A clever and original slasher-horror flick that reinvented the horror genre

Rating: 9/10 (5 September 2015)

In the 1970s and 80s, Hollywood treated us with amazing slasher- horror flicks such as The Last House on The Left (1973), Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), Halloween (1978), Friday the 13th (1980), A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), and other lesser noticed slasher films. At the dawn of the 90s, the slasher genre was dying as Hollywood was failing to come up with anything new and was repeatedly recycling the same formula of the genre. This was until Wes Craven resurrected the genre with this unique, self-aware, teen- horror slasher film that parodies its genre with new elements, new twists, and new scares that many horror fans were not expecting. This film stars Neve Campbell as Sidney Scott, a 17-year old high school girl traumatized by the murder of her mother, who begins being stalked by a masked killer who begins taking the lives of her fellow school mates. Sound familiar? Just wait! The teenagers learn to survive against the killer's onslaught by using advice from horror movies by learning how characters in the movies become victims.
Featuring a cast of Skeet Ulrich, Jamie Kennedy, Matthew Lillard, Rose McGowan, David Arquette, Courtney Cox, and Drew Barrymore, this movie drifts away from the typical slasher-horror clichés and comes up with new elements. Instead of having the characters make unwise decisions by failing to run out the door to safety while being chased it a killer, this film creates characters who are aware of their mistakes that characters from other horror films make and realize why the killer is after them. Like many horror fans, they also manage to point out every cliché that happens in a slasher movie like characters who are virgins end up surviving or how characters die because they fail to run out the front door instead of random places in the house. Basically, this movie is about teenagers who get killed from making a whole new set of unwise decisions.
Neve Campbell does the great job as the main character. Then there is Skeet Ulrich who plays Billy Loomis, her clingy boyfriend, and Jamie Kennedy who plays Randy Meeks who is a huge move buff and is well educated on what goes on in horror movies. Many scenes where he makes references to other horror movies and establishes a set of rules in order to survive against a masked killer. These rules include: do not have sex, do not drink or do drugs, and do not "I'll be right back" before leaving somewhere. He is one of those characters who is really smart and has knowledge on how to survive a horror movie. Then there is the rest of the cast who demonstrate some great acting skills.
Scream is one of the most original and clever horror movies. Like many slashers, it has the blood and gore that many gore fans come to appreciate. Overall, this movie succeeds at avoiding most (if not all) of the clichés that many horror films are known for. This is probably the best movie by Wes Craven in his career.