Wes Craven's Scream reinvigorated the slasher genre back in 1996, and still holds up reasonably well despite Ghostface's identity being pretty clear in my mind on the rewatch almost 15 years later. There are some very effective moments of terror, but make no mistake, this is the slasher by way of comedy, and in any case, slasher films, for all their specific rules (which of course the movie plays with), arguably fall in the thriller section as much as horror's (as they are rarely supernatural), and if the murderer's identity isn't known but sought, it can also be a mystery. This is true of Craven's nascent franchise here. Properly iconic for its opening scene that played with audience's expectations from the get-go and for having fun with characters who knew the slasher tropes as well as the audience does, it's greatest sin, I suppose, was inspiring Scary Movie and a veritable cornucopia of generic parody movies. And perhaps putting Matthew Lillard's unbearable performance on screen. Note that he's just the worst of what is a "desensitized" graduating class of characters that are just horrible - if I'm on Principal Henry Winkler's side, does that mean I'm old? - and that is a slasher trope after all. Scream also does a lot of clever juxtaposition with Halloween, and provides us with our first horror heroine in ages, in the character of Neve Campbell's Sidney Prescott.
Loved it, but I had seen all the sequels first weirdly. Also having watched Scary Movie far too many times I kept thinking of all the jokes in my head throughout.
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Comments 1 - 15 of 17
BeasleyOnFilm
Really very good. A horror film for people who love horror films.FazzyOscar
a movie that simply started a revolutionDieguito
Kind of made for teenagers, but it really revolutionized the horror genre, that was almost dying in the 90's.. Impossible to forget.Jashezilla
Manages to make fun of scary movies and then brings a whole new level to them. Classic.OrjanB
Wes Carpenter's best film.mittens
i love all the hidden movie references, like the janitor who dresses like freddy kruger and the guy with loomis as his last name.patato
the terror movie for the 90's generationSiskoid
Wes Craven's Scream reinvigorated the slasher genre back in 1996, and still holds up reasonably well despite Ghostface's identity being pretty clear in my mind on the rewatch almost 15 years later. There are some very effective moments of terror, but make no mistake, this is the slasher by way of comedy, and in any case, slasher films, for all their specific rules (which of course the movie plays with), arguably fall in the thriller section as much as horror's (as they are rarely supernatural), and if the murderer's identity isn't known but sought, it can also be a mystery. This is true of Craven's nascent franchise here. Properly iconic for its opening scene that played with audience's expectations from the get-go and for having fun with characters who knew the slasher tropes as well as the audience does, it's greatest sin, I suppose, was inspiring Scary Movie and a veritable cornucopia of generic parody movies. And perhaps putting Matthew Lillard's unbearable performance on screen. Note that he's just the worst of what is a "desensitized" graduating class of characters that are just horrible - if I'm on Principal Henry Winkler's side, does that mean I'm old? - and that is a slasher trope after all. Scream also does a lot of clever juxtaposition with Halloween, and provides us with our first horror heroine in ages, in the character of Neve Campbell's Sidney Prescott.BigAwesomeBLT
Loved it, but I had seen all the sequels first weirdly. Also having watched Scary Movie far too many times I kept thinking of all the jokes in my head throughout.thaisquisito
It's a very cool 90's teen movie, it made me want to watch the sequels.Teodora Stoyanova
Very cool movie it's classicIreneAdler
Not a bad horror movie. Scary.The Doctor
Leave it to Wes Craven to make a tense and well made horror filmcrcurran
Why was a serious version of Scary Movie made?!? Oh wait.I will not watch Scary Movie again and later I'll go back to watch Scream again. It was a great movie. An homage to horror and revitalizes it.
jerichoholic
This movie rules. I can't wait for Scream 4.Showing items 1 – 15 of 17