Still scares me every time!

Rating: 9/10 (19 August 2012)

I was 12 when I first saw this with two girlfriends when it came out on video, my parents were asleep and we watched it on the sly as we were told it was too scary for us. Well, the opening sequence alone was enough to scare the crap out of us, and we spent the rest of the movie peeking out from under the quilt.
And even now, 15 years later, after seeing it numerous times, it's still scary as hell. The first ten minutes would have to go down as the best first ten minutes of any horror movie, ever. I had no idea Drew Barrymore's character was going to die, I thought she was the star (and I've read recently that that was the whole point, Drew was offered the role of Sidney but wanted to play Kasey instead to throw the audience off and have them realise anyone could die). And die she did, in circumstances I can only describe as my worst nightmare. When her parents came home and she was around the side of the house trying to call out to them, I was screaming "throw the phone at them, throw the PHONE!!!!".
After that we meet Sidney, played very well by Neve Campbell, very believable as the tortured victim who just can't seem to escape the drama. Although I rolled my eyes when she was home alone, getting prank calls, and went out on the front porch after the man on the phone told her he was on...her front porch. And I am still a little bit confused as to why she went to that party at the end, I mean she was attacked in her home, the killer called her friends house, she was attacked again in the school toilets, so she goes to party in the middle of nowhere with one dopey cop as the only protection? Then has sex with the prime suspect.
I must admit I didn't guess the killers straight away. I thought it was Billy for awhile, but then when they arrested him halfway in I assumed they wanted you to think it was Billy but it wouldn't be, then he got "stabbed" by the killer and I instantly thought it must be Randy, then when Stu said he was going to get a beer and he never returned, I realised it must be him, otherwise he would have seen his girlfriend hanging in the doggy door and raised the alarm. My mother guesses every single killer in every movie. She said Billy and Stu shared "a look" at the fountain, a "look" in the video store, and a "look" when Billy turned up at Stu's party. And when I watched it again, I realised she was right, it was pretty obvious.
Overall, a great horror movie, I loved all the sequels including the fourth movie that I saw recently.