# Scream (1996)

### reviewed by
Jamey Hughton

    A Note to Miramax
    MY TRIBUTE TO ‘SCREAM'
    By Jamey Hughton

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WARNING: THE FOLLOWING COMMENTARY MAY REVEAL SPOILERS FROM THE "SCREAM" FILMS, PRIMARILY "SCREAM 3". IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE FILM AND WISH TO DO SO WITH NO KNOWLEDGE OF THE PLOT, AND BY SOME MIRACLE OF NATURE YOUR HIGH SCHOOL CRONIES HAVEN'T SPILLED ALL THE BEANS, THEN PROCEED WITH CAUTION.

Well, here I am. It's been several days since my `Scream 3' experience, and I'm still wearing a gratified smirk across my face. Now, this particular smirk is not merely due to the fact I thought the film was a riot. It has to do with closure....the final lace being neatly tied in the phenomenal horror series that made slasher films fun again. And perhaps more fun than ever before.

I've seen `Scream 3' twice. The cutting edge wit of Kevin Williamson's caustic pen may be absent, but worthy successor Ehren Kruger finishes the series on a positive note of great fulfillment. I willingly concede that `Scream 3' is the sloppiest of the trilogy, with a generic serial killer plot-line that occasionally emits the pungent stench of a good formula gone sour. But it's still fun. Watching Williamson's characters evolve with such prudent care is a treat for all fans of the series. Now, when did the smirk materialize across my face exactly? It was the final shot of the movie, which performs a miracle of closure. Never mind the obtrusive plot holes that were scattered throughout the film earlier (namely with the unmasking of the killer)... this is a brilliantly effective way for Kruger to conclude the movie and the trilogy. Kevin Williamson would concur.

Which is why I ask Miramax to end it here. Let `Scream' rest in peace and maintain the amount of dignity warranted by a proper burial like this. After the biggest opening weekend of the series - an estimated $34.7 million in box office ticket sales - the idea of a `Scream 4' could have perhaps crossed the mind of certain executives at Miramax. I shudder to think of the possible resurrection of the series after such a commendable finale. With that frightening piece of information in mind, I offer the following tribute to the `Scream' franchise, which shattered the rules of conventional horror in more ways than one. Just think.... a slasher series with actual character development, that didn't take its core audience for merely a pack of adolescent idiots who were stupid enough to shell out the cash. I love the whole `Scream' universe, and with this memorial, I'd just like to get a few things off my shoulder and say adios for the last time.

    OBSESSED? OBVIOUSLY.

Yeah, I know. It's just a stupid movie. But while watching the `Scream' movies, I get that nostalgic feeling of blissful glee knowing that this is the highest form of barbed wit and palatable ingenuity that the genre will ever see. The `Scream' films (or at least the first two) are among my favorites, despite the fact I didn't award either with my highest rating. Keep in mind, dear readers, that ‘favorite' doesn't necessarily go alongside ‘best'. I rewatch them with the same amount of jubilant excitement and discovery every time, acknowledging that there are enough pop culture references and wink-wink in-jokes to even satisfy those who despise slasher films with a passion. Take one scene in `Scream 2', where a pair of dim-witted sorority sisters (Portia De Rossi and Rebecca Gayheart) explain that the hoopla surrounding the movie `Stab' is only related to our heroine Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) in a `six degrees of Kevin Bacon sort of way'. Or in the original `Scream', when tanktop-lovin' Tatum (Rose McGowan) notes that the murders in their small town of Woodsboro are beginning to sound like `something out a Wes Carpenter flick'. Just for the record, that's a combination of horror pioneer and `Scream' director Wes Craven and another legendary gore-meister by the name of John Carpenter. And then, there's `The Rules'. You don't know The Rules? According to obsessively paranoid film geek Randy Meeks (Jamie Kennedy), there are certain rules one must abide by to successfully survive a horror movie.....

1) You can never have sex. 2) You can never drink or do drugs. 3) Never, ever, under any circumstances, say `I'll be right back'. Randy is obviously knowledgeable on the topic of the endlessly recycled teen slasher genre. With `Prom Night', `Sleepaway Camp', and the seemingly infinite `Friday the 13th' franchise, one could identity a popular cinematic trend throughout the 1980's. Hmmm...if someone were to lampoon this trend in a sly parody of modern horror, the result would be amusing. Right? It took until 1996 for rookie screenwriter Kevin Williamson to do so. With `Scream', the horror genre was revitalized into a hip new slice of bloody pop culture where movie references abound. It was a rarity that promised the audience an ample quota of scares and laughs... and delivered. But, when you get right down to it, the `Scream' films are about murder. They're merely customary slasher films, elevated substantially by a self-mocking manner that is sharp, witty and refreshing. Which brings me to....

    THE TOP THREE MURDERS

1) Drew Barrymore in `Scream'. This positively blood-chilling opening sequence will be what the series is remembered by; the trademark moments when the intensity and cunning brilliance of the screenplay and direction reach peak form. Casey Becker (Barrymore), home alone to watch a scary movie and make Jiffy Pop, receives a call from a pestering gravely voice. He calls again, and again.... until it becomes evident that he is outside her home with the strict intent of gutting her like a fish before the night is through. After she answers a trivia question (category: horror villains) incorrectly, she watches in petrified horror as her boyfriend's intestinal tract spills out onto her patio. What is arguably the most horrific sequence in the trilogy ends with an image that strikes down the viewer with morbid dread: Casey's bloody body, dangling from a tree, is discovered by her parents. Not surprising, the remainder of the film is unable to recapture the type of merciless, apprehensive terror as seen with Casey Becker's untimely demise.

2) Jamie Kennedy in `Scream 2'. Kevin Williamson risked creating a mob of angry, devastated fans with this shocking (and particularly ballsy) move. Fan favorite Randy Meeks, with cellular phone in hand, carries on a crackling conversation on a college campus park with the killer. During this time, Dewey (David Arquette) and Gale (Courteney Cox Arquette) madly dash to scout the possible caller, tackling students with cell-phones to the ground. Unfortunately, Randy gets grabbed from behind and hauled into a news van, where he is repeatedly stabbed to death. The park scene represents some of Williamson's sharpest writing, but director Wes Craven is the real craftsman to mention, fashioning an eerie atmosphere in a scene set in broad daylight - not an easy thing to do. An incredibly effective crane shot, revealing that Randy is the only person in the vicinity, shifts the tone from edgy humor (produced by the quirky phone conversation) to claustrophobic suspense perfectly. And after the deed is done, the sight of viscous blood seeping through the crack under the van door (not to mention Gale's horrified reaction) just leaves you cold and shivering. A worthy farewell to a great character.

3) Jada Pinkett and Omar Epps in `Scream 2'. It's your worst nightmare: a movie theater packed with drooling, raving fanatics in ghostface costumes, clutching plastic knives everywhere you turn. This is the environment when Maureen (Pinkett) and Phil (Epps) enter a sneak preview of `Stab', the movie-within-a-movie based on the slayings in `Scream'. After discussing the politics of African-American driven films (or lack thereof), they enter, despite the fact that Maureen is opting for the Sandra Bullock flick down the street. Should've gone with Sandra, because `Hope Floats' is still better than getting gorily diced any day of the week. In a nutshell: Phil goes to washroom, gets stabbed through the stall door. The masked murderer travels back to the theater and sits next to Maureen, donning Phil's jacket. Maureen is slashed repeatedly, as the movie-going onlookers watch the murder transpire, thinking it's some publicity stunt for the film. Talk about setting the mood... this opening sequence is creepy and unsettling. You'll be squirming in your seat, but at least the events in `Stab' are amusing: Heather Graham, playing Drew Barrymore's character from the original, reenacts the famous opening murder with a classic lampoon of farcical glee.

Honorable Mentions: -Tatum has garage door problems in `Scream'. -Tom (Matt Keeslar) `smells the gas' in `Scream 3'.

    CLEARING UP THE
    ‘SEQUEL MANNER'....

An unexpected backlash arose with the release of `Scream 3': certain people suddenly started bagging on `Scream 2'. Let me clear this up. In my opinion, `Scream 2' could possibly be the best of the trilogy. It offers more thrills than the original, the humor is fresh and equally amusing, and the characters develop with devoted compassion. I guess what the majority of viewers are irritated with is the finale, when the whodunit is revealed. Where the original was a somber and serious climactic revelation, this one is more like a `Scooby Doo' adventure. Oh no, Shaggy! It's not bothersome reporter Debbie Salt at all... it's actually Mrs. Loomis (Laurie Metcalf), Billy's mother returning for her vengeance! Ok, it is a little goofy. But, even though it stands as the weakest link of the film, it's still decent enough. And good ol' Kevin Williamson keeps the wit vibrating throughout the entire series of complications, as when the `freaky Tarantino film student' Mickey (Timothy Olyphant), the other murderous half behind the ghostface mask, battles a surprisingly resilient Sidney on a theater stage. `Sid, you got a Linda Hamilton thing going,' Mickey says as the scale finally tips in his favor.

The conclusion is only so-so, but I think people forget what an efficient horror masterpiece Williamson and Craven had crafted before the stupidity factor kicked in. Financially, `Scream 2' was just as successful as its predecessor. Critically, it fared even better than the decidedly mixed reception that `Scream' received upon its original release (don't argue with me - that's a fact). While `Scream 2' is one of the best sequels I've ever seen, `Scream 3' is simply a fun but totally generic slasher movie. Anyone who favors the third over the second has forgotten what the `Scream' movies were about to begin with.

    A DEWEY DEDICATION

Dwight `Dewey' Riley began as a simple-minded Deputy in the small town of Woodsboro. Unfortunately, during a courageous sweep of a bloody crime scene, he was stabbed in the back. Dewey returned, albeit with a limp from severed nerve damage, to protect his friends from further possible danger on a college campus. Unfortunately, he was stabbed in the back.... many, many times. But Dewey pulled through. Now unable to continue with his law-enforcing duties, Dewey applied his knowledge to the job of technical consultant on a film set. Again, Dewey showed commendable bravery in battling another evil, costumed psycho who wanted to mutilate his dear friends.

Kudos to David Arquette for, three times over, playing such a likable character so well. It only occurred to me how much I love the doofus when, during a few near-death scenarios in `Scream 3', I let out a piercing howl of `LOOK OUT, DEWEY!!!!' ....well, not really. But Dewey is still the most charming, lovable personality in the `Scream' universe. When he walks into a room, the mood suddenly becomes light and enjoyable. How many different ways can I say it? The guy is awesome. So Dewey, take care, and know that you will always have a welcome place..... in our VCR.

I don't like to single anybody out. Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox Arquette, Jamie Kennedy, Liev Schreiber... in your returning roles, you were (*sniff*) inspirational. And everyone else - Skeet Ulrich, Matthew Lillard, Elise Neal, Jerry O'Connell, Duane Martin, Parker Posey, Jenny McCarthy and associates - I appreciate your help as well. `Scream', you shall be remembered in a positive light. R.I.P., good buddy.

    Copyright © 2000, Jamey Hughton

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