Scream
Season 1 Episode 1 “Pilot”
Directed by Jamie Travis
Written by Jill E. Blotevogel, Jay Beattie, Dan Dworkin
Created by Jill E. Blotevogel, Jay Beattie, Dan Dworkin
Starring Willa Fitzgerald, Bex Taylor-Klaus, John Karna, Brianne Tju, Amadeus Serafini, Connor Weil, Carlson Young, Jason Wiles, Tracy Middendorf, Tom Maden, Bobby Campo
MTV
Air date: Tuesday, June 30th, 2015, 10pm

I am usually a staunch anti-remake guy. But the Scream series that premiered debuting Tuesday night on MTV intrigued me. For once, the concept actually makes sense. The original movie itself was a self referential genre exposing (and revitalizing) film. Its best moments were when it poked fun at itself and the horror genre.

For those living under a rock these last 20 years, Scream was about a horror movie obsessed serial killer(s) who tortured victims over the phone. Nearly two decades later, with social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter, the killers of the series can actually play their sadistic games even better.

“What’s your favorite scary movie?”

By the mid 1990s, the horror genre was struggling to survive after a decade of cheesy sequels and rip-offs. By the time Scream debuted in theaters in 1996, there had been 22 (!!!) Halloween, Nightmare on Elm St, and Friday the 13th movies combined, and dozens of lazy slasher retreads. But it’s genre icon director Wes Craven and screenwriter Kevin Williamson, who reinvented the horror genre with Scream, a self referential, homage to the classics of the 70s and early 80s, all the while making fun of itself and its genre’s tired cliches. When top line star, Drew Barrymore was killed off mere minutes in, audiences knew all bets were off. The film series which expanded to a fourth installment in 2011, help make its stars Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, and David Arquette household names. Writer Williamson went to write many other teen-focused horror films and TV series (The Following just wrapped after 3 seasons).