It’s A Total Scream…

So on Monday, the new season of Scream Queens kicked off.  For the unfamiliar, it is a reality competition in which young actresses compete to win a role in a horror film.  So, kind of America’s Next Top Model, with more dismemberment.  The horror film in question is the Saw franchise.  Last year, the winner got to be in Saw 6.  This year it is for Saw 3-D.  Because man, I want to see people melted with acid or chopping off their own limbs in 3-D.

Last year’s winner, Tanedra Howard, was my hopeful, but I actually expected the more conventionally babe-like Michelle Galdenzi to actually win.  Winning, however, might have been a curse.  Tanedra has only been in two movies…both Saw sequels.  Girls ousted from the show within a couple episodes have gone on to have more roles.

Part of what had me sticking around for season one was the hosts.  James Gunn is from the Troma school, and while I am not a big fan of Troma films, his movie Slither and his web series PG Porn (Porn-without all the sex and the nudity!) had me entertained.  Shawnee Smith seemed an obvious choice, since the prize was a role in a Saw sequel and she had been in several films from the franchise.  Judge John Homa was interesting, because his actual credits as an actor are incredibly sparse…but as an acting coach?  He has quite a lengthy client list.  And he’s intense.  Some of techniques can seem over the top, but he seems to get results.

So anyways, as I said, I saw a new season of Scream Queens was starting.  As the episode kicked off, I was surprised at two changes.  One, James Gunn is gone and in is Tim Sullivan.  Don’t know much about him.  I’ve only seen one of his films (The Eli Roth Produced 2001 Maniacs-a semi remake of Herschell Gordon Lewis’ splatterfest 2000 Maniacs).  Shawnee Smith is gone, replaced by Jaime King (Sin City and My Bloody Valentine 3D).  She attractive and… heck, I cannot really say anything else based on one episode.

To be frank, none of the girls made much of an impression, it’s a reality competition, so some of peoples worst qualities end up coming to the surface.  Some girls are better than others acting, some have interesting backgrounds (the girl who got booted was the daughter of the director of the Kevin Bacon/Fred Ward classic Tremors) and some not so interesting (Conventionally attractive blond was an iPod dancer).

I wish, among the changes, there was a different movie that the girls were attempting to win a part in was something other than a Saw sequel.  Frankly, all Saw will give the girls a chance to do is scream and panic…so all the various acting skills they have to learn or show they have end up being useless.  They are just an additional faceless victims to be destroyed by the Jigsaw killing devices.  It’s like getting a role as a zombie in a Romero film.  You won’t get to stand out or prove yourself as an actor.