Scream – Village of the Damned

By starrymag | July 20, 2016

By: Allison Schonter

 

 

 

Lakewood Centennial

 

It’s Lakewood’s 100^th birthday, a time meant for celebration and fun, but things aren’t off to a good start for Audrey (Bex Taylor-Klaus). She wakes to blood dripping on her and two messages in her room: one on the ceiling reading “12 dead” and another on her mirror stating “No one will ever forgive you.” The killer is really laying the guilt trip heavily on Audrey and making it nearly impossible for her to confess what she did to Emma (Willa Fitzgerald).

 

Meanwhile, Emma has decided that keeping secrets from the police is no longer an option and so she takes Eli (Sean Grandillo) and they go to see the Sheriff (Anthony Ruivivar), confessing that they were at the house that caught fire. When Sheriff Acosta takes Emma into his office to speak with her, it quickly becomes apparent that Acosta is suspicious of Eli and Emma learns that Eli has a somewhat dark past. It turns out that he has a restraining order against him, and the Sheriff advises Emma to keep her distance and be cautious of who she hangs out with.

 

Poise, Polish, Pizazz…and Murderville?

           

The Lakewood Centennial means that it’s time for the Lady of the Lake pageant and both Brooke (Carlson Young) and Zoe (Kiana Ledé) are contestants. As they are behind stage getting ready, Zoe confesses that she has a terrible fear of public speaking and she’s brought along some booze to help calm her nerves. Too bad Brooke is the one who drinks the majority of the contents that are in the flask, which leads to a very honest and very blunt drunken speech.

 

Brooke misses Jake (Tom Maden). He was supposed to be at the pageant with her, but instead he is dead and Brooke recalls when she had come close to death and all that she saw was nothing; that’s where Jake is right now and that’s where they will all be if they don’t wake up and realize what’s going on around them. They live in Murderville and more people will keep on dying.

 

Funhouse Chaos

 

After receiving a text with a video of the killer in Emma’s room and a subsequent call from the killer, Audrey decides that it’s finally time to come clean with Emma. She asks Emma if she wants to go to the carnival with her and Audrey has every intention to tell her the truth until Eli shows up and chaos erupts. Eli is worried about what Emma told the Sheriff and what the Sheriff told Emma to make her hesitant to be around him and when Kieran (Amadeus Serafini) sees Eli talking to Emma, he is quick to rush in. He pushes his cousin and then there is a brief scuffle.

 

When Emma reveals to Audrey that Eli has a restraining order against him because he broke into a girl’s house in Atlanta, things suddenly begin to fall into place. The killer has snuck into both Audrey’s and Emma’s rooms and Eli has a past of sneaking into houses. Could Eli be the killer?

 

Later that night, after going to see Brooke post speech, Emma receives a text from Kieran saying that they need to talk. She leaves the group without anybody noticing and when she gets a call from Kieran it is really the killer. The killer has Kieran and he is somewhere in the funhouse. Emma doesn’t hesitate to go and find him. But funhouses are disorienting and the many mirrors make it difficult to know the exact location of a person, there are even times in which Emma is unaware that the killer is directly behind her. As she stumbles over the body of the deputy that Acosta had assigned to keep an eye on her, she sees the killer’s reflection in the shards of glass, and she is quick to take the deputy’s gun and shoot at the killer. Mirrors, though, tons of mirrors in the funhouse and Emma shoots a mirror instead of the killer.

 

By now the Sheriff and other officers have arrived and both the killer and Emma stumble out of the funhouse. Emma drops the gun and Sheriff Acosta goes to unmask the killer. It’s Kieran, his mouth still taped.

 

Forced Confessions

 

Audrey’s plans to tell Emma the truth are spoiled, but she is still determined and after everything settles she drives to Emma’s house. As she walks through the door to Emma’s room; however, Emma already knows the confession. Noah had recorded Audrey’s confession secretly and someone sent it to Emma. This means that a whole new can of worms has been opened and the trust that the Lakewood Five have in one another is quickly crumbling.

 

Final Thoughts

           

Who’s the murderer? It’s the question on everyone’s mind and one that doesn’t seem likely to be solved anytime soon, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t prime suspects. Let’s start with Gustavo (Santiago Segura). Even his father, Sheriff Acosta, is becoming suspicious. He has the killer’s mask and he draws some really creepy things, including Seth Branson tied to a bed. But could this all be a little too obvious?

 

There is also Eli, who at first wasn’t that suspicious, but new evidence has been added to the pile of incriminating things about him. He has a history of sneaking into rooms and that’s the M.O. of the killer. Suspicious? Yes. The killer? I’m not so sure yet. On a similar note, there’s Zoe who has an obsession with Noah’s podcast “The Morgue” and what happened to the Lakewood Six. Add to this the fact that she emailed the recording of Audrey’s confession to someone, and things begin to seem a little fishy.

 

But there is a new suspect that I am daring to add to the list and might I even say that he is prime suspect #1? Kieran. Yes, Kieran, Emma’s boyfriend. He may not seem that suspicious, but that doesn’t mean that it can’t be him. For starters, it seems like he has a dark past and has plenty of skeletons hiding in his closet. He has been providing the Sheriff with information. Now, you may say that if he’s working with the police it can’t be him. Likewise, if he’s working with the police, he seems less suspicious. Pair this with the fact that he was in the funhouse and things just don’t seem to sit quite right.