Scream (5 Stars)

Revitalising the Teen Slasher and Reimagining the Victim

By the mid-1990's, the American slasher film seemed creatively exhausted. After the explosive success of Halloween (1978) and Friday the 13th (1980), the genre descended into formula: interchangeable masked killers, one-dimensional teenage victims and endless sequels that dulled the impact of the original innovations. The archetypes – the "final girl", the sexually active couple, the killer's traumatic backstory – had become so familiar that they no longer provoked fear. Into this stagnation entered Wes Craven's Scream (1996), a film that not only revitalised the teen slasher but also transformed the role and meaning of the victim. Through its self-aware script, complex characters and layered treatment of violence, Scream resurrected a dying form by allowing both its characters and its audience to understand and question the very rules that had once defined it.

Reviving the Rules

Kevin Williamson's screenplay for Scream is built on the premise that its characters are already fluent in horror. They know the "rules" of the slasher film – never have sex, never drink, never say "I'll be right back" – and they recite them with a mix of irony and affection. Yet, despite this awareness, they are still drawn inexorably into the same deadly pattern. This self-referential structure revitalised the genre by acknowledging its clichés while using them to generate new forms of tension.

Director Wes Craven, whose earlier "A Nightmare on Elm Street" (1984) helped shape the original slasher boom, uses this meta-approach not as parody but as reanimation. He brings intelligence and energy back to the genre by blending comedy with genuine horror. The film's opening sequence, in which Drew Barrymore's Casey Becker is terrorised over the phone, encapsulates this new sensibility: the scene references "Halloween" and "When a Stranger Calls", but its execution is sharp, cruel and emotionally devastating. The audience expects irony but gets terror. In killing off its biggest star within the first ten minutes, Scream announces that its rules will not be predictable and that its victims will matter.

The Significance of Each Victim

One of the ways Scream revitalises the slasher is through the individualisation of its victims. Rather than treating them as disposable archetypes, Craven and Williamson give each death emotional and thematic significance, transforming what was once mechanical slaughter into commentary on horror itself.

Casey Becker, the opening victim, is the ultimate meta-casualty. Her playful conversation about favourite horror movies turns fatal when her knowledge fails to save her. Her death represents the futility of media literacy in the face of real violence. Casey's murder re-establishes fear in a genre that had become predictable; it shocks precisely because it violates expectation. The visceral brutality of her death signals a return to the raw horror that the 1980's sequels had diluted, while simultaneously marking the death of the passive horror audience.

Principal Himbry, stabbed in his office, serves as a symbolic victim of adult authority's impotence. His death, though played partly for dark humour, underscores how the adults in Scream are powerless to protect their students. The slasher's focus shifts firmly to the teenage sphere; adults are spectators, not saviours.

Tatum Riley, Sidney Prescott's best friend, embodies the genre's gender politics. Smart, witty and assertive, Tatum might in earlier slashers have been reduced to the "promiscuous victim" stereotype. Yet Scream complicates this by making her death tragic rather than moralistic. Killed in a garage door – a grotesque mixture of humour and horror – her death highlights the absurdity of slasher violence and the audience's uneasy complicity in enjoying it. Craven's staging transforms what could have been a punishment for sexuality into a critique of the genre's misogynistic conventions.

Kenny the Cameraman, representing the voyeuristic media, dies because of his proximity to spectacle. His murder outside the van literalises the film's central anxiety about watching: the line between observer and participant collapses. In Scream, to watch horror is to risk becoming part of it.

The final victims, Stu Macher and Billy Loomis, invert the genre's traditional moral dichotomy. They are not supernatural monsters but horror fans turned murderers, consciously modelling themselves on cinematic killers. Their revelation exposes Scream's central paradox: that violence in the media and violence in life are entwined in a cycle of imitation. The killers' self-awareness reflects the audience's own, implicating viewers in the very horror they consume.

The Final Girl Reimagined

At the centre of this landscape of victims stands Sidney Prescott, the quintessential yet redefined "final girl". Unlike her predecessors, Sidney is acutely aware of the horror narrative she inhabits. Her trauma – rooted in her mother's murder and the town's moral hypocrisy – gives her depth and resilience. When she eventually turns the camera on her attackers, reversing the gaze of the slasher, Sidney symbolically reclaims agency for the genre's victims. Her survival feels earned, not formulaic.

Through Sidney, Scream revitalises not just the slasher's structure but its emotional core. She is not a mere survivor but a participant in the film's deconstruction of horror, embodying both the genre's past and its future.

Cultural and Genre Legacy

The success of Scream was immediate and transformative. It rejuvenated box offices, inspired imitators like "I Know What You Did Last Summer" (1997) and "Urban Legend" (1998), and brought horror back into mainstream teen culture. More importantly, it made the slasher self-conscious without making it sterile. By turning victims into characters with symbolic weight, Scream restored emotional investment to a genre that had become hollow spectacle.

Each victim's death carries meaning – about youth, media, sexuality and spectatorship – so that the film becomes both a critique and a celebration of horror. In recognising the constructedness of its world, Scream paradoxically makes that world feel more real, its violence more shocking, and its victims more human.

Conclusion

Scream revitalised the teen slasher genre by reintroducing intelligence, emotional depth and cultural self-awareness. Its victims are not interchangeable bodies but reflections of the genre's own anxieties: about spectatorship, morality and identity. By giving meaning to each death, Scream transforms the mechanics of horror into a meta-narrative about the genre's rebirth.

Nearly thirty years later, Scream remains the definitive bridge between the classical slasher and the postmodern horror film; a blood-soaked love letter to the genre that refused to die.

Success Rate:  + 10.4

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.co.uk

Scream (5 Stars)

As I've recently said, my son Benjamin prefers horror films over all other genres. I have nothing against horror films, but I don't want to watch only horror films for the two weeks that he's visiting me. I tried to calm things down with "Annette" and "White Noise" yesterday, but after the second film he insisted on watching a horror film today. I suggested watching the six Scream films, and he immediately agreed. It's been years since he last watched them. I suggested watching two films a day for three days, but this morning he said he wants to watch three films a day. Why not? They're great films.

The only problem with watching so many films is that I won't have enough time and energy left to write lengthy reviews. I'll keep to a minimum. If you're not happy, you can find my previous, more detailed reviews in my alphabetical list of posts.

 I'll just point out one thing that I didn't mention in my previous reviews. The Scream films feature an on-off relationship between Deputy Dwight Riley (nicknamed Dewey) and the news reporter Gale Weathers. She has a way with words. When she first meets him she tells him that he looks young. Dewey takes it as a compliment, but then she adds that he doesn't look a day over 12.

Way back in 2015 I created my first animated GIF using Photoshop. It was fun, but I never did it again. It's a lot of tedious work, and the resulting animation is huge. There are tools for creating GIFs automatically, if I ever want to make one again. Here's my GIF showing Rose McGowan going down to a chilly cellar. Click on the picture to see everything moving.

Success Rate:  + 10.4

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.co.uk

Smile 2 (4½ Stars)

I wasn't very impressed by the first Smile film, but after seeing a trailer for "Smile 2" repeatedly at the Stuttgart Fantasy Film Festival I couldn't resist going to see it in the cinema. I'm glad I did. I find it much better. There's an outstanding performance by Naomi Scott as the pop singer Skye Riley, who's a pastiche of several contemporary pop singers. She has similarities with Lady Gaga and Miley Cyrus, without being a direct copy of either of them. Maybe she's closer to Taylor Swift. Skye is generic enough for every viewer to see his own favourite singer in her.

A year before the events in the film Skye was involved in a car accident. She's come out of it with horrific scars on her chest and back. That would end the career of most pop stars, but Skye is determined to make a comeback, wearing costumes that cover the scars.

At least Skye's legs are unmarked. They couldn't have been covered.

While attempting to buy painkillers from an illegal source, the dealer kills himself in front of her while smiling. This is the pattern from the first film. A demon attaches itself to someone and makes him kill himself in front of a witness. Then the demon is attached to the witness, who is made to kill himself a week later. As if this weren't enough, the witness is tormented for the whole week, made to see things that aren't there. This is Skye's fate. She's told that the only way for the curse to end is if she's killed by a third person, but she hopes she can find another way out.

The film is terrifying. The suspense drew me in from beginning to end. Now I'm already hoping for a third film.

Donnie Darko (5 Stars)

Incredible! I've been given another chance to see "Donnie Darko" in the cinema. That's the way it ought to be seen. It was shown today as part of the "Best of Cinema" series. It really is one of the best films ever made. German cinemas are cultivated and show the very best. I was also impressed that the cinema was almost full. There were only a few empty seats in the front row.

Here's a question for my readers. When Donnie, Gretchen and Frank are sitting in the cinema, what film are they watching? Don't google it, that's cheating. If you don't know the answer, watch the film again.

Success Rate:  - 0.3

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.co.uk
	Order from Amazon.de

Never Been Kissed (4 Stars)

This is the third film in my high school movie marathon. It's also one of the films that features a high school prom. Josie Geller, who's never been kissed, is the prom queen dancing with the prom king, Guy Perkins. Their lips are close, so can we expect a kiss? Not this time. She's 25, but he's only 17. That wouldn't be a problem in England, Germany or anywhere in the world apart from America. In America 17 is considered underage, which is so strange in my eyes. You can see that they both want to kiss as their bodies sway in time with the music. To be precise, they're swaying to "Erase/Rewind" by the Cardigans.

So what's a 25-year-old woman doing at a high school prom? Josie works for the Chicago Sun-Times as a copy editor. I've watched the film a few times, but today is the first time I've looked up what a copy editor is. According to Wikipedia, "Copy editing is the process of revising written material to improve readability and fitness, as well as ensuring that a text is free of grammatical and factual errors". To me that sounds like proofreading, but there's a subtle difference which was important in the pre-digital age of newspapers. Copy editing corrects what a person has written. Proof reading looks for errors after the text has been typeset. To explain it more clearly, a copy editor would correct spelling mistakes, whereas a proof-reader would notice mistyped words.

Josie is the perfect person for the job. She's precise and pedantic. When talking to her colleagues she corrects what they say. She can't turn herself off. It goes further than just words. She has to keep adjusting the sign on her door when it's not perfectly straight.

But Josie has never been kissed. It's understandable with her attitude. Kisses are wet and messy. She's waiting for the perfect moment with the perfect man. I hate to break the news to her, but there's no such thing as a perfect man.

Despite having the perfect job for her personality, Josie wants to climb up the corporate ladder by becoming a journalist. She's finally given an assignment. Her boss wants an investigative report on high schools, so Josie has to pretend she's 17 and enrol at South Glen South High School. That's a mouthful. It's a fictional school, so they could have come up with something snappier.

The investigation is about school in general, but it's only a few weeks before the prom, so that's what all the kids are talking about. Just one question though: do they really rate proms? Out of the 20,000 high schools in America, how does anyone know which has the best prom? Photos? Videos?

The year is 1999, so the prom's theme is the Millennium. Surprise, surprise, another local high school has already picked the theme, so they change it to "Famous couples through history".

Josie can get away with being a high school kid. She looks young. I could have got away with it as well. On my 23rd birthday I was waiting at Stuttgart train station for a friend. I got into a conversation with some men at a kiosk, and I told them it was my birthday. They didn't believe I was 23. They said I looked like I was 16. But that was a long time ago. Nobody thinks I'm 16 any more.

But what's Josie doing? In her real high school years she was an outsider, and she wants to fit in this time. But how can she fit in wearing clothes like that? She looks like a throwback to the 1950's.

This is more typical high school fashion. Jessica Alba looks disgusted. In England it wouldn't have been a problem. Everyone wears the same uniform. It's better that way. School shouldn't be used for a fashion show.

This is a slight improvement. Now she looks like a 1960's housewife.

But the teacher notices her. It's not just about Josie's looks. He's impressed by her knowledge of Shakespeare. The class is studying "As You Like It", a play that I've never read. I have the complete works of Shakespeare on my Kindle, so I have no excuse. Sam Coulson, the English teacher, is genuinely attracted to Josie, but she's off-limits because she's only 17.

Josie would take issue with the last paragraph. I learnt in school that no sentence should begin with the word "But". I agree, and when I right serious documents I keep to the rule, but not in my blog. I try to keep a colloquial style, and it's common to begin sentences with "But" when we talk. But Josie would criticise that as well. Oops, I did it again!

They meet by accident at a fairground, and they ride the Ferris Wheel together. Now she's finally clothed more naturally.

There's only one way Josie can become popular in school. Her older brother Rob also pretends to be 17 and enrols in her school. He's naturally popular, and by talking positively about Josie he swings the others in her favour. But does he look 17? Not really. I don't know how old Rob was supposed to be, but David Arquette was 28 when he appeared in the film, and he looks nothing like a teenager.

Riding the wave of popularity, she's invited to the prom by Guy Perkins, the boy that all the girls want. They're dressed as Orlando and Rosalind from "As You Like It".

Not everyone takes the prom theme so seriously. The school's Mean Girls look like Three Shades of Barbie. Where's Ken when you need him?

Fast forward to the spoilers. Josie's article is a success, and she finally gets kissed by Sam Coulson. That's not much of a spoiler, is it? Everyone knew they would get together in the end.

This was the first film made by James Franco. He only appears briefly, speaking a few lines, so it's easy to miss him. He isn't named in the film, but the credits list him as Jason. He's an actor I like a lot. His breakthrough was as Harry Osborn in "Spider-Man", three years later, but in my eyes he'll always be a B-Movie actor. That's what he does, and he's good at it.

Would I have kissed Josie? In school or at work? She's pretty, but she's not the first girl who would have attracted my attention.

Octavia Spencer is more my type. She was 29 when she made "Never Been Kissed", and she looks even more beautiful now. She's beautiful and she's talented. She's been nominated for three Academy Awards, of which she won one.

I've read that "Never Been Kissed" is considered a cult film. I'm in urgent need of finding the definition of cult film.

Success Rate:  + 1.4

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.co.uk

Donnie Darko (5 Stars)

As my regular readers know, I don't consider my blog to be primarily a film review site. It's a film diary. The difference is important. I write about every film I watch, without exception, in the order I watch them. I also write about a film every time I watch it. Today is the eighth time I've watched "Donnie Darko" since I started my blog, so I can't think of anything to write that I haven't written already.

So this post won't get many hits. Tough luck. There are plenty of other posts that are popular with my readers. Check out my popular post list on the right of the screen, if you're reading this on a PC. Unfortunately, you won't see it if you're reading on a phone. According to my blog statistics (which only I can see) 44% of my readers use a Macintosh, 36% of my readers use Windows and 2% of my readers use Linux, so it's only a small percentage of my readers who use a phone.

Success Rate:  - 0.3

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.co.uk
	Order from Amazon.de

Donnie Darko (5 Stars)

For me this was a dream come true: the chance to see "Donnie Darko" in the cinema. I missed it when it was the cinema 20 years ago. At the time I lived next to a large cinema on the edge of Birmingham. I walked past the cinema every day on the way to the bus stop. I even remember seeing the poster for "Donnie Darko" hanging outside. The blue shading made it look like a horror film, so I wasn't interested. In 2001 there was already Internet, but it wasn't as prolific then as it is today. What I mean is, it wasn't as easy to find summaries of new films as it is today. So I missed it.

I forgot all about it until three years later. I was chatting about films in an IRC chat room. One of the girls said, "Donnie Darko is the best film ever made". Another girl replied, "Yes, it is". That made me jump in my chair. Two people told me a film was the best film they'd ever seen, and it was a film I'd never seen. I couldn't let that rest. When we stopped chatting I ordered the film online before going to bed. That was 16th April 2004. (Amazon keeps perfect record of my orders). It arrived a few days later, and the rest is history. It immediately became one of my favourite films. In my recent top 100 film list I put it in second place. 

I always regretted never having seen the film on the big screen. Now I finally had a chance. There was a special screening today to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its release. It was shown in connection with a strange short film called "Nimic" starring Matt Dillon. I've never been a fan of short films. Either too little happens or too little is explained. In this case it was the latter.

The theatre was almost full, apart from the empty seats necessary for the Coronavirus social distancing. Before the film began, the host asked how many of us had already seen the film in the cinema. Very few hands went up. Evidently, the film was never shown in German cinemas, apart from film festivals. In 2001 "Donnie Darko" was shown at the Fantasy Film Festival in Stuttgart. Then the host asked how many had never seen "Donnie Darko" before. About a third of the audience put their hands up. That amazed me. I thought that almost everyone would be a fan of the film. However, I envy the first-timers. "Donnie Darko" is a film that deserves to be seen on the big screen. I tried to forget the film and enjoy it as one of them. The film is overwhelming. So much happens, and the intensity steadily increases as the film progresses. When the song "Mad World" began in the final scene, I had tears in my eyes.

"Donnie Darko" isn't an easy film to understand. It's a film that needs to be watched several times. If it's too complicated for you, watch the Director's Cut, in which there are additional scenes that explain things. Then go back and watch the theatrical version again, because it's better. Take my word for it.

Now I want to see the film in the cinema again. Maybe the 25th anniversary, if I live that long. I'll probably watch it on disc again in the next few weeks.

Success Rate:  - 0.3

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.co.uk
	Order from Amazon.de

50 First Dates (3 Stars)

Amazon Friday #16

This is a film that I've been intending to watch for years. I've put it off because I have mixed feelings about Adam Sandler. In most cases I don't like his films, because his brand of humour is either silly or gross. The only films he's made that I really like are "Little Nicky" and "Pixels".

The film's premise is that a young woman is suffering from Goldfield Syndrome, a form of amnesia, after a car accident. She's lost the ability to create long term memory. She can remember everything that happened up to her accident, but since then she forgets everything that happened the previous day.

Henry Roth (Adam Sandler) works in a Sea Life Centre in Honolulu. One day he meets a beautiful young woman, Lucy Whitmore (Drew Barrymore), in a cafe. They get on great together, but she has to leave to go to her father's birthday party. They arrange to meet at the same place the next day. But when they see each other she doesn't recognise him and accuses him of harassing her.

The cafe's owner used to be Lucy's mother's best friend – she died in the car accident – so she explains to Henry what's happening. She advises him to leave Lucy alone, but he won't give up. Every day he meets her for breakfast. Some days she wants to talk to him, other days she doesn't, depending on the way he approaches her. After a while he begins to visit her father's birthday party. He celebrates his birthday every day, because she thinks it's still the day after the accident. Her father initially warns Henry away, but he accepts him once he realises his intentions are honourable.

The only spoiler I'll give you is that Lucy isn't cured. Every day is her first date with Henry, so she has hundreds of first dates, not just 50. The film shows how Henry manages to deal with this situation.

I like the film's premise a lot. It's a fascinating idea for a film. Unfortunately, I think the idea has been wasted by making the film a comedy. It would have worked much better as a serious film. The film shouldn't make me laugh, it should make me cry. Not that I laughed anyway. I found the comedy stale.

As for the character development, it could have been spared. All it does is present Henry Roth as a completely unlikeable character, a serial heartbreaker. He's shown as someone we have to hate, but suddenly he becomes a nice guy when he meets Lucy. There's no slow character arc. Bang, he's a new man! It's not credible.

Success Rate:  + 0.6

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.co.uk
	Order from Amazon.de

Donnie Darko (5 Stars)

Dancer's Top Films #2

"I hope that when the world comes to an end I can breathe a sigh of relief, because there will be so much to look forward to".

Donnie Darko is a mentally disturbed teenager who lives in the sleepy little town of Middlesex, Virginia. He frequently sleepwalks and wakes up on the golf course or on the side of the road. On 2nd October 1988 a giant rabbit called Frank tells him to wake up and leave the house. While he's away an aircraft engine falls on his house, directly onto his room. Frank warns Donnie that the world will end in 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes and 12 seconds.

Thankful that Frank has saved his life, he proceeds to do whatever Frank tells him to do. He smashes the water pipes and floods his school. He burns down the house of a local motivational speaker.

Donnie considers himself a superhero. He also believes he's doing God's will, although the God he believes in isn't necessarily the Christian God. He's willing to sacrifice himself to save the world.

When he's in the cinema watching "Evil Dead" with his girlfriend Gretchen, only he can see Frank. Is Donnie insane? Donnie doubts his own sanity, but if he doesn't try to save the world, who else will?

The film's plot is mind-bending. It has to be watched several times to be understood. Three years after the theatrical release, a Director's Cut was made with scenes inserted that make the film easier to understand. That's the version I watched today. It's good, but I prefer the theatrical release, which I'll be able to watch in the cinema a week from now.

Success Rate:  - 0.3

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.co.uk
	Order from Amazon.de

Scream (5 Stars)

Dancer's Top Films #59

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.

1. Don't have sex.
2. Don't drink or do drugs.
3. 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

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.co.uk

Donnie Darko (5 Stars)

"If God controls time, then all time is pre-decided".

I'm continuing today with my mini-marathon of my three favourite films. "Donnie Darko" is in second place. It's a film I could watch every day and never get bored with it. The only problem is that I'd miss out on so many other wonderful films.

I watched it with my son, who's never seen it before. I wasn't sure if he would like it. Mostly he likes action films, whereas "Donnie Darko" is a twisted science-fiction mystery with a plot that's difficult (though not impossible) to understand. I needn't have worried. I looked sideways at him a few times and saw him sitting in awe. This is a film of such depth that it's impossible not to be overwhelmed.

The next time I watch the film I ought to write more about the minor characters. Every named character who has a speaking role, however brief, plays an important part in Donnie's story. They've all been set like perfectly formed stones in a mosaic. The film would be incomplete without any of them.

I also need to write about the religious aspect of the film. Donnie's messianic nature, sacrificing himself to save the world, is obvious, but there are many other subtle references. Donnie is struggling to find God throughout the film. He doesn't succeed in his search, but he feels compelled to do God's will. He's been selected by God to do something that nobody else can do, and God has endowed him with foresight and enhanced physical strength. God rewards him by giving him moments of physical intimacy with Gretchen Ross. It's Donnie's destiny to die alone, but at least he won't die a virgin.

My next review will be more detailed. I hope.

Success Rate:  - 0.3

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.co.uk
	Order from Amazon.de

Scream (5 Stars)

Public health warning: Cigarettes kill more people than masked serial killers.

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.co.uk