The Newer Scream Films and Horror Movie Explorations

I've been exploring the opening sequences of horror films, originally because I had ambitions to put together a series of activities for the month of October - but, we'll see how that comes together. But this week, it's led me down a rabbit hole of watching the opening sequences of Christine (1983), Scream (1996), and Scream VI (2023).

Watching the opening sequence of Scream immediately brought to mind Scary Movie, and it made me reflect on how our viewing history can truly inform our viewing experience. Because of Scary Movie, it made me wonder for a few moments if the opening sequence would be a prank, where Drew Barrymore's friends are playing a prank on her - which is how things seem in the opening of The Ring if my decades-old memory serves me correctly. Of course, as the sequence continues, I'm reminded that the film is what brought slashers into the mainstream and I find my heart pounding and racing as I watch the events unfold.

The opening sequence also brought to mind a story by Joyce Carol Oates called "Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been?". In the story, as in Scream, you have a young blonde girl home alone, and she's eventually pursued by a man that murders her in her own home. In both stories, the girls toy carelessly with a man's interest at first, not sensing the danger the audience sees the seeds of. And by the time the girl realizes she's engaged with trouble, it's too late for her to find a means of escape.

In the classroom, I would ask students - what might this suggest? What should young women fear? Are these cautionary tales? Or what are they suggesting about our society? About the darkness of humanity?

As I continue with my "watching opening sequences of horror films" while the baby naps mission, I go for Scream VI since it's most recent, has Jenna Ortega, and I'm curious to see where they've evolved over the course of nearly 30 years. I notice that it takes half the time it did in Scream for our masked killer to murder the blonde in the opening sequence. And in addition to the dialogue pointedly encouraging us to reflect on how films and tropes can be reflections of culture at certain points in time, I find myself wondering how else the opening sequence will adapt and update from its original. Elegantly, by the 13 minute mark, both films wrap up their opening sequences, and both have murdered the blonde and a boy. Scream VI ups the ante by killing the first killer and leaving us wondering even more what kind of game we're in.

As I headed down a Scream rabbit hole the other afternoon, I also found myself engaged with the opening scenes of the series Scream Queens, too. But, after about 40 minutes, I start to abandon it for reasons I'll share in a different post.

What are some of your favorite horror movies? Which ones would you like me to explore? Let me know!

❤️‍🔥 Cara