Scream (1996)

Directed by

Wes Craven

Genre

comedy film, horror film, teen film, mystery film, slasher film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 51m

Rated

R

Rating

7.4 of 10 from 8,060 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A masked killer targets a high school student and her friends in a small California town. The attacks begin on the anniversary of her mother's murder.

suspensefuldarkly comicself-awaretensefast-pacedgrimplayfulmeta

What happens

Scream is a 1996 American slasher film directed by Wes Craven and written by Kevin Williamson. It stars David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Matthew Lillard, Rose McGowan, Skeet Ulrich, and Drew Barrymore. Set in the fictional town of Woodsboro, California, the plot follows high school student Sidney Prescott (Campbell) and her friends as they become the targets of a costumed serial killer on the anniversary of her mother's murder. Williamson, who was struggling to get his projects off the ground, was inspired by reports of the Gainesville Ripper murders to write a screenplay that satirized the clichés of the slasher genre popularized by films such as Halloween (1978), Friday the 13th (1980), and Craven's own A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). Developed under the title Scary Movie, the script became the subject of an intense bidding war among multiple studios before Miramax Films purchased the rights for its Dimension Films label. Although Craven initially declined the project several times, he agreed to direct after reading the script, hoping to re-establish himself following a series of career setbacks. The involvement of the well-known Barrymore and Cox helped secure additional studio support. Principal photography took place in California from April to June 1996 on a budget of $15 million. Craven also trimmed the film's violence following a dispute with the Motion Picture Association of America over securing an R rating. Released on December 20, Scream was not expected to perform well because of concerns about releasing a slasher film during the Christmas season. However, strong word of mouth helped it gross approximately $173 million worldwide, making it an unexpected success and one of the year's highest-grossing films. Contemporary reviews were positive, with praise directed toward the film's self-aware humor and effectiveness as a slasher film, although some felt its meta approach was overly irreverent. In the years since its release, Scream has been regarded as a cultural touchstone and one of the most influential horror films of the 1990s. It has been credited with revitalizing the slasher genre and popularizing a self-aware, metatextual approach to horror that influenced numerous later works. Its opening sequence, in which Barrymore's character is unexpectedly killed, became particularly noted for its tension and subversion of audience expectations. The film's success launched a franchise, which includes the sequels Scream 2 (1997), Scream 3 (2000), Scream 4 (2011), Scream (2022), Scream VI (2023), and Scream 7 (2026), as well as an anthology television series. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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