SCREAM (1996) A Film Review by Ted Prigge Copyright 1997 Ted Prigge
Director: Wes Craven Writer: Kevin Williamson Starring: Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, Skeet Ulrich, Rose McGowan, David Arquette, Drew Barrymore, Matthew Lillard, Jamie Kennedy, Liev Schreiber, Henry Winkler, Roger Jackson, Linda Blair, Wes Craven
You thought that the national entity known as the "slasher flick" was dead? Guess again (*corny diabolical laugh*). Wes Craven, who's career revolved around that little sub-sub-genre of the horror flick, brings us the new 90s fresh take on that particular group of films, which has brought back the "slasher flick" with a little concious twist - whether we like it or not.
But in all seriousness, "Scream" is a surprisingly great flick. Instead of focusing on a group of horny teenagers, "Scream" puts its focus on a surrealistic group of teens who have grown up watching the 80s slasher flicks, can name any cliche out of it (example: while watching "Halloween," one of them shouts out "Here's the obligatory nude scene!"), and even the more obsessive ones can point out anything out of any horror flick. It's a nice fresh idea, methinks.
"Scream" opens with one of the best openings in a movie I've really ever seen. A teenager (Drew Barrymore, with a wig that I like, and seem to be the only one who thinks so) is home alone in a house in the middle of nowhere, getting ready to let her boyfriend in the door so they can watch a "scary movie." Then she gets a phone call...okay, well, you know what happens, 'cause it seems to be the most parodied thing of the year. But it's a gripping, hysterical, and satirical little frightfest, gradually getting scarier as it goes on, cheifly due to the direction and the acting by Drew, who just conveys growing fear. It sets up the film nicely, by the way.
Cut to Sydney (Neve Campbell), our protagonist, who's mother was conveniently murdered a year before, and who's alleged killer, Cotton Weary (Liev Schreiber), is in a nasty trial. She has a Johnny Depp-looking boyfriend (Skeet Ulrich, luckily Depp's dead ringer), and a distaste for horror movies. And soon, she finds herself getting calls from the same guy(s) who killed Drew in the first scene. After a run-in with the killer (who is dressed in a frightening black cape, and wears a mask resembling that of Edward Munch's great painting, "The Scream"), we are all launched into a deliciously fun world of whodunit, as well as some good old cliche-ridden scenes of goriness, which are somehow scarier now that the whole self-concious factor has been tossed in.
Some of the other characters/suspects are: Tatum (Rose McGowan), Sydney's best friend; Stuart (Matthew Lillard), Tatum's hyperkinetic boyfriend; Deputy Dewey (David Arquette), the inept police officer/brother of Tatum; Randy (Jamie Kennedy), the obsessive film geek who can quote any horror flick (guess which one I identify with?); and Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox), a bitchy tabloid reporter. The film has some good old wholesome/delicious fun with playing with who the killer(s) is/are, and to tell who it is would just take away from a good half of the fun of the film.
There's a lot of uses of cliches, but all are handled with some lovely self-concious fun. We all know that when the big-breasted chick says she's gonna go out to the empty garage to get some more beers that she won't be coming back. We all know that when the girl is sitting in the locked car, the killer will enter through the back hood. But so does the film. There's a great scene where the film geek (love this guy) stands up in the middle of watching "Halloween" to preach to everyone the rules of staying alive in a horror flick, without even knowing that they're about to be in the middle of a grisly bloodbath.
The film also features billions and billions of references to horror films, blatant and sly. There are direct lines out of past horror films (i.e. a character saying "We all go a little mad sometimes" is, duh, a line from "Psycho), as well as entire sequences. I couldn't catch a ton of them, but I'm sure there's some totally obsessive film geek even geekier than me re-watching and re-watching and re-watching this flick to catch every single horror film allusion. "Scream" is basically a horror film geek's wet dream.
Of course, there's the downside of "Scream," which is pretty much the equivalent to the downside of "Star Wars." You've noticed that the slasher film has been reborn, even if it is sometimes semi-self-concious like this one. Sure, we get critically acclaimed stylish horror films like "Mimic," but we also get crap like "Wishmaster," and wannabe "Scream" flicks like "I Know What You Did Last Summer." And the sequel will hopefully be good, but I'm starting to doubt it (although that scene between Dewey and Randy in the commercials is great).
"Scream" is, essentially, a fantastically fun flick to watch, even after repeat viewings, and preferably with a large group of people. I remember seeing it again in a crowded midnight showing during the third wave of its popularity, and the "Rocky Horror Picture Show" type fun of watching it, and yelling at some of the people in it. "Scream" is basically the best horror film I've seen since...I'm going with "The Shining."
MY RATING (out of 4): ***1/2
Homepage at: http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Hills/8335/
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