[Television] Scream - Season 1, Episode 1: "Pilot."

Source: IMDb

The original Scream trilogy (let's leave Scream 4 to one side) has always been at the top of my list of favourite Slasher films. I thought I'd give this series a go as it seems right up my street.

Well, what can I say, I am very impressed so far.

I'd like to quickly point out a quote said by Noah - the Randy-type character (he is pretty much Randy from the original trilogy) he said something along the lines of "you can't turn a slasher film into a TV series." This was my original thought when I first heard about this series, but they clearly wrote that line because they knew that this would be the general assumption. Remember when Randy gave the whole 'Rules of a Trilogy' and that whole chat whilst they were watching Halloween about 'how to survive a slasher movie' - Noah pretty much does the same thing here, too. Randy was my favourite character so it's cool to see someone like him.



*Spoilers*

Clearly, this series is focused on a girl called Emma - a smart girl gone popular. But when one reaches popularity, friendships may be left behind (Emma's friendship with Audrey). It starts with a in-series mobile video of two girls kissing in a car, these two girls are later revealed to be Audrey and Rachel. Uploaded to the internet out of sheer spite by the bad-girl Nina, her character is introduced, but only briefly. This is until she starts receiving texts and videos of herself at that current moment in time by her apparent boyfriend. Turns out, he has actually been decapitated and Nina gets her throat slashed... how unfortunate. It is in this moment that we see the new Ghostface mask... it's creepy, and sort of looks like something from 'The Purge' films. There really is a modern take on the 90's original films, as Nina tries to call 911 via Siri and it tries to call Pottery Barn. I miss the 90's cord phones in slasher films, I feel mobile phones make things a bit tacky.

Then, we are introduced to the circle of friends and are left guessing who (if any) are the killer(s)? There's a reference to Billy and Stu (Scream 1), could it be Emma's boyfriend and his best pal? Something seems suspicious about them two. There was also a neat little garage reference, and we all know that this is where Stu's girlfriend was killed in the original Scream. But then every character seems to have a slight suspicion about them so we are definitely left guessing. Every character seems to be revealing a dirty little secret that makes you consider them as a suspect.

Did anyone else feel a Friday the 13th's Camp Crystal Lake vibe? Firstly with this whole Brandon story - a deformed young man with a severe love interest (Emma's mother, Daisy) who ends up killing a bunch of high schoolers and eventually getting shot and falls in to the lake. (Story is that he has returned to Lakewood to continue killing, however this seems unlikely). And the lake that Noah was left out on screamed Friday the 13th, even the way he thought he was dragged into the water.

I think the directors have done this series justice so far. If it keeps to the same theme, ideas, cool references and good acting then I believe it will be a success. I really hope that this series does not become crappy as it has drawn me in a lot just from the pilot episode. I wasn't left bored, or underwhelmed, I was left wanting to know more. I was waiting for the famous phone calls that started in the original franchise, the phone calls are iconic, no doubt about it, and we got one right at the end, a call to Emma, perfectly tying in with the originals.