Scream Factory Blu-ray Discussion Thread

[Ill_Be_Back]

Originally Posted by Camp_Crystal_Lake

I can't wait for Final Exam from Scream! Just hope the transfer looks good.

I've always loved the atmosphere of a College Campus during semester finals. Everyone packing up, the departure of students at various times throughout the week, Students populating the library or dorm rooms studying, etc.

Final Exam gets a few things right with this atmosphere, but it could have been much more atmospheric. I think it does get the feel of desolate Halls, dorms, and gymnasiums right.

+1, can't wait for it!

[SendMoreParamedics]

Originally Posted by Camp_Crystal_Lake

I can't wait for Final Exam from Scream! Just hope the transfer looks good.

I've always loved the atmosphere of a College Campus during semester finals. Everyone packing up, the departure of students at various times throughout the week, Students populating the library or dorm rooms studying, etc.

Final Exam gets a few things right with this atmosphere, but it could have been much more atmospheric. I think it does get the feel of desolate Halls, dorms, and gymnasiums right.

I agree about some of the atmosphere. As discussed before, my problems are with pacing, mostly. Also, the fact they basically show who the killer is from the beginning. I prefer the standard whodunnit-style slasher movie. The mystery of a killer adds another level of suspense. The Burning is the exception. We know who the killer is from the beginning, but they keep him in the shadows and first-person POV to maintain the suspense.

The most memorable scene in Final Exam is in the gym with the killer standing there, lit from behind. That was a great scene. I can't say many other good things about the film, though. But I understand it has fans. I'm happy that so many slashers are coming to Blu.

[theprestige85]

Originally Posted by ijustblumyself

There's really no comparison here. Buffy was a subversive show that is extremely well written, multi-layered and laid the groundwork for serialised television. Just look at episodes like The Body, The Gift and Hush. Shlocky drama like True Blood just does not compare.

The type of movies you're talking about are by the numbers blockbusters, geared to make make as much money as possible. That is not at all representative of what the show set out to do.

Although I will admit the first season is pretty rough, so I can understand the people who watched a few episodes and didn't enjoy it.

Very well said.

This was a show, like ijustblummyself has said, was completely subversive and original in execution. This isn't 90's nostalgia here, make no mistake. Something else that doesn't get mentioned in regards to Buffy is language/dialogue You know how like Deadwood gets a lot of praise for it's use of language? Same deal with Buffy. The show featured some of the most inventive dialogue I had ever heard but it wasn't over the top or in your face like it is in, say, Rian Johnson's (admittedly good) Brick.

The first season, yeah, it's not the best introduction to the show for people who just start out watching it as it's the season that has aged the most in terms of content and special effects. It's more 'monster of the week' type territory rather than anything of any thought provoking thematic interest (with exception of the episodes 'Angel' and 'Prophecy Girl'. However, once you get to that season finale and make your way through season 2, Buffy becomes an almost entirely different show completely.

There's a healthy evolution of just about everything about the show that reaches epic highs at the end of season 5 (although the 6th and 7th seasons aren't as weak as I remember them being anymore) The themes become MUCH more adult, the special effects and production values increase significantly, the characters become more fleshed out and multi dimensional to the point where they could genuinely be real people and it continues to surprise and delight with it's subversive tendencies towards genre elements. It really is cracking stuff.

I remember that watching [I]Buffy[I] was almost like watching a film every week, that's how unlimited the show felt in terms of everything. It never felt like a tv show and I think the best shows have the sense of feeling, that sense of scale and that sense of unpredictability that comes along with being a great series.

The only other show that astounded me the way Buffy did was The Wire. Angel was almost as good as it's parent show too, but was very inconsistent.

I urge those of you to give it another try, or at least simply watching the excellent and groundbreaking episodes such as The Body, Hush, Surprise/Innocence, The Gift, Restless and plenty of more that's too substantial to list here.

[iamnoone]

Originally Posted by Mr.Dig

Oh well. I think im older than you! And yes I have seen the show and it sucks.

Burn! I agree, Buffy was an OK show if you were a teenager maybe. But I was much older, I watched it, the entire run, and it was juvenile garbage. If I was 10, I may have thought it was "awesome" and hip, though.

[jthefrank]

Buffy is next on my to-do list after I finish my current show

[Seymour]

Originally Posted by iamnoone

I watched it, the entire run, and it was juvenile garbage.

Hold on, you watched every episode, and you didn't even like it??

[demonknight]

Originally Posted by SendMoreParamedics

Such a classic movie, Peter Jackson should produce more. The humor and over-the-top gore are great.

No. Jackson needs to pull a Sam Raimi and return to horror directing. Let's hope, if he does, he does it better than Raimi. Drag Me to Hell was garbage.

[RandyK]

Buffy, along with Angel, is one of my favorite TV shows. I watched the whole series a couple years ago and loved the hell out of it. It's also why I love Joss Whedon and everything he's done (I saw The Avengers because of him and that led me to fall in love with the MCU).

Buffy has (inadvertently) opened a whole lot of doors for me and I am incredibly grateful I found it.

[iamnoone]

Originally Posted by Seymour

Hold on, you watched every episode, and you didn't even like it??

My kids LOVED the show so I made it a ritual to watch it with them, week after week (missed most of the first season so we had to catch up on those in reruns before season 2). I could appreciate the show through their eyes to a degree and it was fun to watch something my kids liked so much, but if I didn't have kids, I'd never have been able to sit through it.

[Seymour]

Originally Posted by demonknight

No. Jackson needs to pull a Sam Raimi and return to horror directing. Let's hope, if he does, he does it better than Raimi. Drag Me to Hell was garbage.

Drag Me to Hell certainly wasn't garbage. Spider-Man 3 was garbage. Peter Jackson...forget about him ever coming back to horror, he's gone.

[Talyn]

I gotta say, there's a good line-up this year of titles I want to get. This year may be better than last year, for me anyways....in terms of purchases from Scream/Shout.

As for the Buffy argument, it needed to stop after season 5....period. Though my interest dwindled after Season 3. It ran a little too long for it's own good. It had good writing, but Joss started getting distracted with other projects and it showed....

[RandyK]

First samples of Sleepaway Camp from Scream's Twitter:

[theprestige85]

Originally Posted by iamnoone

Burn! I agree, Buffy was an OK show if you were a teenager maybe. But I was much older, I watched it, the entire run, and it was juvenile garbage. If I was 10, I may have thought it was "awesome" and hip, though.

There are academic books written specifically about Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Rhonda Wilcox is one such a renowned academic who has written some of the most fascinating analysis and essays on the show. Oxford, Cambridge and Harvard graduates have also done coursework on Buffy AND Angel so I don't understand this incredibly condescending 'if I was 10, I may have thought it was awesome attitude' that you've got going on. I

[demonknight]

Originally Posted by Seymour

Drag Me to Hell certainly wasn't garbage. Spider-Man 3 was garbage. Peter Jackson...forget about him ever coming back to horror, he's gone.

I liked SpiderMan 3 opening day. I like it now.

Drag Me to Hell looked uninteresting at the time. I saw it last year and can not tell you a single redeemable thing about it. It's not even fun bad like SM3 was

[theprestige85]

Originally Posted by jthefrank

Buffy is next on my to-do list after I finish my current show

Let us know how you get on with it. The first season won't be easy to watch for a new viewer at times, but if you stick through with it until at least the 5th season, I am confident you'll have a new appreciation for the show. Let us know how you get on.

[theprestige85]

Originally Posted by cakefactory

I would put Buffy closer to Near Dark quality-wise than any of those other four things you mentioned. I also don't think you can draw a line from Buffy to any of them, there were vampire romance stories all the way back to the 19th century and stuff like Interview with the Vampire (and the anne rice books that provided its source) was wildly popular before the Buffy series happened. I thought Buffy was a great show even though Buffy herself was a character I couldn't stand. It just had so many great supporting characters. I know this particular topic is mainly about people who watch primarily horror movies and thus couldn't care less about character development and thus are intent on throwing 10 year old level insults at anything that doesn't meet their required awesome-level of kills, but this was a pretty good show by any standard.

Another good post. That's the thing, I think we are in the wrong thread to be discussing the contributions and merits of Whedon's groundbreaking show, to be honest. I can appreciate that not everybody may love it, but when you have people on here who claim to have watched EVERY episode and suggest that it's a show for kids then I really have to question a) their sincerity or b) intelligence. I suspect it's the former

[demonknight]

Originally Posted by theprestige85

Let us know how you get on with it. The first season won't be easy to watch for a new viewer at times, but if you stick through with it until at least the 5th season, I am confident you'll have a new appreciation for the show. Let us know how you get on.

I have I quarrels with Buffy (or interest, for that matter)... But if you have to say, "Come on. Just give it five seasons. Then, you'll love it," something may be going wrong.

I'm not really a Whedon fan anyway. I have no interest in Buffy, Angel, or Firefly. I saw Dr. Horrible once and thought it was okay at best. Avengers was, to me, one of the weakest films the the MCU. Alien Resurrection was dreadful.

I may watch the Buffy movie though, as one of the FX guys told som pretty funny stories about the set. Those might make me look at it in a funny way.

[cakefactory]

Originally Posted by demonknight

I liked SpiderMan 3 opening day. I like it now.

Drag Me to Hell looked uninteresting at the time. I saw it last year and can not tell you a single redeemable thing about it. It's not even fun bad like SM3 was

Drag Me To Hell was about the most fun I've ever had in the theater, I couldn't disagree more. The entire theater was going nuts with screams and laughs in the part where the gypsy woman appears in the car. I enjoyed just about every minute of it. It's a great companion piece to Evil Dead 2/Army of Darkness.

[cakefactory]

Originally Posted by demonknight

I have I quarrels with Buffy (or interest, for that matter)... But if you have to say, "Come on. Just give it five seasons. Then, you'll love it," something may be going wrong.

I'm not really a Whedon fan anyway. I have no interest in Buffy, Angel, or Firefly. I saw Dr. Horrible once and thought it was okay at best. Avengers was, to me, one of the weakest films the the MCU. Alien Resurrection was dreadful.

I may watch the Buffy movie though, as one of the FX guys told som pretty funny stories about the set. Those might make me look at it in a funny way.

What DO you like?

As for Buffy, you would know by the second season whether you liked it or not, it most definitely wouldn't take 5 seasons! Some of the later seasons are very hit and miss with episode quality, 2 and 3 get my vote for best. The best individual episodes are in later seasons though.

[demonknight]

Originally Posted by cakefactory

Drag Me To Hell was about the most fun I've ever had in the theater, I couldn't disagree more. The entire theater was going nuts with screams and laughs in the part where the gypsy woman appears in the car. I enjoyed just about every minute of it. It's a great companion piece to Evil Dead 2/Army of Darkness.

I could not disagree more. Whatever. To each his own.