Alright, so, I am taking a look back at the Scream franchise by watching and reviewing all of the Scream movies. Starting (obviously) with the original 1996 classic, Scream. Scream is directed by Wes Craven, the script is by the wonderful Kevin Williams, and stars Neve Campbell, Courtnety Cox, David Arquette, and Drew Barrymore.
In the 90's, the slasher/horror genre was dying. We had movies like Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers coming out at this point. Then, Scream came out, and saved the horror/slasher genre! Scream has left some kind of impact on the genre.
The most memorable part of the whole Scream franchise is the opening scene with Drew Barrymore getting strange phone calls from a stranger. They start to talk and then he slips up by saying that he wants to know who he's looking at, and she hangs up. He calls her back, threatening her. She then sees her boyfriend outside, tied on to a chair. The caller makes her answer horror trivia and she gets a question wrong, which gets her boyfriend killed. She then starts running around the house because the killer breaks in. She eventually gets killed and gutted. The scene ends with her parents coming home to find her hanging from a tree. This scene is suspenseful, they make you care about the character. Before I go on, I want to clarify this: Scream Is Not Horror! It is suspense. This scene is suspenseful. There is popcorn in the beginning of the scene, and as the scene ends, there is a fire in the house.
The rest of the movie involves Sydney Prescott and her friends being picked off one by one. The killer is obsessed with Sydney. Which gets Sydney caught up in the quest to unmask the killer. Neve's performance is not one-note, and has many different views. The movie really makes you think and guess about who the killer is. The best part about who the killer is that the killer isn't someone you see onscreen for two minutes of screen time. The movie really keeps you guessing. Something I really want to point out about the Ghostface killer is that he isn't scary. He's sometimes even slapstick. It's like you could take him down, but he won't go down.
One of my favorite things about the first two movies in the Scream franchise is Randy, (Jamie Kennedy) the film geek. His character is funny and gives us one of the most memorable parts of the Scream movies; the rules to a horror movie. He is my favorite character from the first Scream movie. And, out of all of Craven's movies, I think he's my favorite character. He's telling us what we already know about horror movies. Scream (or at least the first) is very self-aware and intelligent. It knows what the audience knows. Such as, if you say something like, "I'll be right back." You'll die (in a horror movie).
Overall, Scream is a classic movie. It not only saved the horror/slasher genre, but saved Drew Barrymore's career. It launched Kevin Williamson's scriptwriting career. Actually if you take out the killing part, it's like Dawson's Creek (which Williamson wrote).
I give Scream: 8.5 out 10 stars