Scream, Season 1, Episodes 8 to 10 Created by Jill E. Blotevogel, Jay Beattie, and Dan Dworkin Aired Tuesdays at 10pm (ET) on MTV There’s something we’ve got to talk about before we can talk about the final three episodes of Scream, and that’s about the sad passing of Wes Craven on Sunday, August 30th. There’s a thousand …
Wes Craven’s 1996 Scream was easily one of the best and most influential horror films of the 1990s. Its sequel in 1997 was just as successful with critics, audiences, and at the box office. The franchise faltered with 2000’s Scream 3, but started to take a step back in the right direction with 2011’s Scream …
The Vampire Diaries, Season 5, Episode 2: “True Lies” Written by Brian Young Directed by Joshua Butler Airs Thursdays at 8pm (ET) on The CW Last week’s premiere of The Vampire Diaries had the burden of recalibrating the show to numerous changes, including the departure of the Original family, the shift of Elena and Caroline …
The series premiere of The Vampire Diaries came amidst a slew of vampire stories in movies and books, facing an uphill battle in attracting an audience already wary of another spin on the supernatural creatures. The show soon set itself apart however, with compelling characters and a quick pace to its storylines as it expanded its universe. With its success leading to a spinoff this season in the form of The Originals, the show heads into its fifth season with major changes underway, as Bonnie Bennett’s death opens a major weakness among the crew of Mystic Falls, a weakness compounded by the absence of Stefan, replaced by Silas, and the departure of Elena and Caroline to college. Fortunately, the show starts off the new season on a strong step, with the introduction of some interesting new foes for the show’s core group.
The Following, Season 1, Episode 15: “The Final Chapter” Written by Kevin Williamson Directed by Marcos Siega Aired Mondays at 9pm (ET) on FOX As just an episode, “The Final Chapter” of The Following is a slight step up from the past many (inevitably, since everything set up in the pilot has been saved for this entry); …
The Following, Season 1, Episode 14: “The End is Near” Written by Adam Armus & Kay Foster Directed by Joshua Butler Airs Mondays at 9pm (ET) on FOX Death is the only thing that matters in the cult philosophy of Joe Carroll. In death there is life, love, and “everything,” according to his prayer chants. …
Still, we can’t really blame The Following for at least being what it is. It’s been a long road with many melodramatic detours to even get to this point. So, when we get an episode that deals with the show’s actual preoccupations—the cult itself and Ryan and Joe’s past/present/history—we have to be thankful. It’s not good, but it’s not like last week’s actively bad, and no character comes off like a complete dunce for the sake of tension in the episode (well, except Parker, but they’ve been dumbing her down for a while now).
So far, there are three major types of episodes in The Following: the big conflict episodes where the main characters face off, the psycho-of-the-week episodes to fill FOX’s “x-treme” body count quota, and the table setting episodes for those previous two types—by far the worst of them all.
The Following, Season 1, Episode 10: “Guilt” Written by Kevin Williamson & Shintaro Shimosawa Directed by Joshua Butler Airs Mondays at 9pm (ET) on FOX “Guilt” proves, more than any episode thus far, that The Following can only be defined in one exceedingly simple image: Kevin Williamson at his computer, choosing to use his powers …
The Following, Season 1, Episode 9: “Love Hurts” Written by Adam Armus & Kay Foster Directed by Marcos Siega & Adam Davidson Airs Mondays at 9pm (ET) on FOX “Love Hurts” acts as a kind of sequel to The Following‘s most campy episode, “Mad Love,” the themes of both being revenge, self-sacrifice, being punished for …
The Following, Season 1, Episode 8: “Welcome Home” Written by Amanda Kate Shuman Directed by Joshua Butler Aired Mondays at 9pm (ET) on FOX Ryan: “Nobody likes me.” Mike: “Well, you’re inconsistent and extreme.” The Following takes the one baby-step forward and two giant leaps back approach this week, addressing many inconsistencies in the show, …
The Following, Season 1, Episode 7: “Let Me Go” Written by Seamus Kevin Fahey Directed by Nick Gomez Aired Mondays at 9pm (ET) on FOX So, let’s get this straight. Joe broke out of prison in the pilot episode, but then committed another murder to mess with Ryan and get caught again (which always did …
Is everyone watching what’s happening on Monday at 9pm on Fox? Who knew that along with a spine tingling cult mystery from the creator of Scream and The Vampire Diaries that we’d also get one of the most comprehensive and complicated looks at bisexuality committed to screen. The love triangle on The Following between Emma, …
The Following, Season 1, Episode 4: “Mad Love” Written by Andrew Wilder and Kevin Williamson Directed by Harry Bronchtein Aired Mondays at 9pm (ET) on FOX In the best episode so far, The Following finally serves us some fun this week. It’s hard to tell how, maybe because the dreary, serial killer love triangle story-line …
The Following, Season 1, Episode 3: “The Poet’s Fire” Written by Adam Armus & Kay Foster Directed by Liz Friedlander Airs on Monday at 9pm (ET) on FOX As written before, there’s so much wrong with this show it hurts. Its commitment to proving its characters are only wearing human suits is so remarkable, really, …
A Priest, A Rabbi and Your Mom Walk Into a Movie Theatre… You might think that your Mom disapproves of all horror films on principle. At least that’s the stereotype: the wagging finger; the warning that horror films cause nightmares. But the truth is that this is merely a bit of parental judo, reverse psychology …
Over the past few seasons, while True Blood became HBO’s #1 show and serialized storytelling hit creative highs with Breaking Bad, Justified, and Game of Thrones, one network series has quietly become a go-to for fans of intelligent, well-made serialized genre television. The Vampire Diaries may not be a perfect show, but it carefully avoids …
Scream 4 Directed by Wes Craven Screenplay by Kevin Williamson 2011, USA This isn’t a comedy, this is a horror movie. People live, People die, people run, but more importantly people scream in Wes Craven’s fourth installment. In horror’s most self-reflexive and in some ways most successful horror franchise, Scream 4 is bloodier, smarter, better …