AlexDavies’s review published on Letterboxd:
“You sick fucks. You've seen one too many movies!”
“Now Sid, don't you blame the movies. Movies don't create psychos. Movies make psychos more creative!”
Please come back Wes, we all miss you dearly.
I don’t want to go into hyperbole but Scream is the lynchpin in bringing about a more intertextual and self-mindful kind of movie to the 90’s. The hyper awareness and meta aspect of the film isn’t original but its done here with bombastic and gutsy energy. Scream capitalized on the horror film sequel period of the 80’s and fashioned itself a wholly complete reflection of that. Imagine that reflection is perfect at all angles. That’s what Scream is.
Ghostface is not Michael Myers or Hannibal Lecter. He doesn’t share the same iconography as the big boys simply because the character has no identity and lacks in oneness, using phones frequently. But make no mistake his face is as memorable, an image I’ve remembered since I was very young.
Imagine if Wes Craven was alive right now? Would we be getting a genre defining film nearly parodying the likes of Paranormal Activity or the Conjuring? If so, I miss him even more.
Scream isn’t a complex film or a beautiful cinematic experience, but it’s forceful in approach and realization. Where a “B” movie transcends to an “A++” grandiose masterpiece. Brilliant.
