30 in 30: A MONTH OF HORROR. SCREAM
DAY 25
SCREAM (1996)
A strange movie that gets better after watching more horror movies.
Long ago in the 90’s, the slasher genre, and horror in general, were in a slump. The creative and original flicks from the 80’s got so many sequels that all the oxygen they once had was squeezed out of them. CANDYMAN was the best thing going around, which frankly left something to be desired.
Luckily for us, Wes Craven had a masterpiece in store. SCREAM is a movie constructed around the formulas that made slasher films work, but that same formula that ultimately made them go stale. SCREAM breaks all expectations by making the formula explicit.
It’s a love letter to all horror films while still being original. SCREAM somehow manages to be unpredictable within the framework of every other slasher film.
The movie follows teenager Sydney Prescot, a year after the murder of her mother, when her friends and classmates become the target of a killer that seems to be using horror movie tropes as part of his macabre plan.
There’s a character named Randy in SCREAM, he is the key that makes everything work. Randy’s a film nerd who discovers the murders are following the rules of horror movies. By making this explicit, the logic behind the actions of the murder is exposed, which is: There is none. It’s all a cruel fantasy and game for the killer.
Then, when being asked about killers motives, he says:
“Motives are incidental.”
To me, this is a reference to the people going to see horror films. Us. We don’t go because of the “why”, we go because of the killings, the gore, the fun. The motive is an excuse for the ride.
Motives in a horror film are a McGuffin.
SCREAM is the ultimate slasher film because it understands it’s a game, the characters understand it’s a game, and we know it’s a game. But here is where the craftsmanship of Craven comes to play, he still makes us care. A lot.
By creating compelling and likable characters, he makes us care. We know most of them are going to get killed, but now that we are not making fun of the silly rules, we are actually caring. Craven uses the “meta” nature of the film as an antidote to cynicism. Brilliant.
Besides the whole meta-commentary thing, the movie is actually a fun and well-crafted mystery. The killer is definitely one of the characters we’ve met, but our suspicions are masterfully shifted from character to character until the ultimate reveal!
THERE ARE TWO.
Bet you didn’t see that one coming.
SCREAM is excellent because it showed us that horror can always be inventive. How many times has this genre been declared dead only to come out with another masterpiece?
SCREAM taught me even the most formulaic and by-the-book films ever can be exciting and fun, if you give them a good twist (of the knife).
Craven was a true master of horror and film.
Tomorrow: THE EVIL DEAD (1981)
Yesterday: SUSPIRIA (1977)
