7 Days of Halloween: Scream

From the beginning of the iconic opening scene featuring Drew Barrymore, "Scream" makes it unconventionally known that it is the Hollywood horror movie so well aware of the tropes of the genre that it doesn't mind totally embracing them. Barrymore appears briefly as a young high school student ready to watch a scary movie one evening when she receives a bizarre call from what could sound like a deeply perverted man. She remains calm and tells him he has the wrong number. "It happens; take it easy," she says before hanging up. The man calls back. "You should never say 'who's there?'" he teases. "Don't you watch scary movies?" He even references "Nightmare on Elm Street," one of director Wes Craven's most recognized horror films before he directed "Scream" in 1996. "The Exorcist," "Basic Instinct," "Psycho" and others are mentioned by characters throughout the movie; this might be the most self-aware film of all time. Craven even makes a practically Hitchcockian cameo by appearing in a split-second cameo as a school janitor, dressed remarkably similar to Freddy Krueger.

It's a spooky intro, even a bit disturbing, but it's not horrifying. But it is bold in its declaration that it's not only willing to show young teenagers get sliced up, but it's even not afraid to show what audience members likely thought would be the main character killed so quickly. Anybody can die at any moment in this movie, even if they're young. As SoHo's lyrics claim in the conclusion song, "Whisper to a Scream," "We are, we are, we are but your children finding away around indecision. We are, we are, we are rather helpless."

Other high schoolers are introduced in this Kevin Williamson-penned story, originally titled "Scary Movie" before wisely being renamed by the Weinsteins. If the audience didn't know who these young stars were in 1996, they probably do by know: Neve Campbell (as the main protagonist), Rose McGowan, Jamie Kennedy, Matthew Lillard, David Arquette. To add more star power, television stars Courtney Cox and Henry Winkler also appear in characters the polar opposite of what they're most famous for. (Instead of being the super cool greaser of youth, Winkler here is a harsh principal who is way too comfortable pointing a pair of scissors at juveniles' faces.) Roger L. Jackson provides the voice of Ghostface, the nickname for the audience of the villain, throughout the four films. Skeet Ulrich is Sidney's (Campbell) boyfriend, and one gets the impression that Craven did everything he could to make him look just like Johnny Depp in "Nightmare on Elm Street," the movie that launched Depp's career.

Craven, who passed away this past September, was criticized in the past for his depiction of violence. When asked about this by Terri Gross in 1980, he discussed not only witnessing the carnage in Vietnam on a nightly basis in front of his TV screen as being sort of a muse for him, but also him shooting a rat as a young boy for fun. "And it took a lot of killing to kill that rat," he said, "and it continued screaming for a long time. I'll tell you, when I was done I was totally drained. I was totally shocked by what--not only what I had done for amusement, but how fiercely that thing struggled to stay alive. And that moment never left me. You know, I never again hunted, never killed. But I remembered how hard just a rat struggled to be alive. And somehow I was able to transfer that to, you know, the thought of any human being--anything, how fiercely we all hang onto life." This is certainly true for the Barrymore character, as she does everything to hang on to life, trying to call out for her parents, returning home, but unable to produce any kind of audible cry. It's nice to know that even if Williamson created a fun slasher whodunit with a bit of dark humor in it, Craven was fluent in the terrible reality of violence and its impact on ourselves.

It's nice that this is a unique horror film that is self-aware, but throughout the movie there's one movie reference after another: "Carrie," "The Silence of the Lambs," and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre." In essence, "Scream" is a little too self-aware. Every character has an opinion on these movies and their flaws; there's even a character named Randy (Kennedy) who's so in love with horror movies that he stops the watching of "Halloween" to explain to them that just in case this mysterious slasher shows up, there are certain "rules" to follow. He says, "You can never have sex"; this brings a chorus of boos from his audience. Next, never drink or do drugs. Finally, "never, ever, under any circumstances, say 'I'll be right back.'" Stu (Lillard), the untamed bro, mentions that he's going to grab another beer and asks if Randy wants one; Randy replies yes. "I'll be right back!" is Stu's obnoxious reply, and all the youngsters start howling away.

Campbell basically set herself up to be the scream queen successor to Jamie Lee Curtis, and she does a fine job. Most of the other actors don't do much, but in this type of movie, not much is required of them other than to scream (no pun intended) and look really, really scared.

"Scream" may have its flaws, but it's certainly an engaging whodunit with a twist every five minutes. Everyone's a suspect--even Sidney's father--and in almost 20 years since its release, it's aged pretty well for the most part. I personally get disturbed watching people being sliced up by their fellow human beings, especially when it's young people. And at least now, it's not particularly scary. I do recall seeing "Scream 3" when I was thirteen years old in the cinema and being terrified by it (without having seen either of the first two), but with "Scream," I simply mostly had fun. Like this year's "Trainwreck," it mocks its genre's tropes while warmly embracing them.