Modern horror classic (Scream (DVD))

Member Name: shaneo632

Product:	Scream (DVD)
Date:	19/09/09 (1 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Clever and bloody

Disadvantages: None

note: also appears in part on Flixster and The Student Room

Scream is the start of a very successful trilogy of comedy horror films that were welcomed as very refreshing antidotes to the normal horror formula of a masked killer perfunctorily killing off a set of annoying teenagers. Whilst this film included those elements, it did so with a satirical bent, openly mocking the conventions of the genre whilst also including some clever and outrageous kills, ensuring the gorehounds get their fill.

The film opens as Casey Becker (Drew Barrymore) is murdered violently, left hanging from a tree. This in itself sets the tone for the film - it decieves the audience (through the marketting at the time and the construction of the scenes) that Drew Barrymore would be the star of the film, but in fact, she's killed within the first fifteen minutes, leaving the viewer already uncomfortable and vulnerable before the film even really gets going.

The murderer wears a strange "ghostface" mask, and his weapon of choice is a large knife. This murder coincides with the anniversary of the rape and murder of the mother of the film's actual protagonist, Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), who is then attacked by the killer the next night. Her boyfriend Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich) is held under circumstantial evidence, whilst she stays with her friend Tatum Riley (Rose McGowan) and Tatum's brother Dewey (David Arquette). What's more, Sidney has to deal with the nosy and business-savvy reporter Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox), who has made a living off of Sidney's misery. As a party begins, whilst most kids are unaware of the killer's presence at the party, things can only go bad to worse.

This is a very special film that's one of the few postmodern horror films of its time, cleverly parodying the conventions of the genre. This is amusing, bloody good fun, even if as the sequels progressed, they more and more became the films they were spoofing.

Summary: A smart horror film