Reviews: Scream (1996) Movie Review
Subgenres: Slasher, Killer Kids, Meta, Teens
Where does Scream (1996) stand among horror films? Our review examines the scares, pacing, and what makes it unique in the genre.
When Wes Craven‘s Scream (1996) hit theaters in 1996, no one knew just how much the movie would inspire others after it. This film is now considered a classic in the horror movie genre, with its immortalized serial killer mask and villains. This movie helped to revitalize the teen slasher genre that seemed to taper off in the early 90’s and start a whole new wave of horror movies.
Scream is about high school students who are being terrorized and murdered by serial killers. After the death of one of the students, many teenagers are scared that they might be next. One night, Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) receives a threatening phone call and is attacked by a person in a masked costume. Luckily, Sidney can get away, but when her boyfriend Billy comes to her rescue, he drops a cell phone which leads Sidney to suspect that he was the attacker.
Billy is arrested, and Sidney is also feeling anxious, because as the murders are happening, she is remembering the murder of her mother. She reaches out to her friend Tatum and Tatum’s brother Dewey Riley (David Arquette), who is a deputy sheriff. They try to comfort Sidney in the wake of her attack.
To distract themselves from the murders, Sidney and Tatum go to a party thrown by Tatum’s boyfriend Stu. However, the party proves to be not a fun time, as the serial killers show up and start murdering people.
Scream is a movie that has you sitting on the edge of your seat throughout it. The film opens up with a memorable scene where a killer threatens Drew Barrymore while in her home. She is chased down and killed in a brutal fashion. Director Wes Craven throws that scene at the audience and the rest of the film moves forward in that suspenseful vein, as the murders keep occurring.
The movie does a great job of having you guess who the killer might be. When it is revealed, it is both shocking and scary as it proves to be people who appear to be quite normal. Sidney’s life is thrown into turmoil as she realizes that the people she trusted are not who they appear to be. She is left to pick up the pieces of her life and try to move forward.
Wes Craven is the master of horror with a long career of movies that have become classics in their own right. Scream is definitely one of those movies that will always be mentioned in years to come.
Featured movie quotes for Scream are here.
Similar films like Scream can be found in serial killer movies sub-genre(s), check them out for more movies like Scream.
Sources Used to Shape This Review
Insights in this review are drawn from director interviews, fan commentary, production notes, and long-form breakdowns across genre-specific platforms. Content is written uniquely and reviewed for accuracy.
- Scream Rating Scores
- Our Score: 8/10
- Overall Score: 7.52/10
- IMDB: 7.4/10
- MetaCritic: 6.6/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 7.8/10
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