Frissons

By the 1990s the Slasher genre was becoming stale, filled with clichés, countless sequels and very predictable and uninventive. Likely two men was able to play on this, Kevin Williamson and Wes Craven was able to play on this and made a really excellent take on Slashers.

In the small town of Woodsboro two teenagers (Drew Barrymore and Kevin Patrick Walls) are shockingly murdered, a year after a woman was raped and murdered in the town centre. Very quickly the town is thrown into turmoil, with the media reporting on it, but the teens do not seem to be worried. The killer, known as Ghost-face soon targets another Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), the daughter of a victim, who luckily escapes. But Ghost-face is going to rest and goes on a mission to take down Sidney and anyone who stands in his way.

Scream works because it is set in a world where horror movies do exist and teenagers know clichés. It is a self-aware horror film and has a lot of references to classic horror films like Halloween. Scream is forced to be inventive and Craven who is a master of the horror genre, so knew what he was doing with this film.

Even if Scream was not made with a post-modern, self-aware horror with a comic edge, it still would have been an excellent horror film and one of the best slashers around. Craven and Williamson made sure their characters were fully developed, likable or at least normal. Sidney is a character with a lot of a baggage because of her mother's death and afraid to get close to people. She is a likable because is a friendly, smart, decent girl who is also tough. Sidney's friend Tatum (Rose McGowan) was tough no-nonsense girl who could have easily been the clichéd slut role, but that was avoided because she was a good friend and competent. Courteney Cox plays a unpleasant journalist who cares more ratings and book sales more then safety of people and emotional harm. She is not a journalist who is looking to report the truth or for the public interest. But she does come good at the end. The characters of Randy (Jamie Kennedy) and Stuart (Matthew Lillard) offer a lot of comic relief particular because of their knowledge of horror films. And David Arquettte is solid as a competent police officer who has a typical brother-sister relationship with Tatum.

Cavern made sure Scream was exciting with a lot of action, violence and creative deaths. I particular like his technique of using the camera to follow the victims and move it around the house, adding excitement and intrigue. He knows how to build suspects and he does keep you guessing. I don't get scared watching horror films but you do care for Sidney and the idea of being home alone at night can make you more tense.

I do have a criticism. They does not seem to be much of a reaction at the school hearing about two of their peers being brutally murdered. Most people seem to be very causal about it and saw it as something fun, not worried about a serial killer being on the loose or just saw it as an excuse for a party. Come on, if they was a murder in a small town there would be more sadden, grief and worry. Personally I would have focused on this collective reaction, but I am a more serious person and possibly would have a thriller/a social piece.

Overall, Scream is certainly a worthy horror film, no manner what generation of horror fan you are.

I thoroughly enjoyed SCREAM. I haven't seen too many horror movies that struck me as great, especially since most of them are the same. I like THE SIXTH SENSE, THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT and SCREAM for the same reason, they are more original than the default horror flick.

Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) is still mourning the death of her mother, who died nearly one year ago. She seems very distant, even from her best friend Tatum Riley (Rose McGowan) and her boyfriend Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich). She, and most everyone else, thought that the killer was already behind bars. But when people close to Sidney start to get killed, Sidney realizes the the killer is still at large. Deputy Dewey Riley (David Arquette) is there to protect Sidney and reporter Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) is there to get the scoop.

I think the plot of this movie is very interesting and fun. The best part of it is that the killer does his murders in the style of horror movies. The rules of horror movies are often referred to and horror movies are even spoofed fairly often as well.

The actors do a very good job. Neve Campbell is excellent as the primary target/victim and main character of this movie. David Arquette does a fair job as the inexperienced cop (but not as good as in the sequel) and Courtney Cox does a great job as the bitch reporter. Drew Barrymore did very good in her very brief part as Casey Becker. Jamie Kennedy does an OK job as Randy Meeks, the movie expert (but again, not as good as in the sequel). Roger Jackson is the best possible choice for the phone voice and Henry Winkler had a great cameo.

The character development in this movie is good. You'll probably often yell "Look behind you, moron" or "Get out of the room, idiot" at your TV, which this movie is probably going for. Sidney is the most interesting character, with Dewey and and Gale at a close second.

I was surprised that I found Scream 2 to be even better than Scream was. But both are really good. Go out and buy them.

Making a brilliant, original horror film is pretty hard these days, since practically everything has already been told, and more than once. Using that premise, director Wes Craven and screenwriter Kevin Williamson came up with Scream, whose cleverness derives from the fact that it knows every single stereotype of the genre and satirizes them.

Take the opening sequence, for example: a young girl (Drew Barrymore) is making popcorn and waiting for her boyfriend when she suddenly receives a phone call. Normally, this would be a huge clichè, only this time the killer decides to play a little game (horror film quiz, naturally) with his victim. In fact, the only reason why he kills her is that she gave the wrong answer to one of his questions (those who haven't seen Friday 13th might want to skip that bit, as it spoils said movie's ending). That scene is both very scary (the murder is quite graphic and disturbing) and at the same time funny (it tests the characters', and the audience's, knowledge of the horror genre), and the rest of the film continues in the same vein: after the first killing, the masked psychopath starts disposing of other teenagers in the town of Woodsboro using the same technique. One of the targets is Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), whose mother was raped and killed the year before. This implies the killer might be the same, but who could it be? Sidney's distant father? Her mother's lover (Liev Schreiber)? Or some random guy, with no motive at all?

Fortunately, it is not the last category: this murderer has a motive and a plausible identity as well. But it isn't the payoff that makes Scream interesting; it's how Craven and Williamson get to it, by outlining the genre's conventions (some of which were actually invented by the director himself) and using them in a clever, if self-referential, way. The point of the movie is, the more you know of this kind of films (pay attention to the rules, stated by geeky film buff Randy), the more chances you have to survive (although you must take into account that the killer has seen the same movies). The in-jokes that would ruin other films are the very cause of Scream's success, with memorable scenes such as the villain mimicking the movie his victims are watching or Craven's unmissable cameo as a janitor wearing Freddy Krueger's outfit (not to mention priceless lines like "Movies don't create psychos, movies make psychos more creative!").

In other words, Scream is a smart, effective horror film, which manages to amuse and scare in equal measures. Definitely worth watching, even if the two sequels (especially Scream 3) don't really match the original's intelligence and, forgive the expression, originality.

Watching this film for the first time in the basement of a four story house, with no-one else in was the perfect setting for this film. From the very first scene I was gripped and I could not wait for the climax to discover the murderer and his motives. The script was extremely original, as they had purposely set out to parodie the typical slasher style movie.

It was written in a way that deceived and tricked and had you jumping out of your seats but also laughing at the paradoxical black humour. For anyone looking for a good horror film with a twist, you won't find a better one than Scream.

Overall I give it 9.5/10

Scream single-handedly revitalized the slasher genre, which was beyond dead as of 1996, and inspired countless spin-offs and attempted remakes in its wake. Wes Craven creates yet another horror masterpiece, and does so in an original and unique way. Add in the witty, self aware, reference-filled script by Kevin Williamson, which was rumored to have taken influence from Friday the 13th Pt 6, and you have one of the most iconic slashers ever made. Arguably the greatest opening scene to a horror movie ever, along with so many more iconic lines and scenes (Randy watching Halloween on the couch). The acting is next level by horror/slasher standards and has a very likable cast. Skeet Ulrich giving his best performance of his career, Matthew Lillard, Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, Drew Barrymore ... do i need to go on? The influence and impact Scream had on the late 90's is undeniable, simply one of the best scary movies of all time.