I like it, but sometimes I don't know why (yeah, there's a spoiler)

Rating: 8/10 (9 February 2000)

Sometimes I don't know why I like the Scream movies. Sure, they are funny, and I do find them all to be acceptably suspenseful, but they're all extremely flawed, as well - including this, the original. While this movie probably contains less flaws than the other two, it's still full of continuity errors and unlikely occurrences. The question is, how much of it is intentional? Who can tell? (Example: *spoiler* somebody fakes his death with ketchup while making it appear to an onlooking character that he really is being stabbed by another character. Come on.)
In the end, though, it doesn't really matter because all three movies manage to entertain despite their flaws, partly due to decent acting on the part of some of the supporting players (Courteney Cox, David Arquette, and especially Jaime Kennedy) and the direction of Wes Craven. I do NOT, however, credit Kevin Williamson that much. While his concept is good, he really only creates a couple round characters and his script succeeds onscreen only because of the aforementioned individual efforts. One need only look at anything Williamson has ever done outside of the Scream series to realize how bad a writer he really is.
Incidentally, I predict that the Scream movies aren't going to age well - not at all. Why? Because all three are so wrapped up in nineties dialogue and pop culture references that in fifteen years no one under the age of 25 will understand them and those older than that will probably be embarrassed that they ever did. Still, in today's context, I give all three an 8/10.
See also my reviews of Scream 2 and Scream 3.