Scream 4

Scream 4 is not the typical fourth installment. Wes Craven did something phenomenal here. Though he is really good at what he does (thriller, horror), Mr. Craven is-unfortunately-an underrated director due to the fact that the genre of horror is an underrated category. 

It should not be and I say this despite the fact that I cannot stand horrors. (There is one exception though: Sleepy Hollow, directed by Tim Burton.) Most horror movies for me are purely functional. By functional movies I mean films that are enjoyable once, I get what I want then move on, forget it. But for that 2 hours, they do what they have to: entertain.  

Every once in a while I buy a ticket for a horror movie. As Craven once said, "Horror films don't create fear. They release it." After the horror I see on screen, I forget about my unsolved problems in real life. The bills, love affairs, and allergy are nothing compared to those people staggering in blood, groaning in agony. We live, at least.

Wes Craven was responsible for The Last House on the Left (1972), The Hills Have Eyes (1977), Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), Scream (1996). Classic horror movies, now all part of popular culture. He once tried to escape the ties of his genre by directing a drama, Music of the Heart, back in 1999, starring Meryl Streep. 

In 2005 he made an extremely exciting thriller: Red Eye, starring Rachel McAdams, Cillian Murphy, and Brian Cox. He could create thrilling atmosphere by making two actors sit next to each other for 60 minutes on an airplane (closed, claustrophobic place). Simple as that. This is something Hitchcock could do, not many others. What I found interesting is that despite the fact that it is a rather short film (less that one and a half hour), it could jolt me. While Hitchcock would have probably built up the story in three hours, Craven cut the film in real time. He thought people cannot sit in the screening room for such long time, so he scrammed excitement in a relatively short time. And it works perfectly.

Now, you might start to question the validity of my writing's title. I wanted to point out that Craven is a self-conscious director. He always minds the context: his previous films, the trend, present history and culture. Craven knew exactly that people are not going to accept a new scary movie. This film is not scary because of the murders. What proves this is that it does not even try to scare anyone. There is no slow moving of the camera through the dark hall, the orchestra does not play suspenseful melodies anymore. These kinds of one-minute inserts where you are supposed to get ready to be scared are missing. Craven is realistic. Murders happen the way they do, he does not want to trick you. He does not want to play with you heart-rate. This time he plays with your mind. 

Scream 4's key word is self-reflection. The movie is more like an essay on the the new trends in horror movies, the clichés and the new forms of clichés, and the series itself. I laughed more than screamed. I mean it in a positive way. It is rather a satire of horror. Almost every scene of the movie is about itself. 

The opening scene is creditably clever. It goes further than movie within a movie. Craven creates practically three opening scenes withing a fourth. He recalls the clichés that occurred in the previous Scream movies, and parodies them. Cervantes, at the beginning of the 17th century when chivalric romance was not in fashion anymore, wrote Don Quixote in which he satirized the tired genre. Craven did the same, but went even further. Raymond Chandler, after writing six of Philip Marlowe's detective stories, in 'The Long Goodbye' develops the genre of hard-boiled fiction by including social criticism. Craven in the finale of Scream 4 broadens the conflict of film and puts it on a higher level: the new American society. He brings in people's relation with the modern era of internet: video hosting services, the social network, publicity. Two horror fanatics in Scream 4 summarize: "Well, if you wanna be the new, new version, the killer should be filming the murders. It's like the natural next step in the psycho-slasher innovation. I mean you film them all real-time and before you get caught, you upload them into cyberspace. Making your art as immortal as you."

As I mentioned before, every scene includes elements of self-reflection. Therefore it would be painfully long to highlight all of them, and scrutinize the smart script written by Kevin Williamson, the original writer of the now classic Scream. Wes Craven not only points out the limits of horror, but offers new ways for the seemingly tired genre. It cannot be stated that Scream 4 reformed horror but it certainly is an improvement. 

Mr Craven, congratulations! 

Wes Craven

Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?

The question in the title is a repeated line from Jack Napier (a.k.a. the Joker) in Tim Burton's classic, Batman. It became a common saying during the 90s. Joker never waits for the answer. "I always ask that of all my prey. I just... like the sound of it." (By the way: this gets interesting when he spiels the same line using the word 'prey' to Bruce Wayne, who - as we all know - is a bird, if you regard his nighttime alterego. The villain at that point of the movie has no clue who Bruce Wayne is.) But this is not the question I'd like to ask. Mine goes like this: can 24 x 60 x 120 frames frame 16 long years? The question is way too absurd to even bother thinking about it; however, the answer is yes.

And the expanded answer goes... A few days after my 4th birthday, in December '94 - would sound too hollywoodish to say 'it happened one night, on my birthday, by the way', so I stick with the truth - my mom was looking for a TV show, some kind of fable that I can watch before I go to sleep. She came across the movie title 'A denevérember' - Batman is the original appellation.

"Oh, sounds like a family movie. A fairy tale or something... It finishes when he ought to go to bed. Perfect choice," my mom called dad.

So we sat down. The three of us, facing patiently the little, ex-modern black box, wating for the film to begin.

Batman begins. Dark labyrinth, slowly growing, triumphant but threatening music (Danny Elfman's slogan on his webpage: music for a darkened people), grimy atmosphere. Certainly not the opening titles for a 4 years old boy. They thought it was only the opening title. It might live up to their expectations. Wrong they were.

Though there was a little kid in the beginning (good sign), he turned into a caped crusader (what comes?). So the story goes, till one moment, when Jack Napier's damaged grotesque hands rise from the green, smoking acid.

"That's it! We finished!," said dad in a strick tone as he sprung up from his chair. "You go to bed, little fellow!"

I did not even turn my head away from the little television: I did not make a single move, they could not force me to go to sleep. I insisted that I finish this movie. No appellate. They installed themselves at the bad for two hours, shocked. Some kind of joy sat on my face after the show, they told me years later. Mom was flabbergasted. People were shot, punched, burned to death and one laughed like hell at it, filled with joy... and I did not make a single move. Instead, I enjoyed it.

However horrible it was, they loved it too, but this confession was made only years later. The whole family was into Tim Burton. My mom said he was the American Federico Fellini (after Big Fish).

A week later we bought a VHS player and a copy of Batman. A few days passed, and Batman returned (on the TV screens). Mom consulted with my best kindergarten-friend's mother. She said she will let her boy to watch it... so we watched it too.

The way folks went to church, I went to the cinema every week. It was a ritual. The 90s were heavenly years. No duties, two hours stolen from grey life. I remember as dad and I stayed up to watch James Bond every Saturday.

In 2001 mom (she had left for NYC 3 days after 9/11) brought a James Bond soundtrack and a Nino Rota collection, scores written for Fellini movies. I got hooked on scores. Instrumental music, played by an orhestra. These records influenced highly my musical taste. I started to listen classical music, operas were amongst my favourites. Because of Rota, I dug up every Fellini picture. I don't want to claim that I understood all his movies in-depth at that age, but I was fascinated. That music, those pictures, the clowns... Here he is, Zampano! What a character. So Italian films... Pasolini came in line.

I explored more and more, one movie opened the door to an other. To the world. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, which one might call a non-sense film, made me read 7 books. The movie collected classic novel heroes to save the world, such as Dorain Gray, Allan Quatermain, Captain Nemo, the Invisible Man, Tom Sawyer, Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, etc. So I sat down and read through the books. Oscar Wilde's Doran Gray became my favourite. Therefore I read other Wilde novels, poems, short stories. A friend of mine and I wanted to put The Importance of Being Ernest on stage in high school. (It did not work out...)

The Thomas Crown Affair soundtrack featured a Nina Simone song (Sinnerman) which had a minute long piano solo part. The sound of it was so captivating, that I started to learn to play the piano. Thanks to the same track, I got addicted to jazz music.

Taste in music, dressing style, view of life... all influenced by films I saw. I even smoked a cigarette because of Humphrey Bogart (Casablanca) and Mickey Rourke (Angle Heart).

I want to make movies. When I was young, I said I want to direct movies. I friend of ours, who is a cameraman, asked me, what if I became a producer. I said I had no money. He said: producers ain't got no money either...

Making movies here, in Hungary is not a piece of cake. (I don't think it is easy anywhere in the world nowadays.) It is not likely that I will ever be able to make a film. If I can't make them, I'll write about them.

Good night, and good luck.