Scream

 “What’s your favorite scary movie?”

With the ring of a telephone and that one iconic line, a phenomenon was born. While the early 90s is often noted for its dearth of quality horror (though there are some gems to be found if you know where to look), Scream came along in ‘96 to revitalize the genre for a new generation.

Scream was written by Kevin Williamson (I Know What You Did Last Summer) and directed by Wes Craven (A Nightmare on Elm Street). Scream was made on a budget of $14 million, made $6,354,586 upon opening, and went on to make $173,046,663 worldwide. It was released on December 20, 1996 to positive reviews and a sequel was greenlit while it was still in theaters.

One year after the brutal murder of her mother, Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell, Party of Five) and her friends begin to be stalked by a masked killer with a love of horror movies. Meanwhile local reporter Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox, Friends) teams up with police deputy Dewey Riley (David Arquette, Eight Legged Freaks) to try to identify the murderer.

 While on its surface Scream is your standard slasher (with a dash of whodunit thrown in for good measure), at its core it’s an excellent satire of the genre while still being an effective horror film itself. Right from the beginning of it’s iconic opening scene Scream displays it’s delightfully self-aware nature while providing a thrilling cat and mouse sequence and gruesome death for its famous opening victim, Casey Becker (Drew Barrymore, Santa Clarita Diet).

Not content with just upending the slasher genre with its biting humor, Scream distinguishes itself with its stellar cast. Williamson and Craven cleverly play with our expectations by creating certain character archetypes and then subverting them. Our Final Girl has sex (with the killer no less) and emerges victorious while characters like Gale, Dewey, and Randy (Jamie Kennedy, Ghost Whisperer), who would normally exist to add to the body count, survive to see the sequel. 

The reveal of the killers is masterfully done. Throughout the film Sidney’s boyfriend Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich, The Craft) acts so suspicious that the audience will dismiss him as an obvious red herring and it is actually shocking when he’s revealed to be the killer. The reveal that there is a second killer (Matthew Lillard, Scooby-Doo) and their motives is just icing on the cake. The entire climax is a non-stop thrill ride.

Scream is, as far as I am concerned, a perfect film. It balances its humor and scares well and the cast, script, and direction come together to create a singular experience.

Rating: 5 cloned cellulars out of 5

Other Observations:

• Does the Dog Die? No animals are harmed!

• Harrison’s Favorite Scare: Tie between the opening and Tatum’s (Rose McGowan, Charmed) iconic death.

• With the release of Scream (2022) in January (aka Scream 5), I will be periodically covering each entry in the franchise until then. As of now those reviews will be released as follows: Scream 2 - July 19, Scream 3 - September 27, Scream 4 - November 22, Scream (2022) - January 24

Next Week: Once again I was planning on covering Candyman (2021) upon its release until it was pushed back to September. So instead I will be following up on my Alien review with the brilliant follow-up: Aliens.