“You can’t do a slasher movie as a TV series.”

It’s as if the characters in Scream — the official TV series based on Wes Craven’s hit film that is allegedly an over-the-top remake of the original film, stretched to ten hours in length — want you to hate them. The series’ first promos, which premiered Sunday night during the MTV Movie Awards, offered a taste of the so-called carnage and terror that lies in store across three incredibly short montages. You can view all three clips below.

You will no doubt notice Bella Thorn, who appears in the network’s pilot episode as an homage to Drew Barrymore‘s iconic “Do you like scary movies?” scene, presented the trailer. Her presence is the first and last great moment of this trailer, but you wouldn’t know it by listening to the dialogue or narration (depending on the clip). It’s essentially the show mocking the formula of a franchise that was made to mock the formula of a genre that had long grown a bit too familiar for everyone’s good. I guess you could argue that idea is in some way taking meta commentary to an extreme, but the way it’s presented here comes across as bad writing and little else.

The production value looks like every other MTV show that isn’t faking ‘reality’ or set on a soundstage. The gore isn’t anything Hannibal would be caught dead using, but for the teen market this series hopes to corner, it may be enough to disgust those with weak stomachs and/or those who have not been exposed to much movie violence.

…And therein lies one of the bigger issues I (and others) have with this series so far. If it’s meant for teens, most of whom were far too young to remember the original franchise, why put in so much work to pay homage? Why spoil what worked so well before with a broader, overly long remake aside from cashing in on a possibly bankable franchise name? Based on what is shown it’s hard to believe many adults will be tuning in. That is, unless like the person writing this, they believe they’ll be paid in exchange for their (likely scathing) opinion somewhere down the line.

Whatever the case, MTV will begin airing the 10-part Scream series on July 30. Comment below and let us know your thoughts on these initial promos.

• Author
• Recent Posts

James Shotwell

James Shotwell is the founder of Under The Gun Review. He loves writing about music and movies almost as much as he loves his two fat cats. He's also the co-founder of Antique Records and the Marketing Coordinator for Haulix. You should probably follow him on Twitter.

Latest posts by James Shotwell (see all)

• 2015’s Most Underrated Films - December 29, 2015
• Passing The Torch: The End Of An Era For UTG - December 1, 2015
• UTG PREMIERE: Before The Streetlights – “Private Browser” - November 26, 2015