Film Review: "Scream"

              

            To say that slashers were on the decline before the release of Wes Craven’s Scream would be an understatement. By that point in 1996, the slasher genre had gone completely stale and left for dead. Most of what we got were rehashes of things we had already seen. It was sequel after sequel of the main slasher franchises such as Friday the 13^th and Halloween. What was once a thoughtful look at gender and a vehicle for women be heroes (because of the Final Girl trope) had become a soulless excuse to show blood and violence on the screen. Then, Scream arrived and rewrote the whole narrative on slasher films. The genre was once again alive and thriving.

            Scream follows Neve Campbell as Sidney Prescott, a young high school girl who is approaching the one-year anniversary of her mother’s grizzly murder. As the date approaches, a new murderer shows up and begins targeting the teens from Sidney’s high school. This killer, Ghostface, constantly references classic horror movies as part of his sick, twisted game.

            The tone is set from the very beginning where Scream gives audiences what I believe to be one of the best openings ever put on film. This opening sees Drew Berrymore, the film’s most marketable star at the time, as Ghostface’s first victim, Casey Becker. The way in which she is handled is very an attempt to try and recreate what Psycho did with Janet Leigh. In killing off the film’s biggest star, the audience is told that nobody is safe and it makes everything much more tense. Throughout the opening, we witness Ghostface’s unsettlingly humorous behavior as well as his cold-blooded brutality.

            Once the chilling opening is over, we are introduced to the real protagonist, Sidney Prescott. Sidney’s introduction provides plenty of background information. It is here that we first learn that her father is going away for a few days, adding to the mystery surrounding the forthcoming deaths. We are also introduced to Skeet Ulrich’s Billy Loomis and begin to understand the complicated relationship between him and Sidney.

The night ends and when Sidney arrives to school the next morning, she is surprised by the media frenzy surrounding the place. It is only when she meets up with best friend Tatum (Rose McGowan) that she hears of Casey Becker’s death. The media presence is important because this film explores people’s craving for the “next big story”. Scream smartly looks at the way that being part of a big news story can impact one’s actions or emotions.

The film finds most of its success in its ability to be a horror film that is completely self-referential. It celebrates the great horror films that came before it by deconstructing their “rules” and applying them to this “real-life scenario”. The characters, especially Jamie Kennedy’s Randy, play a big role in this. They are ones who, through their actions and conversations, make it possible for the audience to understand how the horror genre is supposed to work.

It is crucial for a horror film to have a villain that actually feels threatening. Michael Myers in Halloween works because he is an unstoppable force that is always present. Freddy Krueger is frightening because you know that sleep is inevitable and that is when he strikes. The thing that makes Ghostface a worthy villain is how smart he actually is. He understands how things are supposed to go in a horror-film scenario and uses that to his advantage. It is all a cruel game to him. He knows what to say and to do in order to strike fear into his victims. Through it all, you get a sense that he finds it all to be a fun game.

There is a lot more to him than just his brains, though. Part of what I enjoy most about Ghostface is how human he is. By that I mean that he’s not supernatural in any way and is very susceptible to being hurt. His humanity also allows for him to make mistakes, show emotions and even be outsmarted. I believe that having a villain that actually feels real is far scarier than one that could never happen such as a Freddy Krueger or Michael Myers.
            Nearly 22 years after its release, Scream continues to scare audiences. At the time of its release, Scream was a completely original concept that reminded everyone of just how good a slasher film can be. Since the original release, Scream has spawned three additional sequels as well as a multi-season television series. Its success and impact on the horror genre cannot be denied. Scream is nothing short of a masterpiece and deserves to be celebrated as the icon that it has become.