What Makes 'Scream(1996)' So Special?

Do you like scary movies?

An analysis.

‘Scream’ is a 1996 film directed by Wes Craven – In the midst of dead, dismal and un-appealing horror productions of the ’90s, Wes rehabilitated the horror/slasher scene with what was to become one of the best horror films ever made. This is Scream. The genre of this movie is horror/slasher/who-done-it, which is explicitly determined throughout the movie from beginning to end. Its promising theatrical trailer and ‘18’ rating did not do justice to the thoroughly besetting and expressive scenes. There is a recurring theme throughout the movie which is the repetition of murder and anonymous sinister actions such as characters being haunted on the telephone by a disclosed person with a machine which disguises their voice, and dresses as a ghost (given the nickname ‘Ghostface’), there are repeated stabbings and the aim for death is to be pursued. All actions come with macabre-like and unkind intent. Throughout the movie, the point of view plays a large role in conveying the settings to build up elements of tension – for example, when a character is being approached by the killer, the camera angles zoom in on the face of the taunted to let the viewers see how they feel, the camera also repetitively spins around in a 360 degrees motion, possibly to make us feel nervous in a ‘is the killer going to pop up’ fashion. This creates effect for the viewers to feel invested in the plot, each angle / shot / lighting change is significant. The entire movie is aimed to create immense feelings for the audience, and everybody involved in this movie (from production to marketing) has clearly intended to target, confuse and trick the audience in a clever and ongoing way – For example, on the official movie promotional poster, Casey Becker (portrayed by well-known actress Drew Barrymore) is featured and is visibly appearing to be the heart of the movie, but she is killed in the opening scene, allowing the viewers to ask ‘if Drew isn’t the key role in this movie, then who is?’. Secondly, one of the killers is shown to be brutally murdered by Ghostface – making the audience think ‘Oh - It wasn’t him, then’, But it was later revealed that it was a very well-rehearsed trick as the allegedly dead character was ½ of the killing duo. The filmmakers target the audience by showing them that nothing is as it seems, and this theory has been continual for all the other scream movies. The repeated ‘phrase’ throughout the movie is ‘Everybody is a victim, and everybody is a suspect’ which says a lot. Sidney Prescott, a character in the movie, is quoted to say “this is life, not a movie” - and there is a consistent referral of the concept of horror movies, this creates a realistic effect for the audience and almost makes it seem like it is not a movie. The killer/s wear/s a mask, and the true identities are revealed at the climax of the movie to allow the audience to search for clues and become a detective for 1 hour and 51 minutes. The film is constructed in line with the sequence of events and is well organised by plot – The first sound in the movie is the ringing of the telephone, which Casey Becker picks up and proceeds to have a friendly/flirty conversation with the normal-sounding male on the other end, which soon turns sinister when Casey sees that the person has tied up her partner, Steven. The plot flows and thickens smoothly throughout as the days go by – The father of the primary protagonist, Sidney Prescott, is out of town, leaving his daughter alone. The movie builds up to the anniversary of Sidney’s mothers' death (raped and murdered – allegedly by Cotton Weary but it was later revealed that he was framed by the killers in this movie) and the killers are out to spite and scare Sidney, and ultimately plan to murder her on the same day they killed her mother. The movie ends with victory, with the killers getting their comeuppance and end up getting murdered (in self -defense), themselves. Each character is individualistic in their own way, every single person in each scene is of sgnificance whether that may be the centre of attention, Sidney, or Steve Orth (Casey Beckers’ boyfriend who had no major lines at all but was the first person to be murdered in the movie). The viewers are enticed into becoming engaged with each character individually, we get to see a potential blossoming relationship between the local Woodsboro reporter Gale Weathers (a busy body who puts her career before anybody) and Dewey Riley who is a timid and ingenuous deputy. Sidney’s best friend (and Dewey’s sister) is murdered by Ghostface and a long list of the 'innocent party’ get caught in the crossfire during this dire massacre. It is always traumatic for the audience to become invested or hold a torch in/for a specific character, just for them to be killed off or injured. Miscellaneous topics and social issues are highlighted throughout this movie, whether serious or un-serious, such as a teenage girl (Sidney) still fragile and full of emotion after the year of her mothers’ rape and murder. This has impacted Sidney’s life immensely in every way possible – we know that it has altered her sex life, both in general and with her partner Billy Loomis. This creates tension for her and her boyfriend as she feels ‘sexually anorexic’ and ‘abnormal’ to be afraid / un-interested in intimacy and losing her virginity. Upon choosing cast members for the movie, it was only situated on a pint-sized budget, meaning that the team were unable to cast the ‘A listers’ at the time – Drew Barrymore (Casey Becker) was best known for her roles in E.T (1982) and Poison Ivy (1992), She discovered the script on her own terms and reached out to the production headquarters to be put forward for an audition for the role of Sidney Prescott. Of course, the role of Sidney went to Neve Campbell who appeared in Party of Five (1994-2000) and The Craft (1996). News reporter Gale Weathers is portrayed by Courteney Cox who had her first big break on American sitcom Friends (1994- 2004), it was her first ‘bitch role’. The KNB effects team were recruited to make this number ‘gory’ - The first steps being to create the ‘alter ego’ of the main killer/s which in this case was designing what Ghostface would be wearing. KNB used ‘over 50 gallons’ of fake blood throughout filming, which usually consisted of corn syrup and food dye. The effects described as ‘the most complex’ happened to be the live corpse of Casey Becker and Steve Orth, the two were turned inside-out which meant the effects team had to make internal organs very much visible, the final piece ended up being perfected with a blend of ‘dummies’ and also the real actors themselves. Filming was completed in June 1996 and Wes Craven spent over 2 months in editing – he found himself involved in an amount of disputes with the MPAA, usually because of how ‘graphic’ and ‘gory’ the movie was and Wes was accused of ‘glorifying horror and violence’ - It was eventually agreed by all to be rated ‘R’ /18. In a nutshell, Scream is my most favourite horror movie and I am certain that it will never be knocked off my top spot. What makes it so special? You may ask – In a world of monotonous attempted re-creations and tedious plots and aims, nothing could, or ever would, overlap Wes Cravens ‘Scream’. Wes was phenomenal with his creations, few directors can create a timeless movie filled with emotions, humour, gore and tension all together and end up doing a damn good job with it, and having it still be relevant years later. I have no shame in admitting that I know the script off by heart, and legally, I’m not even ‘old enough’ to watch it yet, just don’t tell the MPAA.

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