My Review of "Scream"

Scream is a self aware horror movie that came out back in 1996. It was a pop culture phenomenon when it first came out and yet I never saw it. I remember the popularity and hype that was involved with this movie when it first came out. Yet I wasn't interested in watching it at all. Now almost 30 years later, I was able to finally give it a shot. Shockingly, I liked it. There's a lot of fun to be had with this movie.

The movie starts out with a gruesome murder to set the tone for the movie. As this movie plays homage to the horror movies of the past they make light of a lot of things. They have a bit of trivia with popular horror movies of the past. Meanwhile, the movie itself is playing upon the Alfred Hitchcock deception in Psycho. There's a lot of fourth wall breaking in this movie. Instead of dramatic irony of the story, we have a sort of dramatic irony of how the movie is made. This movie plays upon the expectations of the audience's knowledge of current pop culture. I thought this was quite clever and fun.

That all kickstarts the introduction of our main character Sidney. She's a high school student that has lost her mother a year ago in a gruesome murder. It's believed that the killer was found but there are rumblings that the wrong person was sent to prison. Sidney is of course still traumatized by the whole ordeal as kids can be quite cruel. To add to injury, there are a number of conspiracy theorists to say that she wrongfully sent an innocent man to prison. All to say things are not going too great for her.

She has a supportive friend named Tatum to have her back. Her ex boyfriend Billy creepily tries to get her back all the time. They all hang out together because it's a small town and they all go to the same high school. Everyone knows everyone's business and there are rumors flying everywhere. These kids are also terrible humans.

As the movie progresses the murder continues to kill random individuals. There seems to be no rhyme or reason behind the killings. This makes it more difficult for the audience to decipher who the killer might be. I say this but I had a hunch from the very beginning who this person could be. Not to toot my own horn but it turned out to be partially correct.

This movie plays out in a fun way. There is always a tongue in cheek reference to older horror cliches. Everyone in the movie seems to be aware of these cliches as well. There are even a ton of horror movie easter eggs sprinkled throughout the movie. For example there's a janitor dressed as Freddie from Nightmare on Elm street and his name is Fred. They're so fast you might miss them if you don't pay attention.

There's also a sense of dark humor poured all over the movie. Things are pretty darn ridiculous but it's all in good fun. It feels more like a friend trying to tell you a scary story but it's played out in a movie. You might also like the fun little one liners sprinkled throughout the movie as well.

Overall, this movie was a lot of fun. It was actually a lot more fun than I expected. I now know why this became a pop culture phenomenon 30 years ago. In fact, some of its influences are still felt today in movies. At least now I understand what they're all about. I would recommend and rewatch this movie and that's why I give it a 7.5 out of 10.