You never forget your first time.
Your first ever viewing of 1996’s Scream will always be your best experience with the film. It was so new, so fun and so goddamned scary.
As a ten-year-old who was well-versed in horror already, the kills in Scream were startling, brutal and in-your-face. The victims were young and good-looking. They were smart-ass and charming, sometimes at the same time. It was like a movie I’d never seen before.
Writer Kevin Williamson had quietly put together what would quickly become a global sensation, and he knew it. In teaming up with the incomparable Wes Craven, the duo proceeded to reshape the genre in filmmaking as we thought we knew it. Craven had already had experience retooling his own epic franchise, A Nightmare on Elm Street, with 1994’s Wes Craven’s A New Nightmare. The comedy and horror mixed perfectly, as only Wes was able to ever truly get right. The meta look at the world of horror movies was in stark contrast to simply “playing by the rules”. Ever the creative genius, Craven knew a great script and top-shelf young cast would do wonders at the box office but if you really wanted to do something that would change everything, you needed an icon. Thus, one of the most recognizable horror faces to ever grace a screen was born- Ghostface.
In a 2011 article I wrote for Ravenous Monster, celebrating the Scream franchise fresh off of the release of Scream 4, I wrote the following:
“The horror genre had all but been pushed aside by mainstream Hollywood through the 1990’s after a wonderfully successful run in the 1980’s. Was that due to the cinema rule of thumb that everything eventually cycles through, or was it because no one had the creativity or the cajones to soak Hollywood in blood, once again?
In 1996, Scream gave a whole new generation the chance to absorb a true horror film experience, much like their parents had with the likes of The Exorcist, Jaws, and Halloween. Scream also offered a new question to ponder when asked, “What’s your favorite scary movie?”
If you haven’t seen the movie yet, do yourself a favor and go watch it tonight. Seriously.
I feel like a typical plot synopsis isn’t required for a film of Scream’s magnitude, so I’ll just stick to some key points or milestones in the genre.
The film instantly packs a punch, with arguably one of the greatest and most nerve-shredding scenes in cinema history. Drew Barrymore plays a high school student named Casey, who is preparing for a night of popcorn and movies while also possibly seeing her boyfriend. Before the Jiffy Pop kernels can even start crackling, Casey is forced to start playing the world’s most terrifying game of horror trivia. Shortly thereafter, she is slashed throughout her home and front yard before her parents find her strung up in a tree.
Then the title card is splashed across the screen.
Jesus Christ.
The movie tells the story of Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) as she tries to avoid becoming Ghostface’s next victim. The serial killer seems hell-bent on ruining Sidney’s life while killing off everyone around her in grand fashion.
Scream never takes itself too seriously and that’s, perhaps, one of its strongest qualities that has allowed it to remain undefeated in the world of meta horror, in this writer’s opinion. It’s also what makes the movie even more terrifying. For every cameo and nod to pop culture, there’s a devastating and vibrant murder just ahead. For every rule that the film’s comic relief Randy Meeks relays about how horror films are supposed to work, there’s a twist that keeps you riveted to your seat. Craven and Williamson set the film at a pace that is almost unbearable, and yet it works. It works so goddamn well.
At one point in the film, Sidney bemoans horror films, claiming, “They’re all the same, some stupid killer stalking some big-breasted girl who can’t act who’s always running up the stairs when she should be going out the front door.”
Naturally, when Neve begins to give into the tired horror trope of the good girl losing her virginity, she is forced to run upstairs to try and save her life. She knows it’s a bad idea, the audience knows it’s a bad idea, and yet we were left screaming at the big screen, hoping she’d get away. Maybe she’d be the one to do it, to get away from the bad guy by doing what so many women did before her in horror!
As always with a Craven film, there’s social commentary throughout, subtle and not-so-subtle. In a sad twist of fate, the movie echoes what soon became a serious problem in America. At one point, Deputy Dewey (David Arquette) asks his Sheriff if a high school student could even have the grit to commit such terrible murders. The Sheriff bluntly replies, “Twenty years ago, I would’ve said not a chance. But these kids today, damned if I know.”
Scream has become a powerhouse franchise, spawning spoofs and poorly-crafted copycats and giving us all a go-to Halloween costume forever. Simply put, it will always hold a special place in my horror-loving heart.
For a film that is now three decades old, it holds up spectacularly well in just about every aspect.
Best of all, it continues to challenge audiences, new and old, to answer the classic question, “What’s your favorite scary movie?”
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