Scream to Scream, Scene by Scene: SCENE 18 of Scream 2 (0:49:55-0:53:07)

In this project I attempt to review the entire Scream trilogy scene by scene in chronological order. Heavy spoilers and gore throughout!



SCENE 18 of Scream 2
Length: 3min 12secs
Primary Characters: Randy Meeks, Dewey Riley, Herself/"Sidney Prescott" (Tori Spelling), "Billy Loomis" (Luke Wilson) and Tori's Reporter (Nancy O'Dell)
Pop Culture References:

• Doctor Quinn, Medicine Woman & Friends (Stab includes cast-members from these shows)
• Quentin Tarantino (Randy compares Mickey to QT)
  
• Friday the 13th & Candyman (Randy uses these films to justify Hallie as a murder suspect)
  

"So tell us about this part you're getting rave reviews for."
I don't believe Tori Spelling would ever get rave reviews for anything. I know some people say she did good work in that gay movie Trick, but I found her shrill. Still, I doubt someone like Tori Spelling would ever get positive reviews for a role in a slasher movie.


"Well, I play this young girl - Sidney Prescott - who discovers her boyfriend's this crazy serial killer who also killed her mother a year before that."
Wow, Tori! Way to totally Schembri your own movie!

(yes, we've made "Schembri" into an adjective. it's like McGyver!)

Of course, being that Stab is based on real like events and that they haven't altered names then I guess it's not so much a spoiler? Hmmm.


Poor Randy. Disappointed the makers of Stab cast "joe blow nobody" as him. No doubt that actor who drove Jane Seymour's stage coach in one episode of Doctor Quinn, Medicine Woman is now a weird comedian who sometimes stars in bad Jennifer Love Hewitt television series' about ghosts or whatever.

"At least you get David Schwimmer."
Chalk that up to the first of two Friends references. I remember hoping against hope that Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and Lisa Kudrow would somehow get referenced in Scream 3, but it wasn't to be.


Now, here's a question: Is that Luke Wilson playing Billy Loomis in Stab or is it Luke Wilson playing a fictional actor playing Billy Loomis in Stab. Obviously by Scream 3 they had stopped pretending that actual actors were playing these roles, but in a movie (Stab) with Tori Spelling and David Schwimmer they'd probably just make it so the actual actor was the actor playing Billy. Wait, what? Luke Wilson wasn't exactly known back then, but I guess that mirrors the way Skeet Ulrich and so many other Scream castmembers were of the up-and-coming variety. Hmm... so much to think about (or not)!


Ignoring for the moment that there was no possible way for Gale Weathers (author of The Woodsboro Murders) or the makers of Stab to know how this scene went down in such word for word specific details, I do love that they chose this particular scene of Stab. I love it because it's yet another reminder that Billy's family, and obviously his mother, are in fact still around and yet nobody is mentioning them. In fact, the only other person to even broach the possibility of it being someone like that was Mrs Loomis herself!

Also: My god, that hair is diabolically bad, isn't it?!?


Meanwhile, let's hear it for Nancy O'Dell! One of - I hope I have this number right - only five people to have appeared in all four films. Neve Campbell, David Arquette, Courteney Cox, Roger Jackson and, ta da, Nancy O'Dell. Not even Wes Craven's cameos count because his was cut out of Scream 4 (along with so much more, which we'll obviously be discussing at some point far far into the future.)

Speaking of Scream 4 for a moment. Back in scene one of Scream 2 we discussed the rumour that the Stab scenes featuring Heather Graham and Tori Spelling had been directed by Robert Rodriguez. Some of you weren't so sure and that the way the story goes was that he was just "credited" as "directing" Stab and didn't actually film these scenes. Well, if anyone saw Scream 4 they will know that they re-instated the "Directed by Robert Rodriguez" title card that was apparently taken out of Scream 2 for legal reasons. Aah, Hollywood being constantly re-written! Gotta love it.


"Okay, let's get down to business."
Funny you should say that Randy, it's been 15 minutes since the last kill and it feels like an eternity! Never fear, Craven and Williamson made it up to us by making the next one a doozy!

Time for Randy's Rules of a Sequel 101:


1. "The body count is always bigger."


2. "The death scenes are always much more elaborate."


3. "If you want your sequel to become a franchise never, ever -"
gah! Why did Dewey have to interrupt with that completely unnecessary (...) "who do you think the Killer is?" question?

I wonder what people's thoughts on rule number three is. What could it have been. Was it just that Kevin Williamson couldn't think of one and cut the scene short? The preface of "if you want your sequel to become a franchise" rules out certain possibilities, but I like to pretend it was something to do with the likes of "never, ever forget about past family members". Perhaps they thought they were cutting it too close to the bone (so to speak) and thought it gave too much of a big neon arrow to someone such as Billy's mother or father. Perhaps, it was an extension of rule of 2 and that he was just foreshadowing his own untimely demise far too well.


"Well, let's look at the suspects..."
I like that he says "forget the boyfriend, it's tired" before going on to say Hallie, the black female, would make a great suspect. These two being, of course, the original killers alongside Mrs Loomis/Debbie Salt. I do love how excited Randy gets when discussing Hallie as a possible suspect:





It's like he's conducting Beethoven in that last shot, except instead of classical music it's bloody murders on a college campus. I imagine Randy considers them of equally high regard.

And let's not forget about Dewey's collection of funny faces!







I particularly like the "aah!" nod that he gives in that third image when Randy mentions Mickey, "the freaky Tarantino film student", and the innocent look around when Randy implies both he and Dewey are suspects. Oh Dewey, so adorable.


Aw, Randy and Dewey comparing their "love scars" and "severed nerves". I can't remember if I was confused by Dewey's limp at the time or not. Were you?

Scream:
Intro, Scene 1 Scene 2, Scene 3, Scene 4, Scene 5, Scene 6, Scene 7, Scene 8, Scene 9, Scene 10, Scene 11, Scene 12, Scene 13, Scene 14, Scene 15, Scene 16, Scene 17, Scene 18, Scene 19, Scene 20, Scene 21, Scene 22, Scene 23, Scene 24, Scene 25, Scene 26, Scene 27, Scene 28, Scene 29, Scene 30, Scene 31 Scene 32, Scene 33, End Credits

Scream 2
Scene 1, Scene 2, Scene 3, Scene 4, Scene 5, Scene 6, Scene 7, Scene 8, Scene 9, Scene 10, Scene 11, Scene 12, Scene 13, Scene 14. Scene 15, Scene 16, Scene 17

There Will Be Saul Bass Impersonations

It's an American thing.

I always hear about the "Alamo Drafthouse", but have somehow never mustered up the energy (so time consuming!!) to do the research and find out what it is. Nevertheless, as long as they keep cranking out wonderful posters for classic movies I'll be happy. They've done it again with a series of Saul Bass-inspired posters for the Rolling Roadshow event which screens films in the cities they were filmed or set. First cab up to the rank is my personal favourite Quentin Tarantino film, Jackie Brown, screening in a town called Torrance, California. Okay then!

Anyway, here are my favourites of the posters. They're all fabulous, but I cut it down to five. See them all over here.

Black & White Friday: GrindHouse

The Robert Rodriguez/Quentin Tarantino double bill that made up Grindhouse seems like a natural fit for "Black & White Friday", in which we look at what films may have turned out like - for better or worse - if they'd been made in another era. Since Grindhouse took its inspiration from b-movies (specifically Rodriguez's Planet Terror) and exploitation (Tarantino's Death Proof) that were routinely filmed on cheap black and white film stock I thought it made a great subject matter.




Back when I took a look at Gregg Araki's The Doom Generation in black and white I wrote "Oh the things Russ Meyer could have done with Rose McGowen!" and nowhere is that more apt than here. I like the idea of a movie in which Rose McGowen leads a group of maniacal, big-breasted women who have just escaped from Prison who go on the run fucking and killing any man that dares get in their way. It would be incredible, yes?


Apologies if this entry just descends into me saying things like "OMG LOOK AT THAT!!!" and "AMAZING!!!!!!" but these two movies are incredible and that's basically the reaction I have each and every time I watch them. Doesn't this just looks awesome? The added grain, scratches and all 'round retro feel certainly helps in this feature, doesn't it?


I find it funny that Fergie has appeared in three movies that were throwbacks to classic cinema. She has had cameos in Grindhouse, Poseidon and Nine. Maybe there's more to Stacy Fergie Ferg Ferguson than meets the eye? Or perhaps there's less (she does voice a character in Marmaduke after all!)


I have nothing to say, I just like the shot.


This most definitely looks like something out of Them! or from something of that ilk. All we need is a big "NOOOOO!" and the scene would be complete.


There is nothing about Rose McGowen having a MACHINE GUN FOR A LEG!!!! that is not incredible and not even black and white can destroy that beautiful image. And while the idea of a character having a MACHINE GUN FOR A LEG!!!! sorta negates the retro vibe since it so clearly wouldn't have been doable "back in the day", Rodriguez does a far better job at keeping up the grindhouse feel for the longest. Quentin Tarantino all but forgets about it from an aesthetics point of view during the second half of Death Proof. And so while I think Planet Terror is the lesser of the two films, its dedication to its idea is so wonderful that I love it all the same.


Oh Death Proof. How I love thee.


Although, to be perfectly honest, I prefer the title "Thunder Bolt".


I know this scene cops a lot of flak from people, but I love every single second of it. Every word, every camera angle, every blemish on the reel. I haven't seen all that many of the kind of movies that Quentin Tarantino was riffing off of, but their whole talking-shit-and-not-much-else vibe comes through loud and clear. I could listen to these characters talk about shit for even longer!


Curiously - and I'm sure the farthest thing from Tarantino's mind - the movie that this shot reminds me of is Orson Welles' Touch of Evil with its US/Mexico bordertown and bubbling violence. All the other shots still feel like they're out of an exploitation movie, but this one is completely different. In colour it fits, but in black and white it has that film noir aesthetic with all those shadows.


I love how cheap and nasty this sequence looks, which is why it fits into the grand scheme of all things Grindhouse very nicely. Rose McGowen doesn't have a MACHINE GUN FOR A LEG!!!! in Death Proof, but despite the bat wig she slots in perfectly. She just has that look of an actress that wouldn't have been able to make it in the big leagues due to her BIG looks and overt sexuality and would've had to appear in these genre grindhouse titles that flaunted her sexuality. Come to think of it that is exactly what happened to Rose McGowen. She's not much of an actress when working outside of her indie/genre/indie genre comfort zone, but just try and remember how beguiling she was in her Black Dahlia cameo, or how much edge she had earlier in her career in movies such as The Doom Generation, Scream and Lewis & Clark & George and then think of projects like Jawbreaker, Phantoms and Charmed.


This is gorgeous.


Not much of Death Proof's second half suits itself to black and white since Tarantino all but ditched the visual component of it, but this shot is made for it. Basically because movies don't say "THE END" anymore, but it still looks great nonetheless.

Five Shots: Blood