Absolutely terrifiying. (Scream (DVD))

Member Name: Tara

Product:	Scream (DVD)
Date:	30/10/00 (51 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Extremely scary, funny, a great cast and fairly unpredictable plot.

Disadvantages: Quite gruesome. Most of the main characters are killed off.

Being the squeamish type I didn’t plan to watch this movie when it was shown on Channel 4 last night. I stumbled upon it by chance whilst channel flicking and found it so gripping and intense I ended up watching right to the end.

Scream is the story of Sidney (Neve Campbell), who becomes the target of a mass murderer with a comical looking (though very real) knife and the trademark white scream mask. He phones her, kills anyone remotely associated with her, and generally terrifies the life out of her until he finally gets the chance to kill her at a party thrown to cheer her up.

What makes the murders even more chilling is that most of them happen on the anniversary of Sidney’s mother’s death, who was butchered in front of her eyes exactly one year ago. The killer for that murder has already been caught but there are some who believe he was framed.

One of those people is Gail Weathers (Courtney Cox Arquette), a TV journalist, who follows Sidney around constantly, trying to make a film for her television programme, and who Sidney detests for writing a book on her Mother’s death.

The film also stars David Arquette as a policeman, Skeet Uldrich as Sidney’s boyfriend Billy, Rose McGoven as Sidney’s best friend and Matthew Gillard as her boyfriend. Drew Barrymore also makes a brief appearance, but her character is killed off near the start. The whole cast does a brilliant performance.

The film is thrilling, intensely scary and also very funny. One of the most interesting characters is Randy (Jamie Kennedy), a horror movie buff. Throughout the film he is constantly telling the others the basic formulae for a good horror movie. Everything he says contradicts what is happening or what has already happened so far. It’s very cleaver.

I was particularly impressed with the way the teenagers were portrayed. The scene, in which, two students (one a cheerleader) bitch about Sidney in
the toilets is wonderful. Spot on.

Scream really is a classic horror movie. There are some gruesome bits, but it concentrates more on building the tension, and it also has a good plot.

It isn’t predictable. You never know what’s going to happen next. And all the way through you’ll be trying to guess who’s going to be the next victim and who the killer/s is. It isn’t until the very last scene that you discover the truth behind Sidney’s Mother’s murder and this years killing spree.

I think the only real problem with it is that almost every single one of the main characters dies in the end, which could spoil the continuity of the sequel (which I haven’t yet seen). Otherwise, I loved it.

Summary: