Scream (1996)

Rating: 7/10 (27 February 2020)

Directed by Wes Craven. Starring Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Skeet Ulrich, Matthew Lillard, Jamie Kennedy, Rose McGowan, Drew Barrymore, W. Earl Brown, Joseph Whipp, Henry Winkler, (voice) Roger L. Jackson. (R)
High school student Campbell and her friends become the targets of a motivated mass murderer slicing up the small town of Woodsboro; the twist here is that these savvy teens have seen enough horror movies to know the "rules" for how to survive (no guarantee that any of them will consistently remember to follow them, however...). Hip, blood-soaked contemporary horror film revitalized the slasher genre, updating it for a new generation haphazardly defined by glib irony. Kevin Williamson's self-aware script and Craven's veteran directorial skill serve the material well; it's an imperfect concoction, to be sure, with the occasional cheap scare tactic, head-shaking implausibility, and a tendency toward overkill during the final reel, but it's overall a sharp, funny and sporadically suspenseful venture into genre cross-breeding. Though later rehashes and self-parody has diminished the impact, its opening sequence still ranks as a true virtuoso of horror filmmaking. Followed by three sequels and a television series.
75/100