'Scream' review: MTV's pilot is frighteningly average

There’s no faulting MTV’s Scream, based on horror film series of the same name, for knowing the odds are against it.

Characters tell themselves — and subsequently us, the audience — about how “you can’t just make a slasher film into a TV series” and have our film-suave nerd Noah Foster (John Karna) remind us at many opportune moments about the challenges at stake for Jill Blotevogel and Dan Dworkin & Jay Beattie’s new teen-centered program. It’s a little smarter than it looks and a little braver than you’d expect, but yet not quite edgy enough to scare away non-horror fans. It feels pretty safe, and maybe that’s the biggest problem so far. Because the most shocking thing about this TV horror series so far is how adequate it seems.

It’s hard to judge a show based solely on its pilot, but Scream does a solid job of establishing itself from the get-go. The characters are self-aware as they were in the first two movies, but not overly in sync with what’s happening like they were in Scream 4. The showrunners are wise enough to know they need to stretch things out to warrant this new installment into a series, but also understands the importance of establishing characters so that they can afford time to let them grow between murders and various other violent outbreaks. It’s a well-layered show, with careful consideration as to how things will go down and making sure people get invested in the people before they get the axe — if they do at all, of course.

If only the characters themselves didn’t feel so flat and cookie-cutter in their execution. There are a couple bright spots on screen. Bella Thorne gets a mildly fun cameo taking Drew Barrymore’s place as this Scream’s first bloody victim, Carlson Young's Nina Patterson is pretty funny as the popular and vain Brooke Maddox and Bex Taylor-Klaus gives her Audrey Jensen a good deal of finesse. Karna, too, asserts himself as a presence to watch for, narratively and with regard to his talent and charisma. Everyone else, however, is more forgettable than the last. Particularly players like Will Belmont (Connor Weil) and Kieran Wilcox (Amadeus Serafini), all of whom are so especially forgettable you may not even remember them if they got their throats slit before next week's episode.

Scream definitely makes a point to state why its important to care for the characters, but never really makes one care enough to want to care about them. This kills any sense in caring whether or not they inch near death. And thanks to TV restrictions, there are little chance of their deaths being worth it for the gore factor. What results, then, is a fairly boring show.

The inclusion is social media is much better handled than it was in the last movie, and having Kevin Williamson write the story probably helped steer MTV’s latest in a fine outline. But it lacks Wes Craven’s fine balance between the comedy and terror, with most moments lacking a pulse of either kind. Jamie Travis is a filmmaker of many talents, but it seems like he’s on autopilot here. The approach to everything on this new show feels too workmanlike to feel genuine, resulting in a half-hearted effort that may be a little more in-tune with itself than you'd expect, but not engaging enough to matter.

It’s a middle ground effort, to be sure. As far as these movies-turned-TV series go, though, Scream lands firmly in the “could have-been-better, could-have-been-worse” category. It doesn’t seamlessly fuse the original’s tone with its own spirit like Fargo did so wonderfully, but it won’t be uttered in the same disgruntled sentence as Ferris Buller. Except, you know, for now. Like most of MTV’s output, it’s just kinda bland. There’s not a lot to get invested in, and there’s not enough heart and soul inside thus far to make you want to stick on for what’s in store. It's also not nearly as hip and cool as it wants so eagerly to be. There’s little doubt of it having some of the same wit as the original hit movie, but maybe it should get a little smarter to figure out how to make us care.

Image courtesy of Dara Kushner/INFphoto.com