Scary, funny and clever  the best Scream movie by miles

Rating: Null/10 (1 April 2002)

Almost a year after someone raped and killed Sidney Prescott's mother in the small town of Woodsboro, someone is killing teenagers. When Sidney herself becomes a target, the link is apparent and her missing father is a suspect. However, as with all good scary movies, everyone is a suspect.
The film that sparked the revival of horror movies (Halloween H2O, I know what you did last summer, Urban Legend etc all followed..thanks a lot!). This stands out from all those (and it's lackluster sequels) by being really good and clever. The story is nothing more than the standard slasher plot  but it avoids the cliches quite well. In fact it uses the cliches as references and makes plenty of jokey references to other movies and the supposed rules of horror movies  we even have a quick flash of a caretaker dressed in Freddy's jumper and hat!
That doesn't mean it's not scary  it is! From the tragically horrible opening 10 minutes through each gory killing the tension is high and the shocks are real. The plot twists nicely and the ending is much better than most slasher movies (including the absurd endings of 2 and 3). This manages to be fresh, clever and scary  getting by any sticking moments with it's tongue in it's cheek.
The cats are good  Campbell is a believable virgin, scarred by what happened to her mother  before she starts turning into Buffy the vampire slayer in parts 2 and 3. Cox is excellent playing against type and David Arquette is funny as the Deputy Sheriff. Kennedy as Randy is also funny as the movie geek  in fact he remains the highlight of the next 2 films. The cast being filled of up and coming faces (including Ulrich) makes it even more thrilling when the `wrong' people get killed, technically all the cast are `unknowns' who usually make up the body count, so really anyone can potentially get offed.
Overall funny black comedy, scary thrills and gory excitement. A rare treat  a really good teen horror movie