Better now than when it came out.

Rating: 9/10 (19 December 2002)

I've heard a bunch of crap lately about how "The Ring" is SOOOO scary. About how it's the first great horror film since "The Exorcist," and how it blows "Scream" out of the water. Well, folks, I've seen both films, "Scream" many times, and "The Ring" twice, and I have to say, "Scream" is better. By a longshot. Fans of "The Ring" gripe a lot that "Scream" was an over-rated teen slasher film. I will give them that. It is over-rated, maybe because when it came out, there had not been a good teen slasher flick since "A Nightmare on Elm Street," although I'm not really a fan of that title. Also, it seemed cool; it was in that mid-90's cool dialogue trend, where every movie thought it was written and directed by Tarantino or Kevin Smith. So when this thing came out, hey, it was cool. It was cool to see a teen slasher movie MAKE FUN of itself. It was also good to see Wes Craven finally get a good movie, probably his best, and to see Neve Campbell light up the big screen with her radiant smile and perfect "girl-next-door" mannerisms. And it was over-rated. Like many other over-rated flicks of the 90s, "Titanic," "The Blair Witch Project," "The English Patient," it was forgotten in about 6 months. The sequels didn't help. While they weren't bad, not bad at all really, they sort of insulted the superior tone of the first film by cashing in on a statement AGAINST such actions. And of course, we got "I Know What You Did Last Summer," "Valentine," "Urban Legend," and dozens of other movies EXACTLY LIKE THIS ONE that all pretty much sucked. But I watched this movie again the other day. And you know what? It's better now than when it came out. Like "Psycho" or "Halloween," this movie is the best of its particular sub-genre. We're watching the BEST way this type of movie can be made. We saw the sequels. The rip-offs. "The Ring." Now we see how much better this movie is than those, and we see it in a whole new light. "Scream" is not a great, great movie, no: The story line goes haywire at the end and wayyyy over-the-top. But it's a lot of fun.