This is a strange one for me. I watched Scream when it came out (the movie was made in 1996 and I would have watched it soon after) and did not like it. I can’t remember why but maybe it just didn’t grab me. Fast forward many years and I thought I’d give it another shot at the title. I’m glad I did too!
SCREAM PRODUCTION
Amongst horror fans, Wes Craven is most noted for “A Nightmare on Elm Street” but has consistently produced quality horror over the years from the 70’s onwards. With more mature perspective on things I can see why he did this one. He obviously had a higher budget and wanted to take a shot at mainstream success. Craven amassed an all star crew including stunning leading ladies Drew Barrymore, Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, and Rose McGowan. He also made this movie a bit of a spoof on horror movies.
Constant references to classic movies and “In” jokes for those that have have watched horror movies before punctuate the entire production. It also serves to leave a trail to follow for any horror movie newbies that happened to catch the film, and feel inspired to go back and check out some classic horror films. This movie uses every cliche in the horror movie lexicon (except female nudity) to great effect. Annoying teenagers, plot twists, hot teenage chicks, it’s all here. I have to say it worked too. Scream became the biggest Slasher film of all time grossing a massive 173 million at the box office being surpassed years later, in dollar terms, not adjusted dollars, by the 2018 release of “Halloween”.
THE PLOT OF SCREAM
Scream follows a group of teenagers most notably Neve Campbells character Sidney who find themselves being stalked by a crazed slasher. Why? Well thats a hard one to say without ruining the plot. Needless to say there’s some great violence and very respectable levels of gore to keep most horror fans entertained. The suspense levels are actually quite good too. This film keeps you entertained from start to finish.
I’m going to say this is not the greatest film ever, but its reasonably solid. It’s the star power and horror references and in jokes that really made this one for me. It’s a pretty cool watch overall and I’d definitely say its worth a watch for everyone. Hopefully Wes Craven padded out his retirement fund rather well with this one.
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