The Scream Awards Review

 

Of course, that was only the second award and just a primerfor the irreverence to come. F-bombs dropped like the missiles overDresden, coming fast andfurious, but all in good humor and great spirits. After Jay left the stage,Jessica Alba came on to accept her award for Sexiest Superhero (Fantastic Four) and raved about Batman'shuge codpiece and Superman's shapely ass in the red tights (later on, thenewly-engaged Brandon Routh blushed and grinned when asked about Jessica's astuteobservation).

 

The first musical performance was from My Chemical Romance,introduced via satellite by Pinhead himself. They rocked Welcome to the BlackParade out a lot harder than the radio version, as a living dead girl and awhite zombie flanked them onstage. The show, estimated to reach an estimated750 million people from theU.S.and over 90 countries outside theU.S., was the perfect venue to whetthe appetite of fans awaiting their album, set to drop of October 24.

 

The program was also an excellent showcase for upcomingmovies, particularly Saw III and Grind House, which were prominentlyfeatured and heavily promoted. The Scream Awards were hosted by three of Grind House's sexiest vixens, MarleyShelton, Rose McGowan, and Rosario Dawson. The movie's directors, QuentinTarantino and Robert Rodriguez, were also in attendance to accept their spiky statuettefor the Scream Mastermind Award.

 

The director of Saw IIand III, Darren Lynn Boussard, was onhand with stars Tobin Bell and Shawnee Smith to pump up the third installment,in theaters on October 27. A very enticing clip from the movie debuted on theshow (as did a world premiere first look at GrindHouse, out in theaters in spring 2007).

 

There were some funny, pre-produced bits throughout theshow. The first one was the IRS crackdown on award show gift bags, involving aFed and a tax-evading zombie. There was also an inspired "Memorial"clip, honoring those who died over the past year.

 

And how about variety? It was honorary British royalty (SirIan McKellan, for X-Men) pittedagainst homicidal hillbillies (TheDevil's Rejects) for the Most Vile Villain Award. A black crow flew in fromon high carrying a severed finger in its beak, announcing the winner: TheFirefly Clan. Accepting the award was Sheri Moon Zombie (who thanked herdirector, and husband, Rob Zombie), Sid Haig (who thanked Rob, and Lionsgate),and Leslie Easterbook (who got into Mother Firefly mode to thank her nemesisand costar, William Forsythe).

 

The speeches seemed to be a bit edited...probably a goodthing, when you think about sitting through the endless thank-you's and sanctimoniouspolitical agendas dragging on at hoity-toityier ceremonies...and they probablywere; I was at the show on behalf of Horror.com, and we were in the press tentfrom 8 p.m. till after 11 p.m. The televised event only lasted two hours, withcommercial breaks.

 

This is just the tip of the Spike Award. You should see thewhole ceremony for yourself. If you missed the program, check your locallistings for repeats on Spike TV. (If you already saw it, tune in again andsupport your favorite genre!)