Scream Queens Week 4

Everyone loves B horror. Right? B is for bad, as in campy and funny and bad all at once. At least everyone that I know! This week the girls learned all about campy horror. More specifically, how to be serious and funny at the same time, but still believable.

Shawnee had the remaining 7 women play a head. That is, the only part of them that was visible for the acting scene was their head. The girls were to rehearse with whichever guy played the doctor and they were supposed to deliver their lines as best they could. First they watched a scene from the infamous “The Brain That Wouldn’t Die”. A woman, reduced to just her head, was speaking of how horrible things were and how she would take her revenge on the people who made her that way. They were given a pretty good idea what they would be in for. Lindsay, the former child star, easily and clearly took first prize for best performance. Shawnee praised her for being “entertaining but believable”.

Jon wanted something more from the girls. We’ve only ever heard the girls scream a handful of times. But now it was time for them to really learn how to scream. Melissa Cross, scream teacher, did the best she could with the time she had with them. She told them that scream queens need more than just a few screams. They need to have a smorgasbord of screams, to fit whatever scenario was taking place. We came away from this session with Jon, or at least I did, with the sense that Lina was way over the top and Michelle clearly needed some help before she embarrassed herself further. Everyone else did fine.

The overall feeling and attitude that the girls gained from their sessions with Shawnee and Jon was now to be applied to what James had in store for them. They were all to audition and act for a campy movie that James had dreamed up…Reform School Zombie Squad. A group of reform schoolgirls are recruited and trained by their warden to kill zombies. It’s that simple and it sounded great! Based on the parts that the girls tried out for and the parts they were aptly given, really gave us some insight into what the ladies were capable of and what ego trips they normally go on. Michelle believed that because of her nice body, that would get her the part she wanted. Although I have to say that casting her as the slutty prostitute wasn’t a far cry from how she portrays herself when she’s not acting. Most of the girls were overall happy with the parts they were given, except for Lina. Miss Lina. I’ll say more about her in a minute. Lina was uncomfortable with the fact that her character and another girl’s share a steamy kiss. Did she speak up when James asked her if there were any problems? NO. She doesn’t. She tells everyone but the one person who needs to know about her lack of comfort with what she would have to do for the campy horror movie.

In the end, after the absolutely hilarious scenes that they filmed for this fictitious horror movie were revealed, it was time for eliminations. I had a good feeling who the candidates were for this week. Just based on attitude and a few comments here and there, it was easy to tell. One girl still hasn’t stepped out and really shown her talent. She hasn’t wowed anyone. The other girl, wasn’t honest about her comfort levels and so she compromised her part in Reform School Zombie Squad. She argued with other girls. She was under the impression that because she had been cast in tiny roles for major productions, that she stood any chance in actually sticking around. Just because you’re in this or that, does NOT qualify you for other things by default. I saw the movie you toted and carried around with you like some kind of trophy. You had at the most 10 seconds of actual air time in this film. And, you know what? I think you should stick with small roles because your ego is so big, it could actually block you from anything bigger in the future.

That’s right… the girl eliminated this week…was Lina. I hope for her sake that she deflates some because of this and walks away feeling like she really needs to work for the roles she wants to go for. Not just assuming that she has them in the bag. She didn’t do that bad the rest of the time. Even her bit part wasn’t poorly acted. So there is potential but no way will she ever be Scream Queen. Who will be? We have but 5 or 6 more episodes to find out who walks away with the title, bragging rights, and part in upcoming Saw VI!!