Scream (1996/I)

Director:

Wes Craven

Writer (WGA):

Kevin Williamson (written by)

Release Date:

20 December 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Don't Answer The Phone. Don't Open The Door. Don't Try To Escape.

Plot:

A psychopathic serial killer is stalking a group of teens just like in the movies!

Plot Keywords:

Death | Mask | Tabloid | Murder | Serial Killer

Awards:

7 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

David Arquette	...	Deputy Dwight 'Dewey' Riley
Neve Campbell	...	Sidney Prescott
Courteney Cox	...	Gale Weathers
Skeet Ulrich	...	Billy Loomis
Rose McGowan	...	Tatum Riley
Matthew Lillard	...	Stuart Macher
Jamie Kennedy	...	Randy Meeks
W. Earl Brown	...	Kenneth Jones
Drew Barrymore	...	Casey Becker
Joseph Whipp	...	Sheriff Burke
Lawrence Hecht	...	Neil Prescott
Roger Jackson	...	Phone Voice (voice)
David Booth	...	Mr. Becker
Liev Schreiber	...	Cotton Weary
Kevin Patrick Walls	...	Steven Orth

Also Known As:

Scary Movie (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong graphic horror violence and gore, and for language.

Runtime:

111 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

South Korea:18 (re-rating) | South Korea:(Banned) (original rating) | Iceland:16 | New Zealand:R16 | Singapore:M18 (re-rating) | Singapore:PG (cut) | Philippines:R-18 | Sweden:18 (director's cut) | Austria:16 | USA:NC-17 (original rating) | Argentina:16 (director's cut) | Australia:MA | Canada:16+ (Quebec) | Canada:18 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:R (Manitoba/Ontario) | Chile:18 | Finland:K-16 | France:-16 | Germany:16 (cut) | Germany:18 | Hong Kong:IIB | Ireland:18 | Israel:16 | Italy:VM14 | Japan:PG-12 (director's cut) | Mexico:B | Netherlands:16 | Norway:15 (original rating) | Norway:18 (director's cut) | Portugal:M/16 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R | Greece:K-17 | Brazil:14

Filming Locations:

Bradley Video, Santa Rosa, California, USA

Company:

Dimension Films

Trivia:

The death of Principal Himbry was added to the film after Bob Weinstein noticed that there was about 30 pages in the script where nobody died and told Kevin Williamson that "somebody must die". Subsequently, the addition of the scene gave Kevin Williamson a good reason to have all the party guests leave the party near the climax.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: When Billy is being put into the cop car.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Casey: Hello?
Phone Voice: Hello.
Casey: Yes?
Phone Voice: Who is this?
Casey: Who are you trying to reach?
Phone Voice: What number is this?
Casey: Well, what number are you trying to reach?
Phone Voice: I don't know.
Casey: I think you have the wrong number.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Free Enterprise (1998)

Soundtrack:

Whisper

Clever, scary and funny - a must-see for horror fans

Making a brilliant, original horror film is pretty hard these days, since practically everything has already been told, and more than once. Using that premise, director Wes Craven and screenwriter Kevin Williamson came up with Scream, whose cleverness derives from the fact that it knows every single stereotype of the genre and satirizes them.

Take the opening sequence, for example: a young girl (Drew Barrymore) is making popcorn and waiting for her boyfriend when she suddenly receives a phone call. Normally, this would be a huge clichè, only this time the killer decides to play a little game (horror film quiz, naturally) with his victim. In fact, the only reason why he kills her is that she gave the wrong answer to one of his questions (those who haven't seen Friday 13th might want to skip that bit, as it spoils said movie's ending). That scene is both very scary (the murder is quite graphic and disturbing) and at the same time funny (it tests the characters', and the audience's, knowledge of the horror genre), and the rest of the film continues in the same vein: after the first killing, the masked psychopath starts disposing of other teenagers in the town of Woodsboro using the same technique. One of the targets is Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), whose mother was raped and killed the year before. This implies the killer might be the same, but who could it be? Sidney's distant father? Her mother's lover (Liev Schreiber)? Or some random guy, with no motive at all?

Fortunately, it is not the last category: this murderer has a motive and a plausible identity as well. But it isn't the payoff that makes Scream interesting; it's how Craven and Williamson get to it, by outlining the genre's conventions (some of which were actually invented by the director himself) and using them in a clever, if self-referential, way. The point of the movie is, the more you know of this kind of films (pay attention to the rules, stated by geeky film buff Randy), the more chances you have to survive (although you must take into account that the killer has seen the same movies). The in-jokes that would ruin other films are the very cause of Scream's success, with memorable scenes such as the villain mimicking the movie his victims are watching or Craven's unmissable cameo as a janitor wearing Freddy Krueger's outfit (not to mention priceless lines like "Movies don't create psychos, movies make psychos more creative!").

In other words, Scream is a smart, effective horror film, which manages to amuse and scare in equal measures. Definitely worth watching, even if the two sequels (especially Scream 3) don't really match the original's intelligence and, forgive the expression, originality.