AmateurMovieReviews.com

The Story: A masked slasher with a knowledge of horror movies stalks teens in a rural California town.

I know, most of you reading this have seen Scream many times and have already formed your opinion on it. But, it's my review, so pipe down and read on.

The story is set up perfectly from the opening scene; Casey (Drew Barrymore) receives a phone call as she's waiting for her boyfriend to come watch videos. It starts off innocently enough as Casey starts to flirt with the caller. Soon enough, she's being terrorized over the phone and made to play a game where she has to answer questions about horror movies. She ends up with one of the great shock scenes of the last several years, hanged and gutted from a tree in the front yard.

Cut to Sidney (Neve Campbell) trying to hide her obtrusive boyfriend Billy (Skeet Ulrich) from her dad after Billy sneaks in through her window. We come to find out that the teens have something in common; both their moms are no longer around. The only difference is that Billy's mom left, while Sidney's mom was allegedly raped and murdered by the man Sidney helped convict.

Soon, Sidney herself becomes the target of the unknown killer who wears a stark white Ghost face mask. She's chased around her home by the killer. A good scene chock full of irony; when asked if she likes horror movies, Sidney replies, "Why? They're all the same, some big breasted woman who can't act runs up the stairs when she should be running for the front door." The irony comes when the killer attacks and Sidney, unable to make it through the front door, has to run upstairs.

When she makes it to her bedroom and tries to call 911 through her computer phone line, Billy surprisingly shows up. At first, Sidney suspects him, but gets over it when the police finally say it was Billy who scared the killer off. Or does she?
When the town is put on curfew, the local teens decide to throw a party at popular kid Stu's (Matthew Lillard, who's a gas) house. The killer shows up there as well, and the bodies start piling up. But the question remains, who is the killer?

A quick bit about writer Kevin Williamson. I think Scream is one of the smartest and straight up brilliant horror scripts ever written. It pokes fun at many a "slasher" convention, yet manages to be scary at the same time. However, Williamson stabbed himself in the back with his next film, I Know What You Did Last Summer. I just find it funny that he writes a script that's a rarity in that it's actually scary for a sub-genre who's heyday was twenty years ago, then turns around and writes exactly the kind of story that he just made fun of!

Now for the unavoidable. Being someone who frequents many a horror movie message board or chat room, I constantly hear people who describe themselves as "REAL" horror fans continuously trash this movie and the people who like it. Message board headings range from "Scream Haters Unite" to "Why did Wes Craven Sell Out?" On these message boards, fans of Scream or it's sequels are referred to as "pussies" or "not real horror fans." To these people I say, "slurp my butt." Scream not only brought on a horror movie resurgence for better or worse, but it also ranks as one of the best horror films of the nineties. The cast of mostly young actors give solid, convincing performances, and the final revelation of who the killer(s) are is a stunner.

Scream is chock full of great lines, and the references to many, many a horror film brought a smile to my face when I first saw it in theaters. Also are cameos by Linda "The Exorcist" Blair, Director Craven himself, and an uncredited role for Henry "The Fonze" Winkler. The film is funny without being slapstick, scary, smart, and bloody. Scream is a modern day classic.

Now, my only two complaints. They may seem minor to the indiscriminate viewer, but being a big fan of the likes of Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung, I loathe when an actor is obviously being doubled by their stunt person. As someone who pays attention to the slightest detail, it's something that really burns my ass. The indicator: any time you see someone fall down and they lift their arm or hand to cover their face, it's a stunt person. And Campbell's was used in a thing so minor as her character crawling out the back of a van! Call me petty, but that really sets my bells off.

Also of annoyance to me is Rose McGowan. I can't quite put my finger on it, but something about her just rubs my rhubarb the wrong way. Maybe it's the way she delivers her lines, maybe it's the way she very obviously has to fight the urge of looking into the camera, but I think her part would have been better served by someone less, well, flaky.

However I do recommend to anyone who can overlook those two slight annoyances that they buy it, rent it, do what you gotta do to own it.