Read thoroughly to answer the following question.
Had the great pleasure of introducing my 14-year-old son to one of my favorite movies tonight. I saw SCREAM five times when it was released theatrically in 1996. I was a freshman in college and working part-time at my hometown movie theater, Cineplex Odeon in Bowie, Maryland, and I remember loving it so much that I would sometimes spend my 15-minute breaks in the back of the theater just to admire the filmmaking.
The movie absolutely knocked the wind out of me in '96, and I'm pleased to report that it still works beautifully for me today.
SCREAM is a riff on the high-school slasher film, where a group of friends are picked off one-by-one by a masked killer. The difference is that both the killer and the intended victims are aware of (and in some cases well-versed in) the very movies that created this genre, and try to use those tropes as a means of attack, or a way to survive. This kind of meta-genre deconstruction was pretty revolutionary in 1996, but SCREAM succeeds at being an exceptional slasher film even as it takes the genre apart, and that is truly miraculous to behold.
Kevin Williamson's script is crackling with wit, humor, and deep respect and love for the genre. Craven's direction is fluid, confident, and full of brilliant misdirection – it feels like watching close-up magic, and his slight of hand is balanced with some truly inspired set pieces and beautiful cinematography. The cast is wonderful, and I found myself smiling about just how affectionately I remember these characters. When the movie started, I didn't think “oh there's Neve Campbell, and there's Matt Lillard” – I was thinking “There's Sid, there's Stu.”
It's easy to forgot how revolutionary and astonishing the iconic opening sequence was, and I marvel now at the extended party set-piece, which takes up almost the entirety of the second half of the film. Just wonderful stuff.
SCREAM is a gleeful, brilliant deconstruction of the genre itself, breaking it apart with profound respect and love, and celebrating the very tropes it is exposing. There's a reason it had such impact on release, and that the franchise is still finding some fuel in the tank nearly three decades later. It's also a time capsule of the late 90's, and reminds me so much of my youth – I grinned when the sheriff asks Billy Loomis “Why do you have a cellular telephone, son?” This was, at the time, not an unreasonable question. It's a different world, but horror still works just as well.
If I would have told my 18 year-old self that someday I'd work with (and become great friends with) Matthew Lillard, enjoy meals and social deduction games with Kevin Williamson, and have a relaxed, casual dinner with Neve Campbell... I frankly would never have believed it. I've now gotten to personally thank those artists for the impact this film had on me, and that in and of itself only further blurs the lines between movies and reality – a sensation I faintly felt watching NEW NIGHTMARE in 1994, and felt completely with SCREAM. What a wild world this is.
This movie was formative for me, and changed the way I looked at what was possible in the genre. I loved it when I was 18, and I loved it tonight. And, my son also loved it... so a great evening all around.
(Available: https://letterboxd.com/flanaganfilm/films/reviews/ Accessed in: November/2024.)