The One That Started It All

Rating: Null/10 (11 April 2011)

Scream (1996)
*** 1/2 (out of 4)
Say what you will about the actual film but there's no denying that this Craven film put the horror genre back on the map. It's been nearly a decade since I last watched this film and on this newest viewing I was rather shocked to see how much more impressed I was with it. The story is pretty simple as a killer wearing a ghost face mask stalks teens in a small community and he might have some sort of connection to one (Neve Campbell) whose mother was butchered a year earlier. This killer, however, has his own set of rules that those he stalks must play by. SCREAM was a massive hit back in the day and it saved the genre from its own self destruction and nearly fifteen years later the film rightfully deserves the label of being a classic. While it's far from a masterpiece it at least manages not to lose any of its impact that made it so special when it was first released. I'm not going to sit here and say that SCREAM broke and created all the rules because there were horror-comedies long before this one and there were horror movies that references other horror movies so that there wasn't anything new either. What made the film work so well is that director Craven was at the top of his game and one might say that he did the best work of his career by making this material work so well. Yes, there's quite a bit of humor here but it works because fans of the genre will get a kick out of seeing "rules" that they know carried out. The various references to other horror movies makes for a lot of fun and we even get a couple nice cameos from previous horror stars. Craven puts his mark all over the film in terms of suspense and this famously starts with the Drew Barrymore sequence that starts the movie. I remember not being overly impressed with this sequence when I first saw it but viewing it today makes quite an impression because of how much suspense there is and how the director manages to slowly build it up. Seeing this sequence today also makes you see how violent it actually was and the death scene is quite effective and chilling considering the events that are going on around it. Craven also keeps things moving perfectly well with the ending because not only does he keep the tension going he also manages to keep the mystery up in the air as well. There are many suspects from start to finish but we're always guessing and even when you think you have it figured out something else will happen to throw you off track again. Campbell, Skeet Ulrich, Courtney Cox, David Arquette, Rose McGowan, Jamie Kennedy and Matthew Lillard all fit their roles nicely and it was fun seeing the likes of Henry Winkler and Linda Blair. Even at 110-minutes the film never wears out its welcome as it moves at a very quick pace and whatever elements it's going for are always working. A lot of times horror films wear down with age but that's not the case here as the movie is just as strong and perhaps even stronger than when it was originally released. Each generation has films that built the horror genre and SCREAM certain did that and you really can't take away from it simply because of future rips that would eventually help kill the genre. With its story, fine cast and strong direction, this is a film that will stand the test of time and will always have its place in the history of the genre.