A fun movie that effectively parodied the slasher genre

Rating: 9/10 (6 July 2009)

Following the big flop "New Nightmare", which was not actually a bad film, Wes Craven came out all guns blazing, armed with a nice script from Kevin Williamson, and made the single biggest movie of his career.
The script is a lot of fun with various in jokes, and it doesn't take long for them to start coming. "The first nightmare on Elm Street was good, the rest sucked," was an obvious reference to Wes Craven directing the original and not the later ones, Craven later makes a cameo appearance as a janitor named "Fred" wearing a green and red jumper. Several other classic horror films are also referenced including the Exorcist, Friday the 13th, Halloween 1 and 2, Hellraiser, Prom Night, The Howling and Rosemary's Baby.
The plot revolves around Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), a young high Schooler who's mother was viciously murdered a year or so earlier. Sidney was convinced her mother's murderer was Cotton Weary (Liev Schreiber) who was convicted of the crime and is in now in jail. Tabloid news reporter Gail Weathers however, has her doubts and has printed a series of articles and a tell all novel pleading Weary's innocence. Her theory is given credence as a series of copycat killings, modeled after 80s horror movies, occur. Sidney soon finds herself living in a real life scary movie with no allies and everyone's a suspect.
I find it a bit hard to rate Scream as a slasher film, as I don't see it as one. I see it as more of comedy thriller, which was successfully marketed as a horror film. Not that it was hard given the many litres of fake blood used in the story or the rather grisly subject matter.
On the acting side, Skeet Ulrich easily steals the movie from under the rest of the cast, while Matthew Lillard and Jamie Keneedy are both delights. David Arquette is equal parts annoying and endearing, and Courtney Cox is convincing as a bitch, but not so much as a reporter. Neve Campbell puts in a strong performance as Sidney, while Rose McGowan is under used, and unlikeable in her few scenes. Drew Barrymore's cameo in the opening ten or so minutes has become an iconic scene in 90s film making, and is some of the best work she has ever done.
Craven's affection for the horror genre has been evident in many of his movies and he does a fine job here of both sending up the genre he helped create, and also redefining it for a modern audience. Well done to Craven and his script writer Kevin Williamson for breathing life back into the slasher genre.