Prior to watching this film, I had some catching up to do on the slasher genre, having never seen any of the classics. I stuck to only the originals and watched _Halloween (1978)_, _Friday the 13th (1980)_, and _Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)_. While those three didn't exactly win me over on the genre, I was still glad to have watched them, as this film makes numerous direct references to the characters and clichés of these classics. That said, I don't think you need to have seen them to enjoy this film, as the references aren't critical to the plot and can be understood through generous context in any case.

So, how does this meta-slasher stack up against the classics? It's better in pretty much every way. Both the story and the characters have more depth, with meaningful backstories, relationships, and reveals that all tie to the central conflict. Comedic elements actually land, both in terms of dialogue and meta-slasher commentary (Randy's slasher obsessed monologues are a good time, especially when coinciding with clever intercut moments). Finally, the biggest distinguishing success for me was the ending, which not only doesn't fall flat, but in fact lands so successfully so as to retroactively improve my assessment of the rest of the film. For example, some of the acting that I thought was a little too hammy in the first and second acts ([spoiler]Matthew Lillard's portrayal of Stu[/spoiler]) is re-contextualized by the finale and feels much more appropriate in retrospect. It's a well-acted, bloody set piece with twists and turns that had just the right amount of bread crumbs to make them feel earned. It turns a would-be slasher into a who-dun-it that you feel like you could have actually solved, which is a nice change of pace from the much more simplistic classics. In the end, unlike in the case of those classics, with this film I'm actually interested in checking out the sequels, which serves as a solid endorsement to its quality.

EDIT: Forgot that I had taken a couple of notes during the movie. First, the cliché scene where a character is in a bathroom stall and overhears people talking about them was surprisingly solid. And two, being a big fan of _Peaky Blinders_, it's always fun to hear a soundtrack that includes "On a gathering storm comes a tall handsome man, in a dusty black coat with a red right hand". And given the killer's black costume, it's even somewhat relevant.

**This is part of my 2022 HORROR Fridays**

I first saw Scream in theatres back in 1996. The usual affair for horror movies at the time was that I usually ended up liking them, and whatever girl I brought usually hated them. With Scream it was different. I fell totally in love with it, and even my girlfriend at the time enjoyed it.

Since then, I have seen it a few times more in the cinema, and loads of times on DVD and Blu-ray. Not much lately, though, but that might just be because of my lovely better half being deathly afraid of Ghostface, and, out of respect, I never take it out whenever she is around.

Well, I took it out today, and Scream is still a good movie, but it has lost some of its "allure". What Wes Craven did with Scream back in '96 was certainly revolutionizing, but as time went by, more and more horror creators imitated it, and of course we got the sequels, and well...maybe it got to be a bit much there for a while.

Now, don't get me wrong. I still love this movie, and I still recommend it to anyone that wants to get started with the horror genre. We still get a Courtney Cox that is as far away from Friends as you can possibly come. We still get a Neve Campbell before she became a "wild thing". And of course...a totally crazy Shaggy.

Scream is well worth the time investment. Especially if you haven't seen it in a while, or, god forbid, not at all.

**_Scream delivered a breath of fresh air into the slasher franchise and holds up rather well nearly 30 years later._**

The plot of this film follows a cookie-cutter structure that models nearly all of the great slasher franchises of the late 1970s and early 1980s, but that is entirely the point. Scream is completely aware of the tropes of horror movies and utilizes them in a creative way by adding commentary and subtle comedy delivered by the characters throughout the film. It is not a full-fledged comedy by any means; there is no forced humor or jokes, but it is more of a dark comedy that pokes fun at itself in the background.

The performances from our main cast were great. Neve Campbell delivers an excellent badass performance and is the perfect lead for the franchise. She is capable of fighting back in a brutal way and rivals Laurie Stroud from Halloween as my favorite final girl of all time. Courtney Cox was quite good as well; she had limited screen time but was able to really make the most of it. David Arquette was okay; he did not blow me away by any means, and he is quite replaceable in my opinion. Matthew Lillard was my favorite of the film; his performance was over the top and quite mentally deranged, which worked really well. Skeet Ulrich was also quite good, but took a backseat to Lillard in my opinion.

The direction of this film was great. Wes Craven did an excellent job delivering unique shots and utilizing the camera angle and height quite well. I do think this movie needs a little more gore and violence for it being a slasher film. There was really only one kill that was quite memorable to me. For it being a homage and critique of the slasher genre, it was lacking quite a bit in the slash department. In addition, the runtime felt a bit bloated, and I think if this was cut down to maybe ten minutes, the viewing experience would have been better.

Overall, I do think this movie is slightly overrated, but it is still a great film and worthy of its praise (for the most part).

**Score:** _79%_ |
**Verdict:** _Great_

**Scream was the first of its kind that redefined horror with new rules, a meta plot, and rebellious unexpected twists.**

Scream followed all the rules and simultaneously broke them in a brilliant self-aware genre reinvention that leveraged every horror movie trope to set up and subvert every expectation. Scream is a love ballad to horror movie fans that intimately knows and zealously honors the legacy of terror-filled films that came before while creating something new, innovative, bold, and surprising. Scream’s dark humor and admiration of overused horror plot points resulted in one of the first meta films in history. Characters know they are living a real-life horror film and yet make dumb and predictable horror movie decisions tricking the viewers into a sort of safety before breaking all the rules and surprising with unexpected twists and turns. Scream was the first of its kind and welcomed a whole new horror sub-genre and a movie franchise that still has no end in sight over 25 years later.