Despite its relatively low place in my top 100, I think this is one of the
most important films ever made. It was included in my list of
30 films to watch before you die. I ordered that list chronologically, not by how essential the films are. If
I'd ordered the list by importance, I would probably have put it in second
place, after
"Faster Pussycat Kill Kill".
"Scream", made in 1996, was the film that breathed new life into the slasher
genre. It didn't do this by re-inventing or changing the genre; it took the
best features of the slasher films of the previous 20 years, carefully mixing
them and presenting the result acted out by glamorous young teenagers. Look at
the girls in Woodsboro High School. They're all drop dead gorgeous, as if it
were a school for supermodels. I've been told that the boys look just as good,
though I'm less able to judge that myself.
"Scream" talks down to the cinema audience. Randy Meeks, pictures above,
explains the rules of horror films to the assembled teenagers at the party,
but he's really explaining to the audience. The rules he explains for
surviving in horror films are the standards that had been developed since
"Halloween"
in 1978.
- Don't have sex.
- Don't drink or do drugs.
- Never say "I'll be right back".
As amusing as these rules sound, they're valid. Randy says that their school is
the setting of a real life horror film. You can't get more meta than that.
Or maybe you can; the sequels push the meta-film aspect a step further.
"Scream" is a product of the 1990's. It was the era of the video rental store.
That's where people went to socialise and collect horror movies. Time has
moved on since then. Today's slasher films have to involve social media, like
"Tragedy Girls". If Wes Craven had waited a few years he would have missed the moment
and been unable to make the film.
"Scream" was followed by two films to form a neat trilogy. After a gap of
eleven years a fourth film was made which was advertised as the first film in
a new trilogy, but it wasn't successful enough to justify another two films.
Now, after all these years, a fifth film is being planned. Filming should have
begun last year, but it was delayed by the Coronavirus. The cast from the
original film will return, 25 years older. It's not a reboot, it's a
continuation of the series. Let's see how well it turns out. I'm expecting the
worst, but hoping for the best.
Success Rate: + 10.4
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