Scream
Starring: Drew Barrymore, Neve Campbell, Skeet Ulrich, Courtney Cox, David Arquette, Matthew Lillard, Jamie Kennedy
Directed by: Wes Craven
Rating: R
Genre: Horror
1996
Times Seen:
Tim: 4
Summary: After a young high schooler (Drew Barrymore) is savagely murdered, the town goes crazy. A crew of reporters immediately stakes out the town, including an ambitious reporter (Courtney Cox). Much of the town focuses on a young high school teenager (Neve Campbell), whose mother was raped and murdered almost a year ago. The cops (including David Arquette) are baffled as the murders continue to occur. Will the killer be caught before more innocent people are killed?
Review:
Tim: Scream revitalized the horror genre in America. The problem with horror movies is that they all follow the same familiar formula, and really can't scare audiences like they used to. This film lampoons on itself, having a running commentary about scary movies from start to finish. It's smart, intelligent, witty, and keeps the audience wondering who will die next.
Drew Barrymore makes the entire movie with the opening scene. She had originally been asked to star in the film, but instead, she chose to take a much smaller role, but one that sets the whole movie up. She is terrific in her small role, and it is unbelievably scary.
You know a film has made it when it spawns a number of rip-offs and parodies, like this film did. (Anyone seen the horrible Scary Movie?). Screamis so great because it combines frightening horror, comedy, and a viewer's knowledge of horror cliches. This is probably Wes Craven's best film.
To help explain the underlying intelligence, this dialogue shows how clever this film is-
Neve Campbell- "But this isn't a movie!"
Skeet Ulrich- "Sure it is. It's all just one big movie."
Another classic line is, "No Mr. Ghostman, don't kill me, I want to be in the sequel."
This is about as good as horror movies can possibly get, and I highly recommend seeing it if you haven't already.
Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 9
If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend:
Scream 2, Scream 3, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Scary Movie, Scary Movie 2