Scream [DVD]

A Wes Craven Masterpiece! It was 1996 and the horror genre was literally DEAD. Oh sure, horror movies were still being made but most of them lacked any real creative writing instead focusing on rehashing the same old formula over and over (with the exception of Wes Craven’s New Nightmare which did break new ground). Only the very best of them were (Wes Craven’s New Nightmare, In The Mouth Of Madness, Silence of The Lambs, Seven) were lucky enough to break even or do really well in the box office. Certainly the sub-genre of “slasher” movies were scraping the bottom of the barrel at this time in film history. Thus sets the stage for December 1996 and the previous high points for Dimension Films were “The Crow” and “Halloween: The Curse Of Michael Myers”. The 4-year-old studio is still looking for their crown jewel project that would put them on the map as legitimate contender among the big boys.At this same time an unknown but determined writer named Kevin Williamson has locked himself into a hotel room for 3 weeks determined to not go home until he completes the writing of a screenplay for his newest story which he is simply calling “Scary Movie”. To make a long story short, he completes writing the screenplay and begins to shop it around to film studios. The Weinstein brothers at Dimension films love it, they sign Kevin Williamson to write the film and after initially being turned down by Wes Craven, Wes gave it a second chance and agreed to come aboard to direct the film whose name was later changed to “Scream”.Wes Craven has an incredible legacy in the horror genre that shaped and re-shaped the entire genre over the course of 40 years of his films. He revolutionized the genre in the 80’s with “A Nightmare On Elm Street” and now over ten years later he was about to do it once again with the Scream franchise. Scream is a genuine masterpiece because it not only contains all of the elements needed for a fulfilling horror movie, it goes one step further and introduces new ideas while being done with a keen sense of self-awareness throughout the movie that had never been done before in the genre. Wes Craven’s New Nightmare started to explore this idea of self-awareness of the actors within the movie but in Scream he took it to the next level. We see the now famous “Rules To Survive A Horror Movie” as perfectly explained by one of my favorite Scream characters Randy. Moreover, this thread of self-awareness runs throughout the picture from multiple characters but never done in an “over the top” manner where it does not “work” within the context of the moment.It is the story of a small town where people are being brutally murdered and the killer’s attention begins to focus on the lead character Sydney Prescott and as the film unfolds there is revealed a much larger back-story that is under girding all of the events which are happening. No one can create tension and suspense in a scene better than Wes Craven and he is arguably the star of this film because of how brilliantly he tells the story visually from behind the cameras. Scream delivers at all the important angles and keeps you guessing as well as jumping throughout! The ending is fantastic and very original!!I am a STICKLER for not giving spoilers and even though this film is now TWENTY years old I will still not reveal anything more specific about the film other than to say, this is a MUST watch film for anyone who enjoys a top-shelf murder mystery, suspenseful thriller and slasher horror. Wes Craven’s direction and tone for the film is nothing less than SUPERB and combined with brilliant writing this is an instant classic and is no surprise to this fan/viewer that it turned the entire horror genre upside down upon its release. Horror movies are not supposed to make hundreds of millions of dollars in the box office but Scream and it’s sequels have done just that. It is NO accident!!This is the film that sparked a myriad of “copy-cat” films in the late 90’s and early 2000’s who were desperately trying to reach the success of the Scream franchise but all of these far more inferior films failed miserably to do so.Finally, if you have never seen Scream and perhaps you’re not a fan of the horror genre please hear me out, you owe it to yourself to watch this film at least once! Twenty years later it still stands up tall and towering over the genre. Sadly, Wes Craven passed away in August of 2015 but thankfully he was able to see the incredible fingerprint he left on the film industry which he helped shape since the 1970’s. I can only imagine what new projects he would be working on right now which upon completion would once again revolutionize the genre. Rest In Peace Wes Craven and thank you for over forty years of SCREAMS!!!!

Good movie

Classic. I could watch it everyday

My fav movie of all time

In the grand tradition of unforgettable slasher flicks such as "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre", "Halloween", "Friday the 13th", "A Nightmare On Elm Street", and all the not so memorable imitations to arise in their wake, comes "Scream", a film about a small group of high school friends (Neve Campbell, Skeet Ulrich, Rose McGowan, Matthew Lillard and Jamie Kennedy) whose lives are turned upside down when fellow members of their student body start turning up dead, brutally murdered by the hands of a mysterious masked killer who could very well be one of their own.This 1996 effort written by Kevin Williamson and directed by modern fright master, Wes Craven, truly is "clever, hip and scary" in its ability to successfully combine elements of horror, mystery and comedy into one nice, neat, little blood-soaked package. Along with an exceptional leading cast, "Scream" also features strong supporting performances from both David Arquette and Courteney Cox, as well as an unforgettable cameo appearance by Drew Barrymore. Buffs of the genre will also have fun picking up on the various references to older films which helped pave the way for this modern horror "classic". Two sequels soon followed, "Scream 2" in 1997 (the better of the two) and "Scream 3" in 2000, neither of which are necessarily bad films, but they're certainly not able to compare to the original as far as wit, character strength and story development go.However, as is the case with any ground-breaking motion picture, numerous rip-offs and imitations are bound to follow. A slew of "whodunnit"-type slasher flicks have been released over the course of the past few years in an attempt to cash in on the popularity of the "Scream" franchise, including films like "I Know What You Did Last Summer", "Urban Legend", "Valentine" and the direct-to-video quickie "Bloody Murder", all of which range from being merely mediocre to downright awful. So forget the rest and go with the best!"IT'S A 'SCREAM', BABY"!!!

Live it