, at times, but is mostly terrible thanks to puerile writing and predictable story arcs.

I mean, it's one thing to make a chosen one story in space... it's quite another to rely on a silly overly-menacing villain race, an unnecessary second act betrayal, and a love story that comes out of nowhere.

To be honest, I really wanted to believe the Kale/Akima romance, but there was nothing really there. They go from hostile to bosom buddies with little to no prompting and with absolutely no obvious chemistry. Not to mention the fact that when they are both captured and Akima is doomed to the vast expanse of space by the Dredge (the terribad CGI villains of Titan A.E.), she just happens to be picked up by slavers so she can be conveniently rescued by the rest of the crew?

Just how far does a tracking implant transmit, anyway? Yeesh.

Added to that cheese is the second act turn by the Han Solo-esque captain, Korso, and the laughable action sequences, where Janeane Garofalo and Drew Barrymore do nothing but spout inane one-liners and yell petulantly at incoming Dredge fighters, and they pretty much lost me completely.

Just a tip, Don... when you announce that all of the enemy fighters break off to return to the mother ship for a Death Star-like superlaser attack only to have two conveniently come back and attack in what has to be the single most obvious plot hole I've seen in months, you know things you should've known there were problems in the writer's room.

If Anastasia or Rock-a-Doodle hadn't done it, Titan A.E. definitely nailed the coffin shut on Don Bluth's career for me. You are so much better off watching Heavy Metal 2000 for silly space fantasy.

I'm serious... F.A.K.K.2 did a much better job with pretty much every single archetype that Titan A.E. used... but to much greater affect.

And with a better soundtrack, too.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~