Two episodes in, ‘Scream’ is yet to realise its potential

When Scream was released in 1996, its deconstruction of the slasher genre and horror film tropes as well as the genuinely scary movie it was made it iconic, and its success revitalised horror cinema. A number of sequels followed, all following the same pattern of a masked killer, Ghostface, following and taunting protagonist Sidney during a rain of butchery – the audience could be assured of gory kills, postmodern dialogue poking fun at the genre, ensuring what they saw was both funny and scary. The Scream franchise holds a special place in the hearts of many viewers, so when it was announced that Scream was coming to our television screens, the backlash was vocal.

For a start, the show is made by MTV, who can hardly be termed providers of quality television – this led to potential issues regarding the acting, the style and even the amount of blood allowed. The question of necessity was raised – does such a programme need to exist? And fans were not a fan of the new killer mask – why call it Scream if Ghostface isn’t going to be in?

The story of the mask is that it was worn by Brandon James, a deformed man bullied by his peers who killed a number of people in the town’s past. And now, in the present day, a viral video on-line leads to the rise of another killer, who wants to expose the secrets of the past and prove to our heroine Emma (Willa Fitzgerald) that everyone she knows is a liar.

In one episode, we see her struggle to escape an alleyway simply by walking out of it

Emma is the Sidney of the show, but less so. Whereas Sidney was a proactive character, and you believed that she had the ability to wade through the mire and defeat the villain, Emma’s a bit rubbish. She just mopes around, her air of sorrow spreading like a depressed fart.

The rest of the characters are a mixed bag. My personal favourite is bitchy Brooke (Carlson Young), even though she comes with a terrible teacher-student romance subplot. She and deadpan snarker and viral video star Audrey (Bex Taylor-Klaus) are the fan favourites, and certainly the two most distinct characters. They feel like real people, whereas Emma is just dull and useless – in one episode, we see her struggle to escape an alleyway simply by walking out of it.

Emma’s mother is the town’s coroner, and former Brandon James love interest, which enables Emma to get close to the case, but she has not had much to do thus far. The other main player is Noah (John Karna), the TV show’s Randy, by which I mean his role is to be meta, to explain the rules of the universe and make ironic comments based on tropes. He, on the whole, is okay, even though some of his monologues are just daft. Of particular note is one in the first episode where he explains the limitations of adapting a horror film for the television, which would be okay if the conversation actually led to it in any sense.

When it tries to emulate the originals, it falters by comparison

These are the main characters (or so I see it) – also cropping up is Riley, a love interest for Noah, the sheriff and a group of cardboard identikit males who have left so little an impression on me I genuinely can’t recall anything about them having just watched the show.

Bella Thorne also appears, taking the Drew Barrymore role of a famous face being bumped off straight away, in a sequence that was neither as good nor as thrilling as the original. This is an area where it suffers – on its own, it gets by, but when it tries to emulate the originals, it falters by comparison.

But yet, with the first two episodes just being general tripe, MTV-shaped romances with no chemistry you don’t care about in the slightest, the third episode pulls the rug out from underneath you by actually being quite good. We have the killer playing with Emma, and the episode ends with a gripping chase seen that finally kills off a character you care about. It has set a standard for the series and, if it remains at this level, it will be a must-see.

So that’s where we stand at the moment – three hours in, maybe one hour worth watching, but it really sets the bar. In a way, it is a parallel to underrated murder show Harper’s Island – after a number of episodes of killing off bland caricatures, an important name was taken out, and the show got serious.

It differs, of course, in that the acting is fairly crap and the chemistry between many of the characters simply isn’t there. Would I say it’s scary? Not really, nor would I say it’s particularly gripping, but this is a snap judgement. We still have six episodes to go, and I get the feeling that this is going to be the hit of the summer.