Emma Roberts – Tripping Through Gateways

After the disappointment of My Soul to Take, Craven returned to the grounds of his second most popular Franchise. Or is it the first? I supposed I could look at the box office.

Picking up ten years after the third film, Sydney has written a book about overcoming the events of the prior films. Her book tour brings her back to Woodsboro, bringing (now) Sheriff Dewey and Gale (now married). Gale is struggling to write a fiction book. Dewey is trying to run the police department. His Deputy Judy has a clear crush on him, His other deputies are a bit inept. We also meet a new group of teens, centered around Sydney’s cousin Jill. She and her friends suddenly find themselves facing the Ghostface killer again. Who is it now? What are the motives? Is this Sydney’s fault?

Truth be told? This is a real comeback for the franchise. It is fun to be back in the presence of Sydney, Dewey and Gale. And after the second and third films began with Dewey and Gale split up, it is nice to see them together and not really angry with each other. Their only conflict occurs when Dewey suggests Gale should not be a part of the investigation.

I really like the new additions to the cast, especially Hayden Panettiere’s Kirby and Deputy Judy played by Marley Shelton. The twists and motives for Ghostface in this film work so much better than the third film.

Honestly, one of the things that makes this franchise so great and re-watchable is it’s focus. Scream is the rare franchise that is not about its killer. Since Ghostface changes in every movie, the series is about the people Ghostface is a threat to. And we get to see arcs for our leads.

One of the things that really helps here, I suspect, is that this installment features the return of Kevin Williamson as writer, Williamson was the writer of the three good flicks in the series. He and Wes had a real magic with this series. And so, Craven’s filmography ends of a pretty high note, which is nice since he passed away four years later.

I am not sure how I feel about Scream 5…I mean, the core cast (and Deputy Judy) are coming back. But Williamson is not the writer and Craven, obviously, won’t be back. Maybe fresh writers and directors will bring something new. But I do have to say, Scream 4 is a great send off for Craven and a terrific new entry in the series.

So, the Hunt was meant to be released last year, but after a mass shooting and leaks about plot specific information led to people declaring this movie should not be released, including a condemnation from the impeached President of the United States. And so the movie was pulled. Although there seemed to be talk at the time of this film just being put on a shelf somewhere…well, it was released to theaters with a modest amount of commercials and it hit a week before movie theaters closed across the nation. Universal took the proactive move to make three of their recent films (the Hunt, Emma and the Invisible Man) available for streaming rentals. Disney has followed suit with Onward. I recommend Onward and the Invisible Man as very worth watching. I have no opinion on Emma yet as I have not gotten to watching it yet.

So…how is the Hunt? Is it a super hateful film celebrating killing Trump supporters? Well, my short answer is as follows.

No. Yes, this film is about a bunch of rich liberals who hunt a bunch of red staters. But the film is not at all sympathetic to its liberal characters. They are all played as awful people, while the film is pretty ambivalent about the Red Staters. Most of those characters get little to no characterization, not even in the sense of being stereotypes. Most of the liberals are stereotypes, with really only Betty Gilpin and Hilary Swank’s characters getting much personality.

Betty Gilpin is actually really good in this. She seems to be in a constant state of shock and on the verge of breaking down. But she also delivers some great action scenes and had a really good show down sequence.

As a genre film, this has a solid and classic hook. This is in the vein of films like Surviving the Game (a personal favorite). Honestly, I think it is hilarious that people assumed this would be a hateful screed against Trump when all the people who do not support Trump are evil cretins. As a lefty, this did not bother me terribly much, Gilpin feels rather a-political and is easy for viewers to root for.

I liked it. It is not the greatest film, but it is pretty effective as a genre thriller.

Vee is a young woman who lives life safely. Her friend Sydney pushes her to take a risk. And so she joins an online game called Nerve. In Nerve, there are people who pay to watch, people who pay to play…and the unknown overseers. In the game, participants are given dares and they must complete each one to make it to the end and make a lot of money. At the start, the dares seem to simply push people out of their comfort zones. As you complete a task, money is added to your bank account. If you fail or chicken out, you are dropped from the game.

Vee soon finds herself paired up with another player, Ian. But as the game progresses, the dares get riskier and more deadly. Ultimately, Vee finds herself trying to survive the game and save her family.

The film has one of those “You are all Complicit” story-lines, chastising the viewer’s online voyeurism. And there is nothing wrong with that…but the execution here is just clumsy, and Roberts does not really sell this.

The film uses the popular visual of pop-up windows mimicking social media news feeds. This is somewhat tired, but I understand why movies themed around the internet use them.

The visual style of the film is garish colors, blues and greens especially. The film ultimately comes apart because it simply because the concept feels implausible. The idea that this internet game show that can result in regular deaths is super popular and well known, but allowed to function is hard to buy. Not because the masses cannot be cruel…but it just feels hard to buy this is a game that has the blessing of the authorities.

Nerve has some lofty ambitions as a thriller, but it never is able to make you really care about these characters. It generates, ironically enough, the very complacency it condemns.

Tag: Emma Roberts

The Saga Continues (Scream 4, 2011)

Woke Culture (The Hunt, 2020)

Of All the… (Nerve, 2016)