A wicked and helacious ride

Rating: 9/10 (17 February 1999)

A good deal of horror fails in the reactions of the critical characters in the plot. "Scream" suceeds, from the start, with reaction. It isn't enough to scream--you have to MEAN it. Drew Barrymore looks truly shaken as the beginning of the movie hammers her poor psyche. From that moment, one thing was clear:
This movie was coming from a place that it knew to be in dire need of reform. That there was any thought given by Kevin Williamson to how atrocious horror movies had become gave me a charge. I realized that the movie was going to play with my expectations, and as a die-hard, horror-movie addict who can't give up on the genre despite myself, I realized I was in for a ride and a half. Perhaps I was lucky to see "Scream" at its East Coast debut. The crowd was wonderful, and the feelings were all celebratory, because not one of us had seen a trailer or knew anything about what was to follow. Such a thing complemented the film's attitude of taking you by surprise to dish out something fresh, something new, something that was aware of all the standard pit-falls.
The writing was good, yes. Sure. The direction was precise, yes. Sure (save for that one boom shadow and a few quick cuts that don't seem to fit), but what hooked me most were the characters, acted wonderfully by Campbell, Arquette, Kennedy, Lilliard, Ulrich, and Cox. What a group of great people, no? Such memorable characters are a pleasant surprise in light of the usual, cardboard actors a horror movie dishes out. "Scream" makes you care about the people dying, even if they're not around very long.
Though despite it all, it's the seedy core of the movie that gets me the most: the rape and promiscuity of Sydney's mother as well as the absolutely vicious attack scenes show guts, so to speak. It eliminates a great deal (not all, however), of what I consider the Hollywood Barrier. You know the feeling--that feeling of restraint on the part of the killer. That feeling that the evil It, or evil He, or evil She would LOVE to go further, would LOVE to kill as it is created to do, but can't, because, well, who would want to see that? "Scream"'s opening sequence goes further than most films would dare, and I greatly admire that.