Scream

In recent times, horror movies have experienced a drastic shift in in tone and content. Originally, the films were built around creating suspense, building a creepy atmosphere, and ensured that what was most scary were the things you couldn't see, as opposed to the things you could. Examples of this include Alien, Halloween and Friday the 13th. But in the last decade, horror flicks have relied more heavily on graphic blood & gore, basically shock-value and exploitation. Examples include Hostel, Freddy vs. Jason, and pretty much every horror movie remake. But in 1996, a film single-handedly reinvented the horror movie genre, while also satirising it. That movie was Scream.

Directed by Wes Craven (New Nightmare) and starring Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, David Arquette, Matthew Lillard, and Skeet Ulrich. It follows a group of teenagers (doesn't it always) who are stalked by a masked killer known as Ghostface. It's essentially a huge throwback to the old-school horror films of the 70's and 80's, which pays homage to them, while also making fun of what made them so silly and cliched.

The movie is set in the fictional American town of Woodsboro, where we first meet a girl named Casey Becker (Drew Barrymore), home alone, about to watch a movie. She starts receiving phone calls from a mysterious person (a classic urban legend) who, while initially friendly, eventually threatens her and her boyfriend Steve, who is tied to a chair outside. The situation quickly escalates, and both Casey and Steve are brutally murdered.

The townspeople are shaken by the killings, especially Sidney Prescott (Campbell), who is approaching the 1-year anniversary of her mothers murder. Before long, Sidney finds herself on the receiving end of the killer's wrath, who attacks her in her own home. After he disappears, Sid's boyfriend Billy (Ulrich) arrives to console her, but after dropping a cell phone, Sid believes him to be the killer.

Billy is released the following day, and suspicion falls on Sidney's father Neil, since the calls have been tracked to his phone. As a precautionary measure, school is suspended, and a curfew is instated. To celebrate, Stu (Lillard), boyfriend of Sidney best friend Tatum (Rose McGowan), throws a party at his house. To ensure that the party-goers are protected, Deputy Sheriff Dewey (Arquette) attends, accompanied by local reporter Gail Weathers (Cox).

You can probably imagine where it goes from there. All the teenagers in a remote location, with a killer on the loose. You could actually put bets on who will get iced next. But the fact is, if you've seen a slasher flick, it will all be very familiar. But that's the whole idea. The movie was made to pay homage to slasher films while simultaneously making fun of all the cliches they became known for. All throughout the film, the characters discussed how their current predicament can be analysed by looking at existing horror movies, and the patterns that they follow. The film works by mimicking existing scary movies while making one of its own, and a fantastic one at that. There is suspense, tension, a menacing killer, an unknown motive, and a heavier reliance on being scary rather than gory, which is something modern horror films fail to do.

Scream remains one of the best slasher movies ever made. It breathed all new life into a dying genre by pointing out how flawed and unoriginal it had become. It created a film that was chock-full of cliches and simply had fun with. Clever, intense, and always tongue-in-cheek, Scream remains one of cinemas smartest and most self-deprecating piece of work. If you haven't seen it, delay no longer.