A Brief Report On The 2008 Spike TV Scream Awards

Regular Screen Rant reader Brian Kettler attended the 2008 Spike TV Scream awards and was kind enough to send us in a brief report. Here it is, in his own words:

The 2008 Spike TV Scream awards were held again this year at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles. For anyone unfamiliar with the Greek, it’s an open air venue situated in Griffith Park. The open air nature of the theater led to some really thrilling entertainment, along with a daring entrance by a special guest who looked sincerely scared that his entrance would end tragically.

The red carpet event was truly fun to attend. The show almost started late due to the guests taking their time talking to the press at the event and posing for pictures. Of course, being a general attendee and not a member of the press, not everyone stopped to talk to us. The Osborne’s looked great. Ozzy was not much for words on the red carpet though. Stan Lee seemed to shake everyone’s hand, and was thoroughly engaging. Sean William Scott was there to promote his new movie, “Role Models”. But the highlight for me was Gary Oldman. He was being rushed to the small red carpet stage where Greg Grunberg was doing the pre-show interviews, and still took the time to say hello to us. Truly a class act!

One Celebrity who seemed to prefer not to be seen was Igor Jijikine, the actor who portrayed “Dovchenko” in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. After making a mad dash down the red carpet, Igor was not stopping for many photos or questions. He was likely there to simply enjoy the show, as he did not present any awards. It was nice to see him there but disappointing he was not a part of the show.

Sir Anthony Hopkins was the first to receive his award. He seemed to really enjoy delighting the crowd with his presence. I’m sure he didn’t quite know what to make of all the Goths and people in costume in the audience, but he was a good sport about it. The show itself was fantastic and I can’t wait to see the telecast version of it. There were quite a few graphic moments of adult humor, so possibly look for an update after the broadcast if they leave anything out.

As promised, there was new Watchmen footage screened. A lot of it was the same we’ve seen before featuring the Smashing Pumpkins song “The Beginning Is The End” with a few new scenes added in . These include a lot of “beauty” shots of the characters, along with the entire “shot out the window” Comedian sequence, extended from the initial trailer. Now, we see him go through the window and all the way down, with the famous smiley-face button almost hovering in the air. My favorite scene was of Dr Manhattan disassembling a tank. I don’t think any fan will be disappointed by this movie. Everything looked like the comic panels come to life.

The highlight of the show was definitely the finale. Samuel L Jackson, always a crowd pleaser, presented an award to a very special unannounced guest. All those in attendance were given glow sticks to heighten the presentation, with specific instructions to light them up when Sam started talking. Of course, when you invite the public and provide free beer, inevitably glow sticks are going to fly! Before Sam finished talking, a few sticks made it all the way to the stage! When the secret guest came out, everyone was busy giving him a standing ovation and no one threw glow sticks. That led me to believe that Matt Stone and Trey Parker were not present at the event.

Who was the special guest? Just wait for October 21st at 9pm on Spike TV! I’m already looking forward to next year’s event!