Scream

Scream (also know as Scream I or Scream 1) is a 1996 American slasher film directed by Wes Craven and written by Kevin Williamson. The film revitalized the slasher film genre in the mid 1990s, similar to the impact Halloween (1978) had on late 1970s film, by using a standard concept with a tongue-in-cheek approach that combined straightforward scares with dialogue that satirized slasher film conventions. The film features many teen idols of the time, including Neve Campbell, Rose McGowan, Skeet Ulrich, Matthew Lillard, Drew Barrymore, David Arquette and Courteney Cox.
==Plot==
In the small town of Woodsboro, California, high school student Casey Becker is home alone when she receives a phone call from an unknown person. They discuss horror films until the caller turns sadistic, threatening her life and revealing that her boyfriend, Steve, is tied up on her patio. The caller demands she answer questions about horror films to save his life, but she gives an incorrect answer about Friday the 13th and Steve is killed. The killer is dressed in a black costume with a white ghost mask over his face: Ghostface. Casey attempts to escape the house he chases her across her lawn and stabbed her to death just as her parents pull up into the driveway, they do not see her. Ghostface drags Casey and her disemboweled corpse is hanged from a tree for her parents to discover and scream.
The news media descend on the town as a police investigation begins. Teenager Sidney Prescott struggles with the impending first anniversary of the rape and murder of her mother Maureen by Cotton Weary a suspected resident. The trauma has made her unable to consummate her relationship with her boyfriend, Billy Loomis. As her father Neil is traveling for work, Sidney waits home alone for her best friend, Tatum Riley. She receives a call taunting her about Maureen's death and is attacked by Ghostface, who disappears just before Billy comes through her window. However, she becomes suspicious when he drops a cell phone, and he is arrested by Deputy Sheriff Dewey, Tatum's brother. At the police station, Sidney is confronted by investigative journalist Gale Weathers, who claims that Maureen had several affairs, including one with Cotton, and that he was wrongly accused of her murder. Sidney stays at Tatum's home then receives another taunting call from the killer. The calls are traced to Neil's phone, but the police are unable to locate him.
After his release, Billy encounters Sidney at school and further upsets her by comparing his absent mother to Maureen's death. After suspending school in the wake of the murders, Principal Himbry is stabbed to death in his office. To celebrate the closure, Stu Macher, Tatum's boyfriend and Casey's ex-boyfriend, hosts a party at his secluded home. Dewey and Gale keep watch on the party in case the killer strikes again. As fellow high schooler Randy Meeks details the rules of surviving a horror film, Tatum is isolated in the garage by Ghostface, who crushes her with the garage door. After discovering Himbry's murder, most of the partygoers leave to see his hanging body, nearly running over Dewey and Gale and inadvertently leading them to Neil's hidden car. Billy arrives at the house to reconcile with Sidney and they finally have sex. Afterward, they are suddenly attacked by Ghostface, and Billy is stabbed. Sidney evades Ghostface, who kills Gale's cameraman Kenny and stabs Dewey when he returns. Gale, attempting to flee in her van, crashes and is knocked unconscious. Sidney seeks refuge inside the house, locking Stu and Randy outside as they accuse each other of being the killer.
A seemingly wounded Billy returns and allows Randy inside before shooting him in the shoulder, revealing himself as the true killer and Stu as his accomplice. Billy confesses that they murdered Maureen out of revenge because the discovery of her affair with his father was responsible for his mother's leaving. Due to being avid fans of horror films the pair developed the disorder to committing the Ghostface killing spree. The pair abducted Neil to frame him for their crimes and proceed to stab each other to portray themselves as the only survivors. They are interrupted by Gale's return, which gives Sidney the chance to incapacitate Billy and kill Stu by dropping a television set on his head. Billy attempts to stab Sidney but is shot by Gale. After Randy remarks that horror film killers revive for a final scare, Billy sits back up and Sidney shoots him in the head, killing him. As dawn breaks, Neil is rescued, Dewey is taken away by ambulance, Cotton is released from prison, and Gale provides an impromptu news report about the night's events. All ends well as Gale claims the Macher house has been the scene of what seemed to be some real-life scary movie.
==Cast==
*David Arquette as Deputy Dwight "Dewey" Riley
*Neve Campbell as Sidney Prescott
*Courteney Cox as Gale Weathers
*Matthew Lillard as Stuart "Stu" Macher
*Rose McGowan as Tatum Riley
*Skeet Ulrich as William "Billy" Loomis
*Jamie Kennedy as Randy Meeks
*Drew Barrymore as Casey Becker
*Liev Schreiber as Cotton Weary
*Henry Winkler as Principal Arthur Himbry
*Roger L. Jackson as the voice of Ghostface
==Production==
===Writing===
In 1994, Kevin Williamson was a novice and financially struggling screenwriter, having recently sold his first script, Killing Mrs. Tingle (1999). While house-sitting, Williamson watched a Turning Point documentary about serial killer Danny Rolling which he said left him unsettled. Williamson later noticed an open window, armed himself with a knife, and called his friend for support. The pair began discussing horror characters that had resonated with them such as Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees. The following morning, Williamson was woken by a nightmare and used the experience as inspiration for the opening home invasion of Scream. He was also influenced by a one-act play he wrote in college about an unknown caller taunting a young girl.
===Develoment===
By 1995, several studios were competing to secure the rights to Scary Movie, including Morgan Creek Entertainment, Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures, and filmmaker Oliver Stone. The script came to the attention of producer Cathy Konrad of Woods Entertainment, which had a development deal with production studio Miramax. She brought it to Richard Potter, the director of development for Miramax's genre-film-focused subsidiary Dimension Films. Potter expected a "stupid spoof" but was drawn in by the opening scene and recommended Miramax chairman, Bob Weinstein, pursue the rights. He agreed, considering it an opportunity to produce films instead of distributing those of others. Although others offered larger figures, Williamson's lawyer advised him take Weinstein's offer ($400,000–$500,000) because Dimension was willing to make the film immediately.
===Casting===
Atypical for the genre at the time, Scream featured a cast of established stars, such as Drew Barrymore and Courteney Cox, as well as relatively unknown actors. Executive producer Cary Woods used his friendship with Barrymore's agent to approach her for the lead role of Sidney Prescott, but she requested the smaller role of Casey Becker because "that's the part I love the most." Maddalena suggested that Barrymore had wanted to leave the project entirely, but took the smaller role to avoid disappointing Bob Weinstein and his brother Harvey. The filmmakers agreed to the change, believing it would be impactful to kill off their most well-known actor during Scream's opening and convince audiences that no character was safe. Vinessa Shaw and Reese Witherspoon were also considered for Sidney Prescott. Witherspoon was discounted because she looked too young compared to the other cast, and Williamson's choice, Molly Ringwald, believed she was too old for the part. The final choices came down to Alicia Witt, Brittany Murphy, and Campbell. According to Williamson, Campbell swiftly emerged as the favored choice among the principal crew and, to improve her chances, they filmed her screen-test first, forcing the other contenders to try and surpass her performance. Beach and Maddalena said Campbell brought athleticism from her dancing background with a combination of strength and vulnerability. Describing what attracted her to the role, Campbell said Sidney was "a fantastic character for any kind of movie" who transitions from "tormented, traumatized, insecure young woman to overwhelmingly empowered and strong."
===Filming===
Principal photography began on April 15, 1996, on a $14 million budget. The first week was spent filming the Casey Becker scenes. To elicit the necessary emotions, Barrymore recalled a sad story developed with Craven and made herself hyperventilate. To enhance her performance, Jackson was situated outside the house so that he could see Barrymore while making the calls but she could not see him. Jackson was used similarly for other Ghostface call scenes, and never met the cast in person. He said "the scariest monsters are the monsters you don't see, but the monsters you make in your mind. So just having the voice to react to made it larger in their minds". For safety, stunt people portrayed the killer in costume, although Craven portrays the killer in parts of the opening. The first few days of filming used a custom mask designed for Scream, but Craven did not like it and reshot various scenes with the Fun World design before it was licensed. Because the hung Casey was to appear gutted from chest to waist, effects artist Howard Berger decided against applying prosthetics to Barrymore in favor of a mannequin that could be hollowed out, showing her spine holding her upper and lower parts together. The effect was enhanced with various rubber and vinyl guts. For Steve Orth's death, KNB created an open back chair allowing the actor to kneel behind a hollowed out anatomical mannequin torso cut open at the abdomen and filled with latex, rubber, and gelatin intestines
===Post production===
It was determined early on that Scream required too many different interior and exterior locations to be filmed on sets. Production designer Bruce Miller explained that it was important to portray the characters as vulnerable in their homes which made it essential that they could film inside and outside the properties. Scouts researched locations in the United States and Canada but struggled to locate a house for the opening scene which featured plentiful windows and visibility. Craven initially researched Wilmington, North Carolina but it failed to meet his expectations: "I wanted to have very American looking houses ... and a lot of the houses there were very dark brown, or brick, and that didn't look attractive to me." Locations near Vancouver were discounted for similar reasons, as was Napa County, California.
===Music===
Despite having no background in film scoring or an interest in the horror genre, Marco Beltrami was recommended to Plec and Craven, who found his music samples original compared with Beltrami's contemporaries. Craven grave Beltrami a weekend to compose "The Cue from Hell", the score for the film's opening sequence, which secured his hiring. Beltrami wrote the piece from Casey's perspective and used an "operatic" style, employing a range of instruments, including piano and brass. Beltrami described himself as "bumbling" through the scoring process, acknowledging his limited knowledge of horror music styles. He incorporated elements of the western genre, particularly for Dewey's theme, and took cues from composers including Elliot Goldenthal, Ennio Morricone, Eric Serra, Christopher Young, and Hans Zimmer.
==Release==
===Box office===
The premiere of Scream took place on December 18, 1996, at the AVCO theater in Westwood, Los Angeles. It was released in the United States and Canada on December 20. During its opening weekend, the film grossed $6.4 million across 1,413 theaters—an average of $4,497 per theater—making it the fourth-highest-grossing film of the weekend, behind 101 Dalmatians ($7 million), Jerry Maguire ($13.1 million), and the debut of Beavis and Butt-Head Do America ($20.1 million). The performance was considered a failure by industry professionals, resulting in Variety labeling Scream "dead on arrival". Maddalena recounted herself and Craven observing a raucous audience for Beavis and Butt-Head Do America while Scream had "maybe seven people in there. No one was laughing or screaming. We went away so dejected." However, Scream received positive audience word-of-mouth and exit-polling responses, leading the studio to increase the marketing and distribution budget. This contributed to Scream's performance improving in the following weeks. Although it fell to fifth place in its second weekend, it increased its weekend gross to $9.1 million, and again in its third weekend, rising to third place with $10 million. Scream remained in the top-ten-highest-grossing films for nine weeks in total, becoming a surprise success and grossing a total of $103 million. This figure made it the number 13 highest-grossing film of 1996, and highest-grossing slasher film of its time, until Halloween (2018). It was Miramax's second film to gross $100 million in the United States and Canada after Pulp Fiction (1994). The film was most successful with teenagers and young people in their 20s.
===Critical reception===
Scream received generally positive reviews. Critics, such as Roger Ebert, James Berardinelli, and Owen Gleiberman, praised Scream's meta commentary about its horror predecessors and its self-referential humor while also writing that the self parody diluted any suspense, and criticizing the excessive violence. Some critics said that the film's intelligence and wit beneath the gore would be appreciated by "sophisticated viewers", but Ebert was unsure if the degree of violence was "defused by the ironic way the film uses it and comments on it".
===Awards===
At the 23rd Saturn Awards in 1997, Scream won awards for Best Actress (Campbell), Best Writing (Williamson), and Best Horror Film. The film was named Best Movie at the MTV Movie Awards, and Campbell was nominated for Best Female Performance. Scream was named Best Film by the International Horror Guild. Craven also received the Grand Prize at the Gérardmer Film Festival.
===Home media===
The soundtrack was released in December 1996, by TVT Records as Scream: Music From The Dimension Motion Picture; it sold poorly. Scream was released on VHS and Laserdisc in June 1997, and was especially successful in the video rental market, becoming the second most rented movie of 1997 in the United States. In 2000, Scream was released as part of "The Ultimate Scream Collection", alongside its then-two sequels, Scream 2 (1997) and Scream 3 (2000). The release introduced special features including cast screen tests, outtakes, and a documentary about the making of the three films featuring interviews with Craven, Williamson, Campbell, Cox, and Arquette. A director's cut release of Scream restored uncut sequences removed for the theatrical release.
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