Movie picks
SATURDAY Scream, Ch4, 9.20pm
The franchise that made meta-comedy horror its own returns for another stab at your nerves.
It’s got Neve Campbell. It’s got Courteney Cox. It’s got Courteney Cox’s ex-husband, David Arquette. It’s got Ghostface, of course. But it hasn’t got legendary horror director Wes Craven because he died in 2015.
Hence, the fifth Scream film can be considered a reboot... or a ‘re-quel’ as one of the characters labels Stab, Scream’s film-in-a-film alter ego.
The game’s the same, but there’s lots more new blood. Ring, ring. Ring, ring. Hello?
In 1996, Drew Barrymore answered the phone back when landlines were still a thing. Now it’s Jenna Ortega’s turn to enjoy an up-front cameo as Tara Carpenter — who is utterly exasperated to have to put her smartphone aside to find the plastic thing ringing in the corner — except, unlike Barrymore, she survives.
This leads her estranged sister Sam (Melissa Barrera) to return to Woodsboro — scene of the original murders — with boyfriend Richie (Jack Quaid) in tow.
Put them together with Tara’s tight group of friends and there’s enouh to keep Ghostface occupied for a couple of hours. But of course, the new kids will need help from legacy characters. So Sam seeks out Deputy Dewey (Arquette) who in turn gets the band back together by contacting Sid (Campbell) and Gale off the telly (Cox).
But who’s wielding the knife this time? And why on earth does he... or she... wear such capacious clothing? Leave a message after the tone, GF.
SUNDAY Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit, Ch4, 4.05pm
Whoopi Goldberg and James Coburn star in director Bill Duke’s family comedy sequel.
Deloris van Cartier (Goldberg), who is now a famous actor, agrees to become an undercover music teacher in order to help the convent nuns who became her friends in the first movie. Her mission is to turn a gang of troubled kids into a hit choir, in order to save their school from being closed by heartless administrator Mr Crisp (Coburn).
The choir are en route to a competition which could seal their fate when Mr Crisp figures out who Deloris really is.
SATURDAY Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Film4, 6.10pm
Director Michael Bay returns with his second instalment of the sci-fi action romp that pits humans against big, bad alien robots, the Decepticons.
In this sequel, which manages to be even louder and more prone to explosions than the initial outing,
Sam Witwicky (Shia Labeouf) and his girlfriend Mikaela Banes (Megan Fox) are once more at the centre of the action.
Witwicky is being hunted down by the Decepticons, who recognise that he is the main impediment to them gaining control of an awesome source of energy.
As the Decepticons’ plan would result in the destruction of the sun, humanity’s fate rests on the shoulders (and in the ingenuity) of our oddly named hero...