It’s 2021, so the “slasher, but meta” does not feel nearly as fresh and as clever as I’m sure it might have 25 years ago, before TV Tropes existed and YouTube analysis videos proliferated and every horror movie in history was streaming on demand, waiting to be rewatched and analyzed by fans. In fact, the humor and meta-commentary itself in Scream ends up feeling a bit mild rather than incisive. It’s the spirit that’s important and really lands, a self-aware and slightly jaded view that is lightyears away from the plodding, grimy mood of slashers from earlier in the ’90s. The meta-slasher has a few really effective structural moments to it, including a moment when a character in Scream watches a character in a movie get snuck upon by a murderer as the same is happening to him.
But where Scream elevates into greatness is in the nuts and bolts horror stuff that slashers typically are pretty weak on: suspense and violent scares and gut-churning moments or terror. I can see why this rejuvenated the slasher genre and inspired a wave of copycats. Scream is a good entry-point to slashers in a general: It’s a crash course in the way the subgenre can be great, both in the quasi-ironic appreciation for the genre that Scream revels and in demonstrating the tropes that work and reinventing the ones that don’t.
The film’s opening scene is legitimately one of the most suspenseful and chilling segments of escalating terror of any movie I’ve seen. It hops right in with the opening shot and doesn’t relent for 12 minutes. I felt like I was 10 again, watching everything through the cracks between my fingers.
Once the film gets to the story proper, it’s still quite good, too, with an abundance of masterful jump scares. Horror veteran Wes Craven’s blocking and shot construction brilliantly set up the maximum impact of each Ghostface reveal.
The story in wunderkind Kevin Williamson’s script is pretty straightforward, sturdy slasher material, but feels a bit fresher thanks to all of the flourishes on top. A killer is taking out high schoolers one-by-one and has his or her sights set on Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) whose mother was brutally raped and killed a year earlier.
The wrinkle is that the murderer could be anyone. Unlike, say, Halloween, the killer’s mask also hides a secret identity. Could it be one of Sidney’s friends? Her boyfriend? The man imprisoned for the murder of Sidney’s mother? The local policeman who has connections to the high school class? The nosey reporter? To the movie’s credit, it lets us consider various culprits at various moments.
The casting of the movie is quite good overall: Campbell is solid as final girl, though it would take the sequels for her to really come out of her shell. Courteney Cox is great as Gale Weathers, the reporter. And among the fellow high school students, Matthew Lillard is especially memorable as a wildcard weirdo. Shoutout, too, to Drew Barrymore who appears only in the perfect opening scene.
There’s a bit of a lull in the pace before the one big murder spree at hte climx, but it’s only a little lull, and the last 40 minutes are one gut-wrenching death or surprise Ghostface pop-up after another. I still think the movie would be improved with a few minutes shaved from its 111-minute runtime.
As with most whodunits, the suspense along the way is better than the actual solution ends up being, but the big revelations are still satisfying and iconic. The tone escalates to an unhinged quality near the end of the film, especially in the performances of the villains, bringing out some surprising dimensions in the characters, including some queer undertones that are part of the reason Scream has resonated in the queer community.
Scream is more than just a fun film time, though it is that; it articulates a vision of horror that’s postmodern and hip and quick-witted and teen-focused. I find this to be a pleasing mode for horror, the blend of Williamson’s zippy screenplay and Craven’s suspense chops making for a memorable spooky season touchstone.
- Review Series: Scream
Is It Good?
Very Good (6/8)
Dan is the founder and head critic of The Goods. Follow Dan on Letterboxd. Join the Discord for updates and discussion.