Film Review: Scream

Director: Wes Craven

A 1996 horror flick that became synonymous with the mid-nineties and sent the trend for so many teen horror movies that followed. I had the opportunity to watch this again having not seen it for nearly a decade, its a film that has been copied and parodied endlessly so always feels familiar. It's a film that looks less scary now and actually becomes funny with its hammy acting, poor script and terrible fashion sense. But these are all great qualities to be able to enjoy this film in a different way from when it was released.

Infamous Scream mask

The film is partly based on the real life case of the Gainesville Ripper but also is hugely inspired by older horror movies like Halloween. Scream follows a group of teenagers at the local high school and especially Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) are terrorized by a masked man who torments them on the phone before entering their house to kill them whilst they are alone. Apart from being loosely based on real life, the film was controversial as it was blamed for many copycat killings that took place in America afterwards.

It was seen as adding another dimension to the horror genre as it was knowingly mocking the clichés that followed so many movies before it, then it also became copied itself in that its own style became cliché as well. The slapstick comedy looks funnier now than it did at the time even if the scary moments have lost their effect. The sequels had their moments but never really lived up to the original and it will now be remembered for many years to come.

3/4 Still a classic, era defining horror movie