A mysterious killer is stalking the palatial town of Woodsboro.
Torturing victims with horror trivia, Ghostface seems to be fixated on local teen Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell).
Already dealing with the murder of her mother, Sidney becomes increasingly paranoid as it seems like the killer is someone she already knows…
How do you write about a movie which has already been rhapsodised for decades?
In this case, you wait until the latest instalment is almost released.
While I am a horror fan, it took me a long time to watch Scream.
Not that I was scared, it was that I have a reflexive suspicion of movies based around other movies - this movie blows that misconception right out of the water.
Not only did it make me want to watch the whole series, it made me go back and watch Wes Craven’s other work.
Every directorial choice is lacquered with irony - even before Jamie Kennnedy’s Randy is laying out the rules, Wes Craven is drawing attention to the building blocks of suspense, using camera choreography and blocking in a way that both functions and parodies itself.
Alongside Kevin Williamson, Craven is key to Scream’s success. Who better than a horror filmmaker whose modus operandi has been based around interrogating the horror genre, its tropes, techniques and themes?
The opening sequence sets out the rules of the genre, in terms of the scenario and the filmmaking techniques familiar with the genre.
The burning popcorn is used for building suspense, and draws attention to the trope of the jump scare - there is a version of this movie where the popcorn explodes.
It also adds a classic visual signifier - the house is filled with smoke which resembles fog, lending Ghostface’s first appearance an elemental, almost gothic atmosphere.
Even when Ghostface is chasing Casey outside, the smoke hangs in the background. With the addition of slo-mo, it echoes classic horror imagery.
One of the best aspects of the Scream movies is how solid the central characters are: Neve Campbell’s Sidney Prescott is well rounded, traumatised and distrustful, but also smart and empathetic. Victims in horror movies can feel one-note, with tragic backstories defining their entire character, but Sidney feels like a person with real interests, insecurities and a sense of humour.
Having a final girl who feels like a person also means the film around her has to be more savvy in its storytelling. The misdirect of having her boyfriend Billy (Skeet Ulrich) fingered as a suspect from the beginning is a great way of throwing the audience, while also foregrounding the film’s paranoia around relationships and families.
The characterization of Ghostface is also a neat inversion of the familiar caricature of the slasher villain - rather than a zombie-like automaton, he is fast and cunning. The filmmakers also make sure that the killer obeys the same rules as the other characters when it comes to strength, speed and endurance. Ghostface may be a solid tactician but he is not that strong, experiences pain (the killer will often make grunts and other noises) and is shown to blunder about while chasing victims.
In Williamson-Craven’s take, the slasher may have a specific iconography but they are still human underneath.
There are elements which took getting used to.
It suffers from that specific overly-lit style of cinematography that became popular in the late nineties, and Marco Beltrami’s score, particularly his main theme, feels a little overwrought.
On my initial viewing, the third act reveal is undermined by Matthew Lillard’s overly manic performance. As a satire, one can expect a certain level of exaggeration but his performance is too broad for the level everyone else is at.
Maybe this is the result of watching other Craven films, but I wish this film was a little less didactic in how it presented its satire of the genre. Jamie Kennedy’s Randy is important for laying out the genre tropes that the film will undermine, but I feel like the film does a great job of playing on the audience’s familiarity without the exposition.
One great example is the sequence involving the delay in Gale’s hidden camera, when Ghostface is stalking Randy while he watches John Carpenter’s Halloween. The film puts the characters in the film in the same position as the audience - as Halloween plays, Randy is unintentionally recreating the same scenario with Ghostface behind him.
But these are quibbles.
Scream is one of the great horror movies for a reason (well, a couple).
Check back in as I review the sequels.
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