The definitive slasher movie.

Rating: Null/10 (11 November 2002)

WARNING * SPOILERS * I went to see a late night screening of 'Scream' about six years ago and i have to say i was blown away. In my personal view, Scream is the ultimate slasher movie. Never mind the likes of the over rated Halloween. Scream does for many people what it says on the box. Make you scream. The opening scene alone will do this in spades. The story is quite good for it's genre. A number of teenagers in the small town of woodsboro are stalked by a masked killer (Wearing a ghost mask and black robe with hood) who phones them. He then proceeds to ask the intended victim questions on horror movie trivia. If they get one wrong then it's curtains. While this is going on, young Sidney Prescott (portrayed effectively by Neve Campbell). A teenage girl is trying to still come to terms with the brutal murder of her mother a year earlier. What makes this even more difficult is the apearence of tabloid television news reporter Gale wethers(A scene stealing Courtney Cox). She, along with her cameraman are covering the brutal killings in Woodsboro. An uncaring vulture, Gale is an amazing anti-heroine. Constantly she gets in Sidney's face only to have it pounded. In on the hunt for the masked killer is David Arquette's Dewey Reiley. The Geeky Deputy sheriff of Woodsboro and brother to Sidney's best friend Tatum (The fiesty Rose McGowan). Dewey is the perfect foil to Gale and a unlikely relationship begins that runs through the two sequels. An endearing geek Dewey is rivaled only by Randy(Played well by the talented Jamie Kennedy). The ultimate movie geek and possibly the best character in the trilogy Randy should never have met a grisly demise halfway through 'Scream 2' His wise words on the cliches of the horror genre were part of how Scream took jabs at it self. The final twist however is the real revelation. Proving that the writers have accounted for everything and left no stone unturned. Rather than there being one killer. We're presented with two. Sidney's sex obsessed boyfriend Billy Loomis (Skeet Urich) and Tatums crazy boyfriend Stu (Matthew Lillard) who shrieks that immortal line 'It's a scream baby'. The reasoning for the carnage they have commited is both conflicting. Both reasons are contradicting of one anther and ends Scream on a note that there are sometimes motives for why people kill and sometimes there are not. Each killer has one of the above. Anyway enough of the critique. Just sit back, relax and enjoy Director Wes Cravens finest hour and three quaters. Oh, and don't forget to scream. Rating: 9/10