| Scream (1996) Review |
.
.
Director: Wes Craven 
Cast: Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, 
David Arquette, Skeet Ulrich and Matthew Lillard 
Writer: Kevin Williamson 
Composer: Marco Beltrami 
Cinematographer: Mark Irwin 
.
.
Exactly one year after her mother was brutally killed, Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) is terrorized by a new killer who uses classic horror films as motivation. 
.
.
 Scream is one of my favorite horror films of all-time. Most of y’all probably know this, but I’ve seen this film so many times since I was exposed to it at a young age. I remember one day when I watched it 3 times back-to-back-to-back. I have no idea why, but as someone who is inspired to make horror films, this one was the most influential for me. Wes Craven was a genius at his work and created three original films with The Hill Have Eyes, A Nightmare On Elm Street and Scream. To me, this is Craven best work. With his meta take on a sub-genre in horror that was becoming stale really fast, but at the same time playing on those tropes and making it originally creepy at times. Scream is one of the greatest horror films of all-time, and dare I say, one of the greatest and most important films of all-time. 
.
.
 The meta-humor in this film is beyond hilarious and original. With newer films like Cabin In The Woods playing on this trope, Scream set the blueprint for future films. With that opening sequence that is just legendary to me. Having a big name actress during the time like Drew Barrymore, and immediately throwing the audience into a twist with that opening, Craven sets up the tone perfectly. With the famous gimmick of the Ghostface killer calling his victims, we get this eerie voice behind the phone that used to horrify me as a kid. “What’s your favorite scary movie?”, is just the first iconic quote from this film, and it’s all within that first sequence. With the tropes of typical slasher films of a girl being chased around by the killer, the difference that Craven does is he makes fun of it beforehand. There’s just this sense of pure originality with this film that any cliche that the film brings upon that they made fun of is instantly wiped away and brought in a new light. 

On top of this, Craven visuals are haunting to witness. While at times this film has a lot of self-aware humor, the films gory visuals are chilling to see. With Ghostface proclaiming to wanting to “gut you like a fish” to his victims, he does exactly that. With the use of practical effects with his gore, the grisly deaths gives this film the perfect balance of horror and self-aware comedy. Once the first sequence is over we get to meet the films main characters. With two incredible performances from the scream queen herself Neve Campbell, and an Oscar worthy performance from Matthew Lillard. They both elevate this film to new heights with their performances. The same goes for Jamie Kennedy’s character and Skeet Ulrich’s. One of my favorite aspects of the film, and why I always rewatched it was because of these realistic characters. They each play a cliche that we’ve seen hundreds of times from other slasher films, but it’s the witty self-aware dialogue from Kevin Williamson that makes them memorable. Especially Matthew Lillard. He is so damn charismatic that it’s hard not to enjoy his character, even more so with that last act. Most of my favorite lines are from him. “ Awww Stu, what’s your motivate, Billy has one what’s yours?” “Peer pressure”. “My mom and dad are going to be soooo mad *cries*”. All his lines in that last act are so damn iconic to me. Besides Neve Campbell final girl character in the end, Matthew Lillard is the best character walking out of this film. 

While the story is a typical slasher film of the whodunnit genre, the “twist” is still so damn fun to watch. They hint throughout the whole film, but they kept playing it off. Like of course it has to be the horrible boyfriend, but he kept laying evidence that it wasn’t him. With the clever writing throughout the film also plays on the tropes of the whodunnit genre. With the side-mystery of Neve Campbell’s character mother, and who killed her. This film has two main storylines going at once, that eventually blend together with ease. With great scares throughout to flesh out the pacing of this story, it’s hard to tell that this film was nearly 2 hours. Wes Craven also plays on the tropes of jumpscares, and with perfect tension building, most of them actually got to me with my first watch. Then with the rules of a horror film that are presented from Jamie Kennedy’s character, the film plays on these tropes throughout and makes it even more meta within the horror genre. It’s beautiful to me how perfectly Wes Craven crafted this film, and how perfect it turned out. 

I seriously can’t think of one flaw with this film. Every cliche flaw this film presents was already made fun of, or mentioned during that scene. The tension building and pacing throughout is perfect to me, and really challenged newer slasher films to try something new. With the creepy voice of Ghostface and how Craven utilizes his scares with grisly and gory imagery, the film is the perfect mixture of scary and hilarious. That last act is a non-stop horror fans dream. With references from Halloween to other iconic horror films, the humor is at its high point in this last act, mainly from Matthew Lillard. I can easily quote this film to no end, and every time that last act rolls around, I’m on the edge of my seat. Purely from the originality of this film and it’s dialogue. There’s nothing more I can say about this film besides its horror perfection. Wes Craven was a genius at his work, and I hope in Scream 5 they pay the perfect tribute to his craft. 
.
.
Scream is one of the greatest horror films of all-time, and overall one of the greatest films of all-time. With clever and self-aware humor of the genre that it’s in, and horror movie references to please any horror fan, this film is at the top of all the slasher films. No-one can create such originality like Wes Craven. Then with incredible and realistic performance throughout with the standout being Matthew Lillard, this film has everything you need for a perfect film. Scream is one of the most influential films to me, and I watch it at least twice a year now. It’s timeless and the perfect 90s time piece. RIP Wes Craven, a legend in horror filmmaking.