Hello everyone, I have a very serious question for you all. What’s your favorite scary movie? This was the question that had defined an era in the horror genre when it was asked. But back in 1996, who would have imagined that would have been the case? Certainly not many in Hollywood. When it was first beginning production, Scary Movie was something that not many could have foreseen going the distance and breaking all the odds. It just felt like another horror film. However, Kevin Williamson did something that not many could do back then. He turned the mirror of the horror genre back onto itself.
Wes Craven originally even went as far as passing on the project. At that point, he was literally ready to be done with the horror genre. I mean honestly who could blame him at that point. He was a legend at that point with the films he had made. Last House on the Left. Hills Have Eyes. Those two films alone launched Craven’s career. But it was his work with Nightmare On Elm Street that catapulted him even further. Now it’s been well known that there was a kid at a convention that Craven attended had helped push him back to the genre that he was very fond of. “You need to get back to making something kick-ass.”. Well, I hope that that kid was very proud of how much of an impact those words would have on Craven.
Before you knew it, we had Craven on board directing the film from Williamson’s script. It was something totally different than what a lot of us were used to at that point. We were used to typical horror films that were gore for gore sake but lacked a punch. Or they were a bit of a mindless fluff with no story to them. Honestly, the early 90s weren’t very kind for us horror lovers. I mean the genre was on a bit of a decline at that point. So people weren’t taking many risks with it – thus direct-to-videos were a huge thing. It was a bit of a rut. Thankfully, Craven and Williamson were able to work together to craft something special.
For me, Scream is a very interesting film. At the time, I was 8. I had seen a lot of horror films at that point. Earlier I had mentioned times where my sister’s friend would come over with huge plastic bags full of horror VHS tapes. And my parents’ were cool with it. They knew that as long as I knew the movies were just movies, I’d be okay. So I had seen countless films. I was well versed in the Elm Street series – The Dream Master and Wes Craven’s New Nightmare being two of my favorites in that series. Friday the 13ths were ones that I hadn’t necessarily dove into just yet, outside of the showings on the Sci-Fi channel. Happy Birthday To Me, April Fool’s Day, and The Shining were a few of the examples that I would get to watch during those snowed in days. Sadly though, I wasn’t fond of The Shining. At 8 years old, who could honestly say that I fully understood what was going on with its story? Not me.
I remember asking my Dad one day, “Why is Sam going with Mom? Why can’t I go?”. He just shrugged and responded with that it was for last minute Christmas shopping. At that point, I probably just went and played Super Mario All-Stars on Super Nintendo or Gargoyles on the SEGA Genesis. But later that night, they had returned from ‘shopping’. I overheard my Mom telling my Dad that the movie they had gone to see was so scary. I was very upset because I wasn’t able to go to the movies. At that point, I loved movies. I loved going to the theater and just watching the stories unfold. It was like a major event to me. To hear that there was a movie that I couldn’t go to see, well it sucked.
A few months passed, I didn’t pay much attention to it. I had gotten over the fact that I had gotten left behind. We were looking through the movies on pay-per-view and my sister came across Scream. Immediately, she got up and ran out of the room to talk to my parents. I was left just a bit confused as to what was going on. Okay, cool – she wants to watch a movie. Yeah, I get that it was a bit of a big deal back then to rent a movie on pay-per-view. The three of them return to the room and they buy the movie. It was an all-day movie rental and the next showing was in an hour and a half. My parents had decided that we would all sit and watch it on the next showing. I think I had just rolled my eyes like it didn’t matter. It hadn’t hit me yet that this was the same movie that they had watched just months previously.
Well the next hour and a half waiting, it felt like forever. I think at that point – my sister and I played some Mario to help pass the time. That was something I fondly remember us doing quite a bit. It was usually Super Mario 3. That was kind of our jam. It was just one of those things that we managed to bond over. Looking back on it - horror movies, watching Buffy, and Mario 3 were kind of the only things we did together. You see, there’s a 7 year age difference between my sister and I. I am the youngest. Unfortunately with the way things unfolded for our family, we drifted apart.
Then we sat together in our living room as the opening title flashed on screen. The next hour and forty minutes seemed to fly by. I wasn’t sure what the reaction my family was waiting for from me bout the movie. I guess they were expecting the movie to completely terrify me like it managed to do with my Mom and sister. However, that was far from what I thought about the movie.
Scream was a hit with me. It was something different. I may have been 8 years old, but could tell this was new. It took everything that I had loved about horror movies and brought it back in such a unique way. It wasn’t afraid to poke fun at itself. Yeah, the movie may seem scary. But honestly, I feel like all of the horror movies I had watched up to that point had made me ready for it. It was very clear that Scream was a love letter to the genre that Williamson had loved so much. And it had hit at a time when the public and myself were ready for something new.
In the months after watching Scream, I had managed to talk my Grandma into watching it with me. I have mentioned her before. This is the same Grandma that loved Halloween. She wasn’t sure if I was ready to watch Scream. I reminded her that I had seen it quite a few times already. Quickly, Scream hit with her as well. She loves it so much. Over the years, we even managed to watch it countless times together.
Recently, I revisited it. I wanted to see if it held up. It had been quite a few years since watching it last. I think the last time I watched it was when Scream 4 was getting ready to be released. A month or so ago, I picked up the Blu ray set of the first three movies. Yeah, this is the same set that has the two spectacular documentaries about the films – Still Screaming and Scream: The Inside Story. If you have a chance of picking it up, I highly recommend it.
Scream still holds up so well. I still find myself enraptured with the story and the characters. To this day, I have tried to figure out who was where when X happened. And to this day, I still haven’t figured it out. It delivers on everything I love about the genre. The characters are all so memorable as well. The casting on the film was absolutely perfect. And still I love the opening with Drew Barrymore. It’s the biggest love letter to the franchise as it managed to encapsulate everything Hitchcock had masterfully done with Janet Leigh and the opening in Psycho.
Many films over the years have tried to capture the lightning in a bottle that Scream had. And honestly, a lot of them have failed. There is absolutely no way to to recapture that. Scream is the film of a generation and masterfully defined horror for what came next. There is a reason it works so well and stood the test of time. It is a beautiful masterpiece of a film that is essential and is one of Craven’s finest works.
Rating: 5 out of 5.
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