Scream (Movie)

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    Jenna Ortega Gets Her Thrills From Radiohead and ‘Paris, Texas’

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    The scream queen talks about her latest film, “The Fallout” on HBO Max, dancing in public and driving in the dark.There’s horror, and then there’s terror. Jenna Ortega now knows the difference.Since her introduction to the macabre as a child in “Insidious: Chapter 2,” the former Disney star, now 19, has shrieked her way through “The Babysitter: Killer Queen,” “Scream,” now in theaters, and the upcoming “X.”“Horror to me, it’s kind of like a second home,” Ortega said. “It’s so comfortable, because you’re not trying to impress anybody.”But her latest role, in “The Fallout” — Megan Park’s examination of trauma in the aftermath of a school shooting — out Thursday on HBO Max, was an exercise in paralyzing silence.Ortega plays 16-year-old Vada, who early in the movie hides in a bathroom stall with her classmate Mia (Maddie Ziegler), hands over mouths and sobs stifled, as a gunman picks off his targets outside; any sound could give away their location. What’s not said in the wake of the violence is nearly as excruciating.“With a film that weighs a lot emotionally, it can be very, very draining,” Ortega said of her first time leading a movie, which is why shooting “Scream” on the heels of wrapping “The Fallout” was a relief.The Return of ‘Scream’Twenty-five years after Wes Craven’s original picture, the franchise is back with another sequel. Review: The latest “Scream” is a slasher movie so enamored of its own mythology that its characters speak of little else, our critic writes. A Familiar Cast: The film brings back Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox and David Arquette. Here is what the actors had to say about their reunion. The Legacy of ‘Scream’: The reason the original endures is that, for all its humor and self-awareness, it’s an actual horror movie.From the Archives: Read what Janet Maslin wrote of the film when it first came out in 1996.“The incredible thing is that people who are on horror sets tend to be a fan of horror — they love the blood and the gore and the monsters,” she said. “You wake up and, ‘Oh man, I can’t wait to go to set and get stabbed.’ It’s incredibly exhilarating.”Ortega now finds herself faced with another daunting task: to reimagine the deadpan, smart-mouthed Wednesday Addams as a teenager in “Wednesday,” Tim Burton’s upcoming horror comedy for Netflix.“It’s terrifying,” Ortega said in a late-night video interview from the set in Romania, her hair long and black with a fringe and her eyes ringed in dark circles. Still, Ortega was determined to go big. “Just give it your all, even if it’s too much,” she said.Here are edited excerpts from the conversation.1. Antique shops I consider myself an amateur antiquarian book collector. I developed a fascination with Ralph Waldo Emerson, and I found a collection of his essays from 1879. And not only was I obsessed with the way it looked, but the pages smelled different, the texture was different, and I realized, “Oh, I want to protect this book.” I like having to take care of something, but it’s much easier than a plant because plants can die.2. Wim Wenders’s “Paris, Texas” The first time I watched “Paris, Texas” was the first time I was emotional over a film. It’s just aching with vulnerability. I haven’t seen a lot of slow-burn movies, so I wasn’t expecting it to be as heartbreaking as it was. It doesn’t explain itself too much. You follow Travis [Harry Dean Stanton], and you slowly peel back the layers. Every time I watch it, I forget where I am.3. Avocado rolls I went vegetarian, and any time people asked me what my favorite food was, I’m so indecisive I couldn’t give them an answer. So I would say, “Oh, I love avocados.” And people would say, “But that’s not a meal.” Well, I love sushi and I love avocados, and now it’s my go-to. You know how kids always go with chicken tenders and French fries? Those are my chicken tenders and French fries.4. My Sony headphones I just got them. They’re noise canceling. The sound is amazing. I never have to talk to people when they’re on because they’re big and bulky. I’ve been called “perpetual headphone head” by multiple people because I always have them around my neck. I could not imagine walking around life all day without some sort of background music. Even just feeling the weight of the headphones on my chest brings me some sort of relief.5. Mathieu Kassovitz’s “La Haine” If I were ever going to direct something, it would have to be similar to this. You feel like you know the characters. It exudes life. It’s three boys in Paris talking about police brutality and the struggles they go through in their days. Something that strikes me about this film is that it’ll always be relevant. That’s kind of unfortunate, but I think that there’s something meaningful about that because of how much energy it has.6. Radiohead’s “OK Computer” I was shooting a film called “X” in New Zealand, and I became really, really close friends with Jim, one of the P.A.s [production assistants] on set, who was a huge Radiohead fan. Jim had said that his favorite album was “OK Computer,” and he explained to me the impact that it had on him as a kid growing up. And it became pretty much the only thing I listened to. I was out of the country by myself for the very first time. I had just turned 18 so had that newfound independence. You’re slowly becoming an adult and the world becomes scarier, to be so far from home and learning to do things on my own. So I think because I’m so nostalgic for that time in my life, that album will forever hold immense significance.7. Driving I couldn’t sleep because of the time difference going from Eastern Europe to the West Coast of the U.S. So I was going out every night and driving, and I realized that’s probably when I’m happiest. I’m not talking to anybody. I’m focused. I can roll down the window and taste outside. It’s a freedom that I wish I could experience all the time. That’s another thing, too: You capture some insane views. You become very observant because there’s nothing else to do, especially when you have nowhere really to go.8. Outkast Childhood — that’s what I associate them with. I’ve been listening to them more because, to be honest, I’m very, very tired, and listening to Outkast in the morning is a nice way to wake myself up. My favorite album, at least right now, is “Speakerboxxx/The Love Below.”9. Dancing in public One time, I had just arrived in this sleepy town. It was raining really badly, and I ran out into the middle of the street. I had my headphones on, and “You and Me” by Penny & the Quarters was playing. I just started swaying to it, and then I started spinning to it, and I ran into the grocery store, and I came around the corner, and I saw this old woman. And she was laughing at me, and we both just started dancing together right next to the watermelon. And then when the song was over, I did a bow and she did a bow, and we went our separate ways.10. Charlie Kaufman I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything of his that I haven’t liked. Oftentimes you get that question, “If you could play any character in the world, who would you play?” And I always say, “I don’t know exactly who that would be. I just know that they would be written by Charlie Kaufman.” He’s one of those people where you hear his words or you hear the message he’s trying to get across, and that’s when you realize things about yourself. More

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      ‘Scream’ Review: Kill Me Again, Again

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      Neither a remake nor a sequel, this tired retread can’t move forward for looking back.Throttled by a corrosive self-awareness, the latest “Scream” is a slasher movie with resting smug face, so enamored of its own mythology that its characters speak of little else.This self-referential chatter, disguised as commentary on the franchise-within-the-franchise, “Stab,” means that there’s scarcely a line of dialogue that doesn’t land with a wink and a nudge.“There are certain rules to surviving a ‘Stab’ movie,” Dewey (David Arquette), now a disgraced former police officer and over-imbiber, tells the latest batch of potential victims. But the knowingness that was cute in Wes Craven’s original picture has, over the course of 25 years and three sequels, curdled into complacency, leaving James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick’s screenplay so marooned in the meta it feels weirdly plotless. Thus Dewey, having suffered a total of nine stabbings during the series, is now viewed as an expert to the teenagers seeking his advice when the Ghostface killer once again stalks the streets of Woodsboro.This will require Dewey to sober up, rejoin the force and reunite with his longtime crush, Gale (Courteney Cox), now a TV anchor in New York. The eventual reappearance of Sidney (Neve Campbell), possibly the slasher canon’s most repeatedly traumatized heroine, completes the original threesome. Their return to Woodsboro also fulfills one of the rules of this so-called requel — not quite a remake, and not exactly a sequel — as recited by Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown, currently knocking it out of the park on Showtime’s “Yellowjackets”), a high schooler and the script’s main receptacle of horror-movie trivia. What’s a requel without legacy characters?“Scream” may not define itself as a remake, but much of it wallows in reminders of the foundational film. From the ringing landline that introduces the opening attack, to the painstaking recreation of one infamous character’s home, the movie revels in visual and aural callbacks. Yet by designing a movie that seems solely intended to placate an avid fan base, the directors, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett (two-thirds of the collective known as Radio Silence), paint themselves into a creative corner. They’re so busy looking backward, they’re unable to see a coherent way forward.Franchises, of course, have always pandered — it’s in their D.N.A. — but rarely has one groveled quite so thirstily for fan approval. The result is a picture so carelessly plotted, and so coarsely photographed, that it traps its cast in a deadening cycle of blasé snark and humdrum slaughter. This makes the touching warmth of Campbell and Arquette’s too-brief appearances feel imported from a more innocent, earnest time.Also operating on a different plane is the terrific Melissa Barrera as Sam, a fragile Woodsboro returnee hiding a terrible secret. Sam’s back story is little more than a sketch, but Barrera, who mesmerized me for weeks in the recent Starz drama “Vida,” begs us to care about her anyway. She’s a marvel.Wearyingly repetitive and entirely fright-free, “Scream” teaches us mainly that planting Easter eggs is no substitute for seeding ideas.“I’ve seen this movie before,” Sidney remarks at a critical moment. Oh girl, I hear you.ScreamRated R for stabbing, jabbing, slicing and shooting. Running time: 1 hour 54 minutes. In theaters. More

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      They Screamed, We Screamed. Now They’re in ‘Scream’ Again.

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      After more than a decade, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox and David Arquette return to take a new stab at the meta-horror franchise. They didn’t jump in right away.Twenty-five years after “Scream,” Neve Campbell is still seeing Ghostface everywhere she goes.This past Halloween, Campbell brought her children to a pumpkin patch in Hollywood, where they saw fellow visitors dressed in the groaning Ghostface masks worn by the murderers who have tormented her character in these undying horror movies.Though the costumed revelers didn’t seem to notice Campbell, she resisted her older son’s urgings to reveal that they were in the presence of Sidney Prescott, the intrepid “Scream” heroine she has played since 1996.“My 9-year-old hasn’t seen the movies, but he obviously knows about them,” Campbell said. “And he was like, ‘Mom, you should go tell them!’ I’m not going to walk over and be like, ‘Hey, do you know who I am?’” She laughed and added, “Although it probably would be fun for them.”Hearing Campbell’s tale, her two longtime “Scream” co-stars joked about how their connections to the films affected them at Halloween. Courteney Cox, who plays the strident TV personality Gale Weathers, said that she kept her own supply of Ghostface masks: “I bought five from Amazon.”David Arquette said it was even easier to remind people of his screen identity as the hapless officer Dewey Riley. “Why do you think I have this mustache?” he asked.At its release, “Scream” reinvented the slasher picture, populating it with photogenic cast members who were well-versed in the genre’s rules and tired of its clichés. It made a star of its screenwriter, Kevin Williamson, reinvigorated the career of its director, Wes Craven, and kicked off a cottage industry of imitators and parodies.The slow-burn success of the first movie elevated its lead actors: Campbell, a star of the TV drama “Party of Five”; Cox, enjoying her first flushes of success from “Friends”; and Arquette, a scion of a family of character actors. Three sequels bonded them for life, and Cox and Arquette fell in love and got married.Cox and Arquette in the first “Scream,” released in 1996.Dimension FilmsArquette and Cox found themselves with a storyline that echoed their real-life split.Brownie Harris/Paramount PicturesBut following “Scream 4” in 2011, the series seemed to grow tired. By then, Cox and Arquette had separated and would later divorce; Craven died in 2015. A “Scream” TV series only loosely connected to the movies ran for three years on MTV and VH1 but gained little cultural traction.Now, after a decade-long absence from theaters, a new “Scream” — with no numerals or subtitles, from new directors and new screenwriters — will be released on Jan. 14. It is both a reboot and a sequel, introducing new characters (played by Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega, Jack Quaid and others) to an audience equally accustomed to franchise do-overs like “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and art-house horror films like “The Babadook” and “Midsommar.”The latest “Scream” also brings back Campbell, Cox and Arquette as the founding characters, who have grown well into adulthood and been altered in different ways by their past encounters with the various Ghostface killers. For the actors, the proposition of returning to “Scream” is, well, a double-edged one: a chance to rekindle old connections and remember what made the previous films great — tempered by the fear that they will squander the series’ legacy if they cannot duplicate past glories.When she was approached about the new movie, Cox said, “I was really like, What? They want to do another ‘Scream’?” But as she considered it further, she thought, “Why not go back to something that was such a huge part of my life and play a character that was fun? They must have a real vision for this if they want to bring back the franchise and take the risk.”As they spoke in a video interview at the end of November — Campbell and Cox together in one window, Arquette by himself in another — the actors shared a tentative intimacy, like old classmates encountering each other at a high school reunion. They traded goofy laughs as each claimed to have forgotten key details about the past “Scream” films and made self-deprecating jokes about their accomplishments.Asked how she was hired, Cox said her manager suggested her. Or: “It could be that my manager said, ‘She’s not that good and I don’t think you should hire her.’ But who knows?”What they agreed on about the first film was the brilliance of Williamson’s convention-busting script and their admiration for Craven, who previously made seminal horror movies like “The Last House on the Left” and “A Nightmare on Elm Street.” The cast was largely shielded from behind-the-scenes conflicts between him and Dimension Films, which produced the original “Scream” series and had reservations about Craven’s work on the first movie. Campbell said of the director, “He was very gentle and kind and quiet.”Jenna Ortega is among the new cast members trying to escape Ghostface.Brownie Harris/Paramount Pictures“Scream” withstood a fourth-place opening weekend in December 1996, overshadowed by the animated hit “Beavis and Butt-head Do America.” Several days later, Campbell got a call from her agents. “I thought, Uh-oh, something’s wrong,” she recalled. “And they said, ‘It’s at $30 million.’” Her voice dropped to a whisper: “I was like, ‘Is that bad?’” In fact, the film would run until the summer and gross more than $100 million in the United States alone.A sequel was already in production and released in December 1997. (“It was college next, wasn’t it?” Campbell asked. “You went to college,” Arquette affirmed.) “Scream 3” followed quickly in 2000, adding more layers of metacommentary as the characters’ brushes with death continue to inspire a hastily made movie-franchise-within-a-franchise called “Stab.”With each entry, the “Scream” stars said, they never felt the pressure was on them to sustain the overall quality of the series. “In television, when I go out and do something new, it’s petrifying,” Cox said. “You feel nothing can live up to what you’ve done before. But in movies, we get the script and come to play our characters.”But Williamson said that “Scream 4” left him and Craven feeling burned out. “The studio was second-guessing themselves and kept giving note after note after note,” the writer said. “I finally was like, ‘Guys, I don’t know what I’m writing anymore — I’m just typing.’”After Craven’s death, he said, “in my heart, it was over. Without Wes, I didn’t think there would be a ‘Scream.’”Years went by, and the Weinstein Company, which owned Dimension Films, collapsed after its co-founder Harvey Weinstein was accused of sexual assault and harassment by numerous women. (He has since been convicted and sentenced for sex crimes and faces further charges.)The rights for “Scream” were eventually acquired by Spyglass Media Group, which partnered with Paramount to produce a new entry written by James Vanderbilt (“Zodiac”) and Guy Busick (“Ready or Not”) and directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett of the filmmaking group Radio Silence (“Ready or Not,” “V/H/S”).Williamson, an executive producer on the new “Scream,” said that the project had his blessing. “My first thought was, Wait, they’re not going to ask me to write it? How dare they,” he said with a laugh. But after hearing the creative team’s plans for the film, he said, “They had it all figured out. I’m like, ‘OK, this works.’”Naturally, this “Scream” sees another Ghostface once again plaguing the fictional California town of Woodsboro, requiring the return of Sidney, Gale and Dewey. But bringing back the actors who played them was hardly a certainty.The biggest obstacle, they said, was the absence of Craven: “I don’t see how that happens — emotionally but also practically,” said Campbell. “Who’s going to do it as well as Wes?”But one by one, the actors were placated by the film’s directors, who wrote them letters praising their past work and urging their involvement.Campbell in the original “Scream,” directed by Wes Craven. She and her fellow stars had a hard time imagining another movie without the filmmaker, who died in 2015.Dimension FilmsCampbell in the new “Scream.” She consulted with the original screenwriter, Kevin Williamson, before agreeing to return.Brownie Harris/Paramount Pictures“It was weirdly the easiest and the hardest thing to do,” Gillett said. “It’s so easy to express our admiration for them as actors and for Wes and his work.” The challenge, he said, was that “there was a lot on the line and a lot of pressure.”Five Movies to Watch This WinterCard 1 of 51. “The Power of the Dog”: More