Not as good as they say

Rating: Null/10 (22 August 1999)

"Scream" was praised when it came out for being a fine send-up of slasher movies and a good work of satire. On the contrary, "Scream" is, while markedly witty, woefully under-clever and simply another lousy slasher film aspiring to be more.
Furthermore, like many films of its ilk, "Scream" is not what most people would call scary. It uses guys in masks popping out of nowhere and buckets of blood to create the illusion of horror, but slasher flicks are not "horror." Psychological horror movies like the films of Steven King are true horror movies.
"Scream" does seem to be somewhat of a satire of slasher films, but its problem is that the satire is too obvious, as Kevin Williamson's script delights itself in pointing out "Hey, I'm a work of satire" every few minutes.
At least, unlike its followup, the even less clever and completely un-witty "Scream 2", this movie is at times partially enjoyable if highly unrealistic. In real life, a person who gets stabbed any number of times will probably not be able to still get up and walk around pretty well.
All in all, the movie tries to be something it isn't and shouldn't aspire to be: by making a slasher pic trying to satirize other slasher pics and making it even more bloody than many other slasher pics are, you haven't elevated yourself above them at all. The movie has only one truly great scene that I'd guess was probably lost on most people: when Randy (played by Jamie Kennedy) is watching Halloween and doesn't see the killer standing right behind him, all the time exhorting Halloween's heroine, "Look behind you, Jamie! Turn around!" A gleeful bit of self-reference that provided one of the few enjoyable moments in an otherwise forgettable film.