Horror Thoughts ‘13—Still Screaming: The Ultimate Scary Movie Retrospective (2011) **

NR, 90 min.

Director/Writer: Ryan Turek

Featuring: David Arquette, Brian Avery, Marco Beltrami, W. Earl Brown, Neve Campbell, Roger Corman, Wes Craven, Scott Foley, Laeta Kalogridis, Jamie Kennedy, Ehren Kruger, Matthew Lillard, Duane Martin, Heather Matarazzo, Laurie Metcalf, Elise Neal, Jerry O’Connell, Josh Pais, Parker Posey, Kelly Rutherford, Liev Schreiber, Jon Schwimmer (voice only), P.J. Soles, Henry Winkler

If “Still Screaming” proves anything about the makers of the “Scream” film series, it’s that they make a more compelling horror movie than they do documentary subjects. Late film critic Gene Siskel used to say that a good test of the quality of a movie was imagining whether a documentary of the same actors eating lunch would be more entertaining. They mostly just talk about how great their movies were here, but I’d rather be watching those movies than this one.

“Sill Screaming”, which boasts the misleading subtitle “The Ultimate Scary Movie Retrospective”, sadly plays just like a DVD extra documentary commissioned by the studio to make their product out to be the greatest horror franchise ever conceived. I liked the “Scream” movies, but they aren’t the greatest anything. I suppose the subtitle isn’t entirely incorrect, as the original title of “Scream” was “Scary Movie” and this certainly is a retrospective of the “Scream” films. I had hopes that since “Still Screaming” was billed as a feature documentary that it would dig a little deeper than a promotional film. Alas, it does not.

There are a couple of interesting behind-the-scenes stories here, but nothing really shocking is revealed about the creation of these films. Mostly, it’s just dull. Despite an attempt to start the doc in the same manner as the “Scream” movies do, with a couple of teenagers discussing what they would do if they were in a horror movie only to find that they are, this doc lacks the originality that it so frequently attributes to the “Scream” movies. It’s a bunch of talking heads explaining how great their experiences were making these movies. The director doesn’t even really use that many clips from the actual movies. You’ll have to be an indiscriminate “Scream” fan to enjoy this documentary about the franchise.

If you are one of those people, you can watch the entire documentary below.