Write a commentI've seen other horror movies before. How could this one be any different?
I kept trying to tell myself this. Reassure myself that I was overreacting. Though I was decades away from a legitimate diagnosis, this was clearly anxiety ramping up.
I was just 13 (and a quarter if we're being specific). It was winter break for the middle school. At the time, my brother and I were regularly going to the movies together. It was, more or less, every Friday night. Because he's 11 years older than I am, sometimes he'd bring me to see movies that maybe I wasn't completely prepared for.
As I've stated many times before in both my personal life and in previous reviews, I'm an enormous coward. Creaks and cracks when I'm in a location by myself always freak me out. Doesn't matter how logical I am normally, when I'm alone, the sounds can't be the house settling or pipes. No way. Gotta be ghosts or a serial killer.
Horror movies are basically danger without any actual risk. You put yourself in the shoes of the characters on screen and go along with them for the journey. You're living vicariously through them. With the right artistry, a movie can be cathartic. You get the feeling as though you've survived the night. It's empowering.
That's my "old man" assessment, however. When I was 13, I didn't know what to expect. While I had seen some horror films prior, this was one of the few I'd seen in a movie theater. In the dark. With a bunch of strangers. While my brother is definitely my blood, if I was ever in danger, he'd run the opposite way. If I survived said danger, I'm sure he'd tell me it was a "learning experience" and he did it for my own good.
As the lights went down, the Dimension logo flashed on screen. Soon after, a telephone rings, a woman's blood curdling yell echoes and "Scream" appears. What follows is the stuff of legend. The opening 10 minutes was one of the most terrifying things most audiences had seen up to that point. For sure, there were more graphic films prior to this, but for a widely released horror film to have this kind of opening was unprecedented.
The plot seems simple on the surface. Near the year anniversary of her mother's murder, Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) is targeted by someone in a costume. These attacks draw national attention along with tabloid journalist Gale Weathers (Cox) who is out to get to the truth of the attacks.
"Scream" was a trailblazer. An example of what the horror genre can be. Smart, funny and thrilling. The screenplay by Kevin Williamson remains the benchmark for the slasher genre. Williamson's script is a miracle of tone shifts and balance. One moment you're laughing, one moment you're thinking and the next you're covering your eyes. The alchemy of all the disparate elements of his screenplay floors me to this day.
But, a screenplay without a director is just some ink on paper. While the screenplay jumped around Hollywood for a while, making its way into the hands of many other directors, it finally settled with Wes Craven. Craven managed to make a renowned classic in each decade of his career. Only a few years prior to the release of "Scream", Craven had his own meta commentary on the horror genre with "Wes Craven's New Nightmare". For those of you who haven't seen it, it's definitely worth checking out.
Craven turned out to be the exact person for this film. The screenplays ever-shifting tone is handled with ease by Craven. Watching "Scream" and what Craven accomplishes, you almost think it would be an easy job. A script like Williamson's may not seem that difficult to make a successful film. But the seemingly lackadaisical nature of Craven's direction is anything but. He just makes it look easy.
Beyond the writing and directing, it's very easy for something to be miscast. Sometimes actors just don't put much effort into their roles. Craven and company cast this film impeccably. From top to bottom, each actor embodies their character. Between the acting, writing and directing, the audience engages with the characters in such a way that it becomes difficult for us to try figuring out who the killer is.
And that's another element of the film that is overlooked from time to time. In a previous review, I mentioned the Italian horror subgenre "giallo". In essence, that's exactly what "Scream" is. The crux of the film is the mystery of who is behind the killings and the brilliance of it is they're constantly throwing out suspects. Watching the film for the first time, it's difficult to really figure out who it is. The film goes to great lengths to keep you guessing.
When first seeing it in the theater, I remember my brother turning to me and pointing out that a character was wearing the same shoes as the killer. The shot is a complete throwaway. My brother turned out to be dead wrong (pun intended), but the fact such a small element of the film could inspire such a theory underlines how well made it is.
Beyond what I've already mentioned, it's incredibly well-shot (by Mark Irwin), edited (by Patrick Lussier) and scored (by Marco Beltrami). The fact that everything in this film works so well, even 30 years later, is a testament to the talent in front of and behind the camera. It's something that truly inspires people.
In fact, "Scream" is what made me want to be a writer. It also sparked my horror fandom. All the films that are mentioned in "Scream", I went out of my way to try finding after. I felt as though if I would be missing some element of it if I didn't see each of the films mentioned. Back in 1996, this was a bit more difficult. Trying to track down VHS of practically anything was near impossible. I'm not trying to make this "old man yells at clouds", but it is so ridiculously easy to find mostly any movie now. Back then, trying to find even the most popular movie would prove difficult if it was over a couple of years old.
I can't fully explain it. I had someone very close to me tell me about the word "ineffable". It means too great or extreme to be expressed or described in words. While the two of us would use that word in an effort to describe our feelings for one another, it can easily be applied to how I feel about this film. I kinda can't bottle up exactly what this means to me. So much time has passed since I first saw it and every time I watch it, it simultaneously feels like the first time as well as every other time I've watched it in the past.
When my brother and I walked out of the theater, the two of us were beaming. We kept talking about how the twist was and how we wanted other people to see it. I ended up seeing it four more times in theaters. When it came out to rent, I rented it and I ended up buying it from Columbia House (if anyone remembers that) and watched it quite a bit. I wanted to make sure everyone I knew watched it, including my mother who notoriously hated horror movies. Even she was thrilled by it. I had to bug her until she admitted it, but she admitted it.
It is a classic for a reason. Not because it turns 30 this year, but because of the inherent quality. Craven toys with you constantly throughout and he blocks action and suspense sequences like no other. A man truly at the top of his game.
It doesn't really matter if you're 13 or 42, "Scream" stands the test of time. A movie both very much of its time as well as being timeless. Something that will always be very important and special to me. Not just a comfort movie but a well-made thriller from some of our best cinematic artisans.
Once the house lights came up, I wasn't dead. I didn't even have a panic attack. I made it through to the end to live another day. To valiantly face my fears, even if my eyes were covered the whole time.
Scream (1996)
Directed by Wes Craven
Cast: Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Jamie Kennedy, Skeet Ulrich, Matthew Lillard, Rose McGowan, W. Earl Brown, Joseph Whipp, Liev Schreiber, Drew Barrymore, Henry Winkler, Roger Jackson
Runtime: 111 minutes
MPAA Rating: R (for strong graphic horror violence and gore and for language)
Rating (out of ****): ****
"Scream" (1996) is available on Paramount + with a subscription as well as on all major streaming platforms to rent or buy. It is also available for purchase on 4K and Blu-Ray disc.
