SCREAM
A film review by David Landers
Copyright 1997 David Landers
RATING: *** out of **** - 7.5 out of 10.0 CAST: David Arquette (Dewey Riley), Neve Campbell (Sidney Prescott), Courtney Cox (Gale Weathers), Rose McGowan (Tatum Riley), Skeet Ulrich (Billy Loomis), Drew Barrymore (Casey Becker) DIRECTOR: Wes Craven CERTIFICATION: R (USA) for excessive violence and language YEAR OF PRODUCTION: 1996
SCREAM is the present-day version of a horror film directed towards the teenage audience. And, like many of the same type of the past, it succeeded greatly (a sequel began filming while it was still in theaters). From horror and thriller director-supreme Wes Craven, SCREAM is a tense, nail-biter of a movie that, in the words of its director, "everyone really enjoys".
In my opinion, SCREAM is very similar to other works of Wes Craven (A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET comes to mind first). It is about, of course, a bloodthirsty killer who is out to kill, more than anyone, teenagers. The killer will not stop at anything to kill the one person he is really after, and like all other movies of its type, SCREAM plays this out very well.
The movie begins in the Becker household, where young Casey Becker (Drew Barrymore) is preparing her favorite movie-watching snack, popcorn. In the middle of her preparation, the phone rings, and a very rough, cautious male voice is on the other end. At first, the caller seems rather calm and friendly. That is, until Casey mistakingly sets off a hidden inner rage in the caller, who suddenly turns extremely violent. He makes very serious, frightening threats to Casey and continues to call after she repeatedly hangs up. The caller informs Casey that he wants her to play a game. The game is a very sick one indeed, in which Casey answers movie trivia questions. If she gets them wrong, the penalty is death. If she answers correct, well, the caller *says* he'll leave her alone. Unfortunately for Casey, she never escapes the killer alive.
The next day at, the small town is in shock. The high school is crawling with police officers and reporters, including the "tabloid twit" Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox). Gale Weathers is not liked at all by young Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), for a very serious reason. Gale was one of the leading reporters in a murder controversy involving Sidney's mother, who was brutally raped and murdered in her own home. Gale continually insisted that the accused killer was framed and that the real killer is still on the loose. However, Sidney doesn't believe a word of this and certainly "has it in" for Gale.
After the school day is over, the kids are basically still in shock, at least for the most part. Sidney, probably most cautious due to upcoming one-year anniversary of her mother's death, does not want to be alone in the house. Her father is on a business trip, so Sidney pleads with her friend Tatum (Rose McGowan) to come over. They agree that at seven o'clock Tatum will come over. Somehow, Sidney falls asleep. She is awakened a little past seven by the phone ringing. It's Tatum, informing her that she will be there very soon. However, when the phone rings again, it isn't Tatum, but the same guy who called Casey the night before, and supposedly attacked and killed her. Sidney, too, falls victim to the caller, but barely escapes.
After the attack, Sidney's boyfriend Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich) shows up quickly to comfort her. However, when Sidney notices that he is dressed in black (as was the attacker) and is carrying a cellular phone, she assumes the worst. Billy is arrested and held in jail, but later released because the phone records show that he did not call her house. Another interesting fact is that Sidney's father is missing and cannot be found. Dewey (David Arquette), a town deputy and brother of Tatum, takes it upon himself to look out for Sidney and to help find the killer. However, it becomes unclear who will find who first, as the killer stops at nothing to reach his apparent prime target.
>From here, the terrorizing continues, and it looks rather obvious that it won't cease until the killer is stopped - for good. However, the killer's identity is as yet unknown, and people can only assume. The rest of the events in the movie are equally as suspenseful, and the climax is very well crafted. If you are a fan of scary movies, as were most of the characters in this film, then you should enjoy SCREAM. And if you *really* enjoyed, fear not, a sequel will be out before you can, well, scream!
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