Scream Review
by Chad Polenz (ChadPolenz AT aol DOT com)July 24th, 1997
Scream
Chad'z rating: *** (out of 4 = good)
1996, R, 111 minutes [1 hour, 51 minutes]
[horror]
starring: Neve Campbell (Sidney), Courtney Cox (Gail Weathers), Skeet Ulrich (Billy), Matthew Lillard (Stu), written by Kevin Williamson, produced by Cathy Konrad, Cary Woods, directed by Wes Craven.
Of all the genres out there, horror is probably the most difficult to work with in terms of making something really original (aren't they all about stupid teenagers getting hacked up?). Given that, you'd think satirizing the genre would be simple, but "Scream" disproves both of these ideas. It works as a wholly original horror film by, ironically, blatantly admitting it's a "Dead Teenager Movie" and exploiting itself.
The film opens in typical "slasher flick" style by depicting a girl (Drew Barrymore) home alone on a Friday night getting ready to watch some "scary videos" with her soon-to-be-arriving boyfriend. The phone rings and it's a guy with a scary, but somehow charming voice. The two talk until the guy sounds like a psychotic stalker and the mood becomes full of thick suspense within a matter of minutes. Since this is a horror film you know what's going to happen, but the script is so fluid and the scene shot with such plausibility you can't help but be caught up in the tension of it all. It's a 90s take on countless bad scenes of such from the 70s and 80s and it works.
In fact, this is how the film works as a whole. The horror genre is pretty much dead (no pun intended) as far as Hollywood is concerned, so what makes the film appealing is the realistic way it deals with the plot of masked-psycho-killer-on-the-loose-in-a-small-town. The main characters are mostly teens who grew up on "Dead Teenager" movies and look back at them with a more intelligent and mature manner. When they hear about the masked murderer they can't believe what's happening because it's so much like a movie but this time it's real (well, you know what I mean).
I'm afraid to describe any of the numerous details, even giving away the basic plot might be too much of a spoiler. Basically, it's the story of a girl named Sidney (Campbell) whose mother was raped and murdered a year ago, and now the masked murderer who killed the girl in the beginning is after her. Since this isn't a sequel to anything it's obvious the killer must be someone right under our nose, but who could it be?
Williamson's script, as directed by Craven makes every character seem like a suspect, not because they seem like they'd be a silent psychopath but because they don't (it's always the last person you suspect eh?). One by one, main and supporting characters are knocked off but done so in such close proximity to each other (in terms of physical space and elapsed time) it's impossible to tell who the killer is.
The only problem I had was the execution scenes where the characters always manage to fight back and stall the killer, but of course trap themselves in the process. Sometimes this seems just plain cheesy (why does only Sidney turn into a superhero but not the other victims?).
I'm not sure about the ending though. In one way you could say it follows the logical conclusion of the film when it reveals the killer and their motive, but in another way you could say it contradicts the entire premise by doing so. I found the ending to be a bit more surrealistic and violent than necessary. Maybe there shouldn't have been an ending at all, but since the entire film exploits itself in leading up to the ending I guess it makes sense.
"Scream" isn't a work of genius, but it's not a bad movie. Sometimes it tries too hard to make for suspense, but it works as a whole by constantly throwing plot twists and making us wonder what's going to happen next. When's the last time a horror movie did that?
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(C)1997 Chad Polenz
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
