Post-modernism has never been so scary.

Rating: 9/10 (24 October 2009)

It's easy to become prejudiced against Scream: after all, it's the film that launched the career of Kevin Williamson, who has since been responsible for pathetic teen soap Dawson's Creek and rubbish werewolf pic Cursed, plus it provided the inspiration for countless dreadful imitators and the godawful Scary Movie slasher spoofs.
But the fact is, when judged purely on its own merits, Scream proves to be excellent entertainment—an extremely well written and expertly directed horror that brilliantly integrates witty, post-modernist self parody with genuinely effective scares.
An awesome opening sees arguably the film's biggest star, Drew Barrymore, being terrorised and brutally murdered by a killer wearing a mask fashioned after the famous Edvard Munch painting The Scream, after which director Wes Craven quickly introduces his main cast: Neve Campbell as Sidney Prescott, a virginal teen traumatised by the murder of her slutty mother a year earlier; Johnny Depp-alike Skeet Ulrich as Sidney's boyfriend Billy Loomis; nipple-icious Rose McGowan, crazy Matthew Lillard, and nerdy Jamie Kennedy as close pals Tatum, Stuart and Randy; Courteney Cox as ambitious TV newswoman Gail Weathers; and David Arquette as dorky police deputy 'Dewey' Riley.
Having established his array of characters, Craven then proceeds to scare the pants off his audience with a series of well orchestrated murders, interspersed by thrilling/amusing scenes in which people almost get murdered and wax lyrical about the 'rules of horror'. There's not a whole lot of gore to speak of, but the tension is kept high, and there's always the 'in-jokes' to keep viewers happy between kills.
Along the way, Craven cleverly interweaves several plot threads, offers several possible candidates as the killer, and shows once again why he is a true 'Master of Horror'.