Scream: Franchise Horror
Do you remember the opening scene of Scream? The set-up has been often repeated within the franchise itself and via various parodies, but I’m talking about the whole thing. I remember renting the film from Blockbuster — I’d assume shortly after it hit VHS in 1996 or 97 — and seeing Drew Barrymoore’s name featured prominently on the box. I’m not sure if that was really a selling point for me as a ten year-old, but she was at least someone I’d heard of. The film opens with Drew’s character, Casey Becker, at home alone waiting for her boyfriend Steve to show up. She receives an anonymous phonecall: What is your favorite scary movie? A horror genre discussion ensues and turns into an intimidation game. The guy on the phone has Steve tied up and he’s quickly gutted. Phone still in hand, Casey tries to get away and is stabbed repeatedly outside while her parents return home for the night. She tries to get away but just can’t make it back inside. The house is a mess and the Jiffy Pop is on fire, so her parents are frantically looking for her. They pick up the phone to call the police, but Casey never hung up the cordless. The mom hears her daughter being stabbed and the life leaving her body as the killer drags her away. When Mrs. Becker exits the front door on her way to the neighbor’s, she stops, screams, and collapses. Casey is hanging from a tree, covered in blood and sliced to ribbons.
And so ends Ms. Barrymoore’s part in the film. I would have been surprised at that if I wasn’t so traumatized. That…was a nasty piece of business. I’m no horror movie historian, but that still probably ranks up there as one of the cruelest openings in the history of the genre (at least among the big names). It’s not just brutal and bloody, but the parents are there when it happens, hear it happening, and then we have to see their too-real response to finding their butchered daughter. It’s tragic, really, and when I was a kid, it really disturbed me (still does), but I was also enjoying the film’s effect on me. In a way, it might have innoculated me to mild slasher horrors and gave me the confidence to strike out and start watching your Halloweens and whatnot.
I don’t really want to go down a rabbit hole talking about the franchise, or even the original film, at length. I just wanted to break down that opening a bit. I will say that I love Scream (1996) with all my heart. It definitely needs to be in the conversation for my favorite scary movies. The reference stuff is fun (this was my introduction to a lot of genre conventions), but I really enjoy all the characters too, and the look and the music, and I can still remember the electricity that passed through me when Billy (Skeet Ulrich) turns to quote Psycho — “we all go a little mad sometimes” — to signal his heel turn. I even thought Stu (Matthew Lillard) was funny, and not at all annoying, once upon a time. There’s certainly a nostalgia factor in all of this, but it’s still an incredibly-made film.
As for the franchise, I’ll put a hot take out there that I don’t particularly care for any of the sequels. I’d be fine never watching them again. I’ve seen them all fairly recently, but there’s nothing very memorable about them to me. They just get a bit too meta for my taste, especially with the most recent film. You can say I’m no fun, but building on the idea that these horrible murders inspired their own horror movie franchise in the Stab films is cynical to the point of being ridiculous. Too ridiculous. The original film had a lot of humor, but it still felt like a horror film. The sequels mostly just read like jokes to me. I guess they’re just going to keep making them though and keep trying to say something about the state of horror, but I don’t really know what there is left to say at this point.
Oh, there was a TV series too for a bit. I did watch some of it and recall it being pretty stupid, but kinda fun-stupid. I don’t remember a lick about it though.
Is it scary? As I’ve covered, I think that opening is pretty darn gruesome. Nothing in the rest of the film comes close to that level of intensity, though there are some good scares/kills in there — the tape delay throat-cut comes to mind (poor W. Earl Brown).
Streaming: Forget it, Jake, the Scream franchise is all exclusive to Paramount+ now.
