"Scream" (1996)
A Film Review by Jason Wallis
"Scream" * * * * Starring Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, David Arquette, Matthew Lillard, Drew Barrymore, Rose McGowen, Skeet Ulrich and Henry Winkler Directed by Wes Craven
"Scream" begins with one of the best edited and most frightening scenes ever put on film. In it's opening, we are introduced to Drew Barrymore (with a cool new cut), playing a teen home alone, ready to cook up some popcorn and relax with a nice little horror flick. All of a sudden, the phone rings; she answers it, not knowing that on the other end is a blood-thirsty psychopath. He playfully flirts with her, always keeping a frighteningly monotone voice. When he asks her name, she asks why he wants to know. His response: because I want to know who I'm looking at. Terror ensues.
Now, if you want to see this flick because of Drew, don't even bother because she, needless to say, gets done away with in the first fifteen minutes. Quite gruesomely, I might add. But the violence in this film is not mean-spirited gore as in such shockers as "Friday the 13th" and the like. Because the film is so campy and self aware of itself, all the violence is justified. But, tho a tad on the violent side, "Scream" does not contain a gratuitous amount of gore. We only think we see it. It has potential to be much, much gorier. But it isn't, and that's one of the reasons why it's so much fun to watch. Director Wes Craven finds the perfect balance between buckets of blood and no violence at all. In other words, it's done with some taste.
Anyway, let me get back to the point. Most modern horror flicks concentrate on the gross-out factor and try to out-do each other on how much female nudity you can squeeze into one film. Most also feature very bland characters. In "Scream", the actors add just the right amount of charisma to their characters. Special kudos to Matthew Lillard, who plays Stu (possibly the coolest guy in the history of cinema). Matt doesn't make Stu just another horny teenager; he adds something special that makes him different from the rest. I may be going out on a limb here (correction: I know I am), but I think this is the performance that should have captured last year's Oscar for Best Supporting Actor (Cuba was good and all, but he didn't make an unforgettable character like Matt Lillard did. I mean, "show me the money"? Gimme a break). But don't get me wrong; there were other deserving performances (particularly Dwight Yokham's awesome portrayle of an abusive boyfriend in "Sling Blade" - but that's for another review), but none did as great of a job as Lillard.
It is extremely refreshing to see a movie like this; a fun, scary, well executed (no pun intended) and incredibly enjoyable slasher flick. The plot of the movie is simple: a crazed sociopath has seen one to many scary movies and is now going around dressed as Father Death (one of the scariest costumes since Michael's mask in "Halloween") picking off teen after teen. His first victim (Drew Barrymore) went to a high school with a principal non other than the Fonz himself, Henry Winkler. The killer begins to terrorize a handful of students from that school, particularly concentrating on Neve Campbell (who has a boyfriend barring a striking resemblance to Johnny Depp from Craven's other masterpiece, "A Nightmare on Elm Street").
I will not say anything more because that would be giving away the movie, and I wouldn't even dream of doing that. The main thing that makes "Scream" different from all those other horror flicks is that it works on two levels. First of all, like I said, it is a splendid slasher film. Secondly, it is an excellent homage to other horror movies (i.e. "Prom Night", "Halloween", etc.). There's probably about fifty in-jokes in the first hour alone. But "Scream" is far more than mere homage; it stands on it's own as being one of the greatest horror films of all time; and I mean up there with great flicks like "Psycho" and "Dawn of the Dead". And I don't just mean as far as mindless entertainment goes. It really is a magnificently crafted take on the thriller genre. In other words, check it out. It's one of my personal faves.
Check out Jason Wallis' Filmaholics Anonymous web page at http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Boulevard/7475
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