WARNING : Mammoth review

Another day, another box set. I love horror movies and though I've seen them all before, I felt compelled to buy this one (mostly due to the fact it was rather cheap at £10 for the whole set) to add to my collection. Who needs a life when you have box sets!? I had been kind (and sneakily greedy at the same time) by splitting what was going to be a mammoth review of all three movies down into Three easy to chew chunks. Then I noticed that Ciao don't pay for the movies seperatley. But they do pay for a box set review. So I put it all back together. Blame Ciao.

Here's a run down of this weekends festivities (minus the drunken and filthy bits in between).

SCREAM 1

The Cast- Or so says the front of the box

Neve Campbell- Campbell plays Sydney Prescott, the main character round which things just seem to go tits up. If anyone of this ilk ever becomes your friend, start wearing bullet proof clothing and don't EVER invite Angela Langsbury round for tea. It's bound to end up messy.

David Arquette - A fairly Minor character to start with and yet he gets his name on the box! Deputy Dewy, The idiot cop who is probably about as skilled as a cop as the actor is. He does however get hot (ish) in years to come, so we can forgive him.

Courntey Cox- Gale Weathers, a bit of a bitch. But she's a bitch with a camera-man. Weathers is a news reporter who likes to get in the way to get the story first. She has past connections with Sydney which become apparent a little later in the film and are built upon as the trilogy goes on

Skeet Ulrich- Hello man candy! Billy Loomis, Sydney's boyfriend, little bit movie obsessed, very cute with it with rather scary eyes. Yes that's about as deep as the characters get at the moment.

Drew Barrymore- Why?? WHY?!?! Barrymore is featured for the first five or so minutes of the film. She's not a big character. In fact she's only there to play the part of the first victim (Casey Becker). Take no notice of her name on the front of the box. It lies. She may as well not be in the film!

The Cast who AREN'T on the box

Rose McGowan- Tatum, or as I call her, Tits-on-legs. McGowan plays Sydney's best buddy and girlfriend to the total goof off, Stuart. Her point in the film is to wear very tight tops and have nipples that could not only cut glass, but make it run off screaming at the sight of them. As you may expect, she ends up dead, but serves as a heap of gratuitous boobage and is therefore worth a mention (Due to the time spent in the film of course, I'm totally against gratuitous exploitation of females. There are PLENTY hot guys to exploit!)

Jamie Kennedy- Kennedy plays Randy. He's a small character, but is used to introduce the "rules of the slice and dice" elements into the film (and later the trilogy) He too gets hotter with age. Woot for him!

Matthew Lillard- Not surprisingly, Lillard plays the fore-mentioned goof off. I can't stand the guy myself and would be quite happy if he were given some sort of horse tranquilliser in the opening credits and left for dead till the trilogy had run its course.

The Film

We open on a cheery blonde American (that being her first mistake) alone in the house (that being her second) played by Drew Barrymore (and there's the clincher). After getting a phone call from a stranger and (instead of hanging up on him like normal people do) having a good ole chat on ye olde telegraph machine (no really, the phones in this film are ANCIENT…they have wires and everything!!) she discovers the person on the other end is actually outside the house, dressed in a freaky costume, gutting her boyfriend alive. She later joins him (the boyfriend, not the killer) and ends up hanging from a tree in a magnificently terrifying opener. That is as long as you can ignore things like the fact no one leaves something on the hob when it is smoking no matter who's telling you that you are going to die and that the killer managed to gut and hang Barrymore in double quick time.

The film its self focuses on Neve Campbell's character Sydney and her small group of friends. After kids start dying, this amazingly moneyed bunch of "teenagers" (see 20 something year olds) decide the best thing to do would be to throw a party. As you can imagine, people then die. A lot. How rude.

This one is mostly your pretty basic slice and dice film, giving teenagers what they deserve, but it also has a little bit more to it. Firstly it brought about the brilliant idea of the "Rules of Horror Movies"

We all know them, but this was the first film to mention them. For example:

Large boobs + Blonde hair = dead
Running Upstairs and not out the front door = dead
Creepy guy who has dead children hanging from his belt = not ACTUALLY the killer.

As well as "the rules" it also sets up a pretty good back story. Sydney played the part in wrongly imprisoning some poor guy who already had the misfortune of being named Cotton Weary for the rape and murder of her mother and we get a bit love/ hate thing going on between Courtney Cox (Gale Weathers, another crapola name!) and Campbell's character. Ok so it's a tad more of a Hate/ Hate thing going on.

Either way, the film is a must have for any horror buff, certainly a break through in the horror genre that pays homage to a lot of horror movies that came before. Any horror buff will love this even just for the references to other films (some of them hilarious) Not as full of cute guys as you would expect from a teen slasher these days, but Ulrich will do for now.

The Extras

Audio Commentary with Wes Craven, Cast and Crew.

You can choose to enjoy your movie with this bunch of people wittering over all the good bits. Or you can be sensible and tell them to shut up and stop kicking your chair. I don't really enjoy commentaries, so that's as much as I'll be saying on this.

Production Featurette

This feature includes interviews with Cast and crew and repeats a LOT of footage used throughout the extras. It's even all in the same bloody order. It gets annoying. The interviews dispersed throughout make it a little more interesting, though there's only so much one can say about a horror movie. On the plus side, Skeet Ulrich is looking uber hot as usual. Well done guys!

Behind the scenes

This option is split into two sub-categories as follows:

On the Scream Set

Thank god, all that footage they like to reuse has been pretty much kept out of this. Instead it starts by linking together some rather pointless behind the scenes footage of the actors not looking at the camera over a little very light pop rock. In fact…it not only STARTS with this… it pretty much keeps it up the whole way through. A bit of a pointless extra really.

Drew Barrymore

Now don't get me wrong, I like Drew Barrymore. But why, oh god why has she been given a whole section to herself?? SHE WAS IN THE MOVIE FOR FIVE BLOODY MINUTES. Yeah' she's cool and everything… but for the love of all things pink, at least give me an interview with Neve Campbell, ya know, the main actress!??! Actually, I'd settle just for an interview of some sorts. Another pointless bunch of clips that don't really involve you, the person who spent their hard earned cash on these extras.

Q&A with Cast and Crew

This isn't so much a Q&A…more a "here's two questions, answer them please"

No really. So varied are the questions they both have their own button which will start up footage of the cast and crew giving their answers. Almost inevitably, the first question is "What's your favourite scary movie?" echoing the Scream killers weird fascination. The answers tend just to give you a list of what the actors like rather than any real insight to them as a person with some lovely lists thrown at us from people we have never heard of (also known as the crew).

Question number two? Why are people fascinated with horror movies? A little more depth to this question, but still the same predictable responses from, oh, almost everyone. The only thing that saved this extra for me was Campbell's response to the question. It made me smile, but, of course, I wont tell you what she said. Down with this extra I say!

Special Effects gallery

This picture gallery reminds you that someone out there actually needs to think of what all the blood and guts are going to look like first. This includes sketches of key moments in the film and some photos of a very creepy Drew Barrymore dummy. It also includes some sketches of what I can only assume were original ideas for the mask the killer would wear, however, since it doesn't come with any explanation, I could be totally wrong.

Cast and Crew Profiles

Roll up, roll up, another disappointing extra. Getting myself all hyped up for what should have been some really cool interviews with the cast and crew….nope. Instead we get a short list, in writing, of what the actor / actress has done with their time on this planet. Given that the film is also a good 10 (possibly more) years old, it's a tad out of date too.

Did You Know (trivia Information)

Some more random bits of info are thrown at us in text form in this extra. I don't know about you, but I want my extras to say the words for me at least. I don't want to have to READ. If I wanted that, I'd pick up a book. I want television. Moving pictures and all that new fangled jazz. Some of the facts are interesting, others should be followed with the words "Well DUR!" or "…You know I'm not 5 right?"

2 theatrical trailers

One trailer I get. Two is just overkill. Maybe if they were slightly different…but they aren't. They are both the same voice-over on the same bunch of random clips. One has a few other clips in between. It really doesn't warrant them both being on the DVD. Even more annoying, most of it is the footage used in the other extras.

Overview

Over all, the film is quite good but not really something to sink your intellectual side into. It does what it says on the tin. A few jumps (assuming you haven't seen it already) and, with the previous assumptions still in place, a few suspenseful moments. Trying to figure out who the killer is will only serve to have you evicted from the planet as everyone knows who it is by now.

The extras were incredibly disappointing on this disc, so not much more than the film to keep you entertained. Next please.

SCREAM 2

Having bought the box set containing all three films, I felt it was only proper and correct to watch them all. The smart ones among you may have already figured out what I'm going to talk about next.

The Film

Our second outing into the world of scream starts in a cinema somewhere in America. In true American style, there has been a book written on the events of the first movie and a film has been spawned from the book. We meet our first victims in the line to see "Stab" (the movie of the book of the first film blah blah blah you get the picture). For about the first ten minutes all I could think of was "if that cinema was in Britain, people would be getting beaten up". Apparently people are allowed to run round in the isles, throw popcorn, scream, shout and everything else in movie theatres there. I don't think so. Anywho, the chaos lends itself to a killer surfacing and offing two film-goers. Roll Scream 2!

The second film is pretty much the same mindless kill fest with a few new faces and some new boobs to look at. I cannot wait for the day horrors movies start killing men in tight boxers. I could stop doing it at the weekend that way.

Throughout this gratuitous boob fest, now featuring the incredibly blonde Sara Michelle Geller as the walking tit-mobile, the recurring (or should I say surviving) characters of the first movie are very slowly built upon.

Cox, Campbell and Arquette are all back as is Jamie Kennedy with a slightly bigger role! They have dragged Will Smiths wife (Jada Pinkett-Smith)and that hunky but dim looking one from the first American Pie movie into the mix too. Pinkett-Smith takes over the Drew Barrymore role as dramatic first murderee and earns her place on the front cover of the DVD for doing so. Poor Kennedy should really get some Cover time!

Sydney is at a new college trying to get on with her life when all of a sudden a copy cat killer starts offing survivors of Scream 1 and luring some new victims to their deaths who are wittily connected to the first murder spree.

The crazy sister from Roxanne shows up as a random reporter, all the while we start learning more about how much of a tart Sidney's mother really was. Or wasn't. Who knows. Either way, this one holds a bit more of a twist in that you won't know who the killer is until maybe half an hour in. That's good in comparison to the first movie's ten minute jaunt down mystery lane.

As much as I sound a tad jaded re scream 2, I'm not. Ok, well, I am, but I've seen it near on a million times. Or three. It's another trip into a typical teen slasher which is fantastic if that's what you are looking for (and most of the time I'm cool with a vacation from thinking) but if you are looking for something a tad more substantial, look the other way!

The Extras

Out Takes

A good few minutes of the cast cocking up. I say kudos to this extra. It wasn't rip-roaringly funny, but it raised a couple of smiles. Certainly a damn sight better than any of the extra's on the first movie. Looks like time taught them a few things. Woot woot!

Deleted scenes

More lessons are being learned in this extra. You are first of all given the choice on whether you want to hear commentaries over the deleted scenes or not. This made me happy. I hate commentaries at the best of times. Over scenes I've never seen before is my ultimate turn off situation. Ok… that's a slight lie. My ultimate turn off situation would be being trapped between a naked Anne Widdicombe and a glazed doughnut, but that's for another review. Getting to see the scenes on their own and then, if I choose, have an explanation to why they were cut is just fabulous. Go Scream 2 extras!

Theatrical trailer

If this extra was in a tin, the label would be pretty spot on. It is a trailer, it is theatrical, it is a theatrical trailer. Good for total fans of the movie, just a trailer otherwise.

Music Videos

Since this film was made in the 90's we get a couple of music videos as if to remind us that nothing escapes the 90's without being rampantly sodomised by a really crap rap (C-rap) video. The first one is called "scream" and is by a lovely home boy called Master P. What that means I do not know. I'd imagine (since it is now 11 years after this C-rap video was made) that we no longer have to put up with him and his dogs pimping your mothers ride and the like. Thank god for that.

The second video features the "Kotton Mouth Kings" C-rapping a song called "suburban life". As if the terrible spelling of their name hadn't already given it away, this is a trio…or possibly more…of very white, very redneck-esq, 20 something year olds who grabbed hold of a microphone and refused to let go until everyone told them how banging their bleach blonde hair was. On the plus side, they are now very redneck-esq, 30 something year olds, most likely with less hair. I would hope that means they have had plenty time to think about what they have done. Maybe someday the god of music will let them come out of the corner and re-join the rest of the population. As long as they promise never to C-rap again

Featurette

Oh how fabulous. A featurette!! Basically it's a nice little look at the cast and crew while making the movie, parts of interviews, fun moments on set and the likes. I would say this is a rather fabby extra, anything you would really want from a featurette. I'm just so happy they don't seem to be repeating clips. They give us new fun stuff constantly!! The extras on scream 2 are redeeming the makers of DVD number 1.

Audio Commentary

As with any review I shall be refusing to comment on the commentary. I hate commentary. It annoys the living C-rap out of me. So I simply can't comment on the extra. You'll either love it or hate it. This extra is marmite.

Cast and Crew Bio's

As with the first film, the cast and crew bio's are just lists of the Actors / actresses and a bit about what they have done with themselves. Not a most fabulous extra to end on.

Overview

Over all, the second movie takes the first one and jazzes it up a bit. A little more grown up, a touch more plot orientated but essentially still a cheesy teen slasher with a million and one women in tight, wet tops just because it rained on laundry day and that see through white shirt was all the had left. Ok so it's not THAT boob orientated. I'd say it was better than the first just because it grew up a little. And I have to stress, it was only a little.

The extras on the second film kicked the ass off of what the first film had to offer. They cut out all the crap, stopped focussing on the wrong areas and started giving us a bit more fun. Ignoring the music, it's a case of lesson learned, me thinks.

SCREAM 3

Righto, time for the final Scream! Rather fantastically, you get the option to watch this disc in 2 whole languages! Imagine the possibilities.

The Film

I have nothing but praise for Scream 3. A million times better than both 1 and 2 put together. By Scream 3 the whole movie has grown right up. It has evolved from a cheap tits and blood slash em up to an expensive, plot based film with only a small dependence in the wallets of teenage, boner beleaguered boys.

Number Three has gotten a lot more serious in that it has stopped relying on the well breasted women and took some time on the story. At the same time, it has stopped taking itself seriously at all, riddling the movie with some brilliant cameos: Jay and Silent Bob slink in with a few comments thrown in Cox's direction and Carrie Fisher plays a receptionist who hates Carrie Fisher. Humour is fun.

Scream 3 begins when Cotton Weary and his girlfriend are murdered. Soon after, the people working on the in-movie filming of "STAB 3" begin dying. More to the point, they begin getting the crap sliced out of them. How fabulous. Since Scream 2 Sydney has (rather understandably) went into hiding and someone is trying to lure her out one last time. The game is not over. In fact the game just got a lot deeper, delving into Sydney's mothers past, revealing secrets and lies all over the place. It has an extra little eerie edge to it when Sydney starts roaming around the set of "STAB 3" which is the exact set used for Scream 2.

The performances from Campbell and the others was just brilliant. (Campbell isn't in enough things. Where is she?? Get her out of hiding!!) By the time this film was made, Courtney Cox and David Arquette had tied the knot, so seeing them work together as a "will they won't they" couple is just pure comedy. Kennedy (who plays Randy in 1 and 2) also gets a tiny part in this film as a voice from beyond the grave warning about how trilogies work. All bets are off, no one is safe and things tend to get a bit more spectacular.

I would have to say Scream the Third stuck well to these rules. Number 3 had me jumping out of my seat, excited and shouting "Shoot them in the head!!!" (they never listen). I've seen this film before. I know what happens. It's just THAT good.

It certainly redeems the previous Scream films if only for the little insider touches that can be seen throughout the film (lines like "Stab 3? Jesus, I have to get a new agent" from the stab actors and posters for Creed, the band who headline the soundtrack, in Sydney's recreated room on the "STAB" set).

The Extras

Out takes

The extras on Scream 3 kick off on the same note as the second film, providing us with some giggle worthy out takes from filming. Nothing hilarious but again there were smiles to be had and I quite enjoyed laughing at the antics caught on camera. Yay for out takes!

Behind the scenes montage

Oh dear god, Drew Barrymore is back. This is not cool. Thankfully it's not for long. This montage deals with all three movies, and it is literally that. A montage. Not much explanation. But overall the clips are better than the random crap thrown at you from the first Scream extras. I'd say this extra is worth watching despite its lack of amazingness. It's a nice look behind the scenes. And the music is pretty rocking too. The only downside is that it may leave you in a similar state to me, singing "we need a montage" from Team America

Deleted scenes

Continuing on from the great idea of letting you choose to have the commentary on deleted scenes, this box set allows you to watch unadulterated deleted scenes. You can also have people talk over the top if you really want. I didn't want. The scenes are very similar to the ones actually in the film, the first one only features one of the characters getting stabbed in a slightly different way than they did in the film. The next scene is…well…the same again. Same scene, different death. The last cut scene is different, thankfully. Just a random out take though. Nothing to wet your pants and write home about.

Alternate ending

Don't get too excited. There is always a reason they never went with the alternate. The reason this time? It's simply not as good as the one they ended up going with. Another problem I have with this "alternate ending" guff is that it implies there is a total change in the story line. Incorrect. All that happens is some of the more exciting bits weren't in this version. Probably the reason it was rejected and replaced with its jumpier, sexier, more sophisticated twin. You suck Alternate Ending!!

Theatrical trailer

The theatrical trailer. A staple of extras. The only downside is that the trailer they have chosen to include here is the same one that advertise Scream 3 on both the first and second DVD. We have seen it. It is not an extra. The only difference is that it has a Cinema release date stapled to the end of it that was obviously lopped off for the DVD adverts.

International trailer

….Er… what? So the international trailer has had the cinema release date lopped off and had Mr low hanging voice put over the top of the Theatrical trailer for a second or two. In essence it is no different from the theatrical trailer. I revert back to my earlier "Two trailers?? NO NEED!!" argument. Pointless pile of pointlessness. Yep.

Soundtrack trailer

This is literally an advert for the scream 3 soundtrack. Someone full of wit and charm decided to call it…wait for it… "SCREAM 3: THE ALBUM". Wow. The advert itself is akin to those cheap infomercials that beg you to by some really bad country music at 4 in the morning. On the upside, it does give you a handy list of bands who are on the soundtrack such as Creed, Godsmack, Staind, System of a Down, Static-X, Incubus and Slipknot, as if to apologise for Scream 2's sound track and confirm to everyone that it is ok, we know rap sucks, come home to rock. Fate had something to do with the choice as the movie just missed out on the 90's by landing in the year 2000. Thank god for that. I may actually have to hunt the soundtrack down.

Creed Music Video

As if the soundtrack trailer wasn't enough to redeem their taste in music, they have included a music video for Creeds' "What if" featuring David Arquette. Only the smallest amount of cheese is included in the video and the song kicks ass. Yay for rock!!

Cast and Crew Biography

As with the previous two sets of extras, we are treated to the biography of the cast and crew rather half heartedly displayed in text format next to a picture of them. The recurring cast seem to have the exact same bio on all three discs. The only treat here is finding out that one of the first victims was in "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure". I want to say she was Joan of Arc…but I am still without net. Must check up on Kelly Rutherford later and see if I'm right.

Audio commentary

I'm sure by now you know the drill. Commentary = Not for me. Marmite, blah blah, you might like it, blah blah blah, I'm not watching it. Next!

Overview

By far the best of the three films, the extras were quite alright too. If I had giant thumbs, I would put them up for this DVD. But I don't. I will, however, put my normal thumbs up for them.

The end

And thusly we come to the end of the films. Overall, The box set is something a horror movie buff will need to add to their collection. Said buff should also have to admit that the Scream films are typical, cheesy, teen slashers only atoned for by the much better finale film, Scream 3. All the while the films do give a brilliant insight (and poke fun at) the time honoured formula used in slasher films which I believe is part of their charm. You will either love them or you won't. .

To buy them separately, you will need to shell out about £4.99 each. If you are sensible, you'll go for the box set which ranges between £7 and £13. Either way, the films are a bit of good messy fun for all the family. Ok well…maybe not them ALL since all three films come with an 18 rating and Gran probably wont be able to stick out the 333 minutes (almost 6 hours) of slice and dice