Blyss's Movie Review for:

Main Cast of Characters:

Neve Campbell.........Sidney Prescott

Jamie Kennedy..........Randy Meeks

Drew Barrymore.........Casey Becker

Matthew Lillard..........Stu Macher

David Arquette...........Deputy Dewey Riley

Rose McGowan...........Tatum Riley

Courtney Cox...........Gail Weathers

Skeet Ulrich...........Billy Loomis

Liev Schreiber...........Cotton Weary

W. Earl Brown...........Kenny Jones

Lawrence Hecht...........Neil Prescott

Kevin Patrick Walls...........Steve Orth

Lynn McRee...........Maureen Prescott

Henry Winkler...........Principal Arthur Himbry

1996. Rated: R. Genre: Horror; 111 minutes

What's your favorite scary movie?

That seems to be the exact phrase that catches on in this movie. As any great horror/slasher film should, it begins with a murder. Young Casey Becker is in the kitchen making popcorn and an annoying person keeps calling her back. She becomes comfortable with the person finally and even leads him to think that she might date him until she finds out that the guy is right outside of her house. After he threatens her, she threatens him back, saying that her boyfriend will be along soon and he will be mad and kick the guy's butt. But it just so happens that her boyfriend has already arrived and the killer has him tied up on the patio. Casey has to agree to play a game with the killer to save her boyfriend's life. Finally she agrees. Unfortunately, she misses one of the movie trivia questions the killer used to trick her and her boyfriend dies. The killer then chases her down, guts her, and hangs her in a tree. Word of her and her boyfriend's demise spreads quickly around the school. This affects Sidney Prescott more than any other girl on campus because not too long ago her mother had been raped and murdered in the same town. Sidney identified the killer as Cotton Weary, but reporter Gail Weathers think she wrongly identified him and writes a book, declaring Cotton innocent. That evening her best friend Tatum Riley invites her over to spend the night since Sidney is scared to stay at her house with her father out of town. Someone calls Sidney and threatens her and then she finds out the same guy is in the house as he attacks her in a "ghost" outfit. When she opens the front door, Tatum's "Barney Fife" brother, Dewey is standing there and he screams like a girl. The nightmare begins! There are so many suspects that it is hard for Dewey or anyone else to determine the killer: Randy Meeks, a video store employee who is obsessed with horror flicks ...and Sidney Prescott; Sidney's best friend, Tatum Riley, Stu Macher, Tatum's boyfriend who has a sick sense of humor, Billy, Sidney's sex-obsessed boyfriend; Neil Prescott, Sidney's father....or is it someone else? The possibilities are endless and so are the killings in this great beginning of the horror trilogy known as "Scream".

This first installment of "Scream" really impressed me. Before this, I did not even know who Neve Campbell was or many of the other actors who starred in this film. I think my favorite character in the movie was Randy Meeks because I could really identify with the whole "movie freak" thing, as you can tell! David Arquette did not get on my nerves as bad in this one as he did in the other two Scream films. There are many talented actors and actresses in this film, but if I just had to choose one, I would choose Matthew Lillard. He did an excellent job playing the sick humored yet somewhat funny Stu Macher. He also had a big part in what was a shocking ending but I won't give it away here.

I can't really talk about "special effects" in this film as I do with all of the other movies I review. Let's just say my favorite "special effects" part had to do with a television.

This movie stresses recurring themes in horror movies and explains them and it also made a lot of interesting points that the film industry has been fighting to get across in recent years.First of all, where else but Scream can you get the rules of horror movies so eloquently laid out by Randy Meeks: 1. Never have sex in a horror film because sex equals death. 2. Never drink or do drugs in a horror film because you will die because of the sin factor. You sin, you die. 3. Never say "I'll be right back." because you won't. One of the major statements that I think this film was trying to get across to people, Billy summed up in one sentence: "Movies don't create psychos, movies make psychos more creative."

I rate this film: 9

Blyss