Wes Craven’s Scream praised for being one of the most impeccably dissected slasher flicks and also firmly fitting under the category of legendary pictures, gave the horror genre a whole new dimension when it was released in theaters in 1996. It is probably not a stretch to say that this meta slasher film has had one of the longest lives of any slasher franchise for that matter. Let us start with one of the film’s key highlights – despite the fact that it has been 25 years, the opening scene of the franchise’s first film remains legendary to this day.
Drew Barrymore deserves full credit for her powerful performance, which made her death sequence all the more horrific! Do you want to know the secret of Barrymore’s genuine reaction? Wes Craven would tell Barrymore true stories of animal cruelty every now and again to bring out her sensitive side, knowing that the actor is highly devoted to animals. As a result, everything you see on screen is 100% true! The plot of the film centers on Sidney Prescott, a high-school student in the fictional community of Woodsboro, California.
She becomes the target of Ghostface, a sadistic serial murderer dressed in a Halloween costume. The film is based on the true story of The Gainesville Ripper and is the result of screenwriter Kevin Williamson’s love of horror movies. You will be surprised to find that the film’s script was originally titled ‘Scary Movie’ and was also purchased by Dimension Films. However, the Weinstein Brothers renamed the picture ‘Scream’ just before it was finished filming.
The success of the first film led to a series of sequels, the most recent of which, ‘Scream 2,’ was released the following year to equally commercial and critical acclaim. Scream 3 was released in 2000, followed by Scream 4 in 2011, and a television spin-off named ‘Scream: The TV Series, which was released by MTV in 2015. The television series lasted three seasons and followed an anthology structure with a cast of characters that were various yet similar, as well as new stories that were unrelated to the film series. Now that a fifth film is in the works, today’s video is dedicated to all Scream fans who can not get enough of these cult classics.
Scream (1996)
The small, peaceful town of Woodsboro witnesses a complete bloodbath when a masked killer starts haunting the town and murdering high school teenagers. It all starts with Casey Becker getting a naughty phone call from an unknown caller, and the duo starts talking about horror flicks. Very soon, the caller starts intimidating her and threatening her life. He even discloses that her boyfriend is being held captive on her very patio and commands her to answer questions about horror movies. With Becker getting one of the answers incorrect, her boyfriend gets killed right in front of her.
Becker then denies answering further questions; she is butchered to death by the masked killer and her dead body is made to hang from a tree. Meanwhile, Sidney Prescott, who is still struggling with the approaching death anniversary of her mother, who was killed by her lover, becomes the next target of Ghostface. However, she is lucky enough to evade him. Sidney, suspecting her boyfriend Billy Loomis of making the phone call gets him arrested, but she ends up receiving another threatening call that very night.
Billy gets released and the suspicion shifts to Sidney’s father, Neil Prescott after the calls are traced to his phone. With more and more deaths taking place, the school is suspended for a while. This leads to Sydney’s friends throwing a party, which is attended by most of the high school students along with the nosy reporter Gale Weathers. She is looking for a story as well as the town’s deputy sheriff Dewey Riley who’s on the lookout for the killer at the party. Further news of Principal Himbry’s death by the killer, draws away many people from the party, leaving Sidney and just a few of her friends there. Eventually, her friends become the victims one after the other and Sidney is narrowly able to flee from the house. When Dewey gets stabbed in the back while investigating the house, Sidney takes his gun for protection.
In due course, her friends Randy and Stu appear, each accusing the other of being the masked murderer. Sidney goes back into the house and finds a wounded Billy, who was previously attacked by the killer. She gives him the gun before he lets Randy into the house and shoots him. It is then that Billy finally discloses that he’s the real killer. In fact, he had been faking his injuries all this while and his accomplice happens to be none other than Stu. The duo also reveals that they were the ones who killed Sidney’s mother and then put the whole blame on her mother’s lover, Cotton Weary.
It was Billy who discovered that Sidney’s mother was in a relationship with his father, and that led his mother to leave them behind. With all of these revelations taking place, Gale having survived a previous car crash interrupts the scene. Sidney takes advantage of the situation by knocking Billy out with an umbrella and literally dropping a tv set on top of Stu’s head. Gale shoots Billy after he tries attacking Sidney again. Randy is disclosed to be alive and as he remarks about how a killer always resurfaces for that one last scare, Sidney takes hold of the gun and shoots Billy right in the head to take no further chances.
It is very rare when one actually gets to feast on a good slasher flick. The fact that we live in a CGI-infested world, it does kind of feel nice to chance upon a typical horror movie every once in a while. By now, you should be knowing what we are hinting at! Of course, the movie concerned is Wes Craven’s 1996 slasher film, ‘Scream’, which managed to drive us to the edge of our seats throughout the whole run time of 111 minutes. Special credits to composer Marco Beltrami for churning out such an amazing background score for the movie.
The fact that he deliberately disregarded the regular horror score styles and instead decided to go all ‘western’ taking inspiration from Ennio Morricone, a fantabulous composer of many westerns, worked out vastly in his favor. He even had different scores for different characters and it goes without saying that he did a prolific job. Coming back to the movie, ever wondered what is it that made the movie such a cult classic? Well, for starters, it was Craven’s ‘Scream’ that actually gets credits for not only re-inventing teen horror but also reviving the genre of horror. Back in that time period, the 90s kids were so done with traditional horror flicks showcasing blood-sucking vampires, haunted houses, or say distorted creatures.
So, one can actually imagine how the audience reacted to Craven and Williamson coming up with a different kind of horror – one where you could easily laugh and scream, both at the same time. The flick was not only an instant hit but also served as a fresh breath of air given the genre. Be it the iconic mask, the effective one-liners, and let’s not miss out on the exceptional self-awareness especially when it comes to horror cliches, everything makes this flick here such an original. In fact, it was solely the self-awareness trait of the movie that let it move in new directions. For instance, scenes that are normally predictable in other slasher flicks suddenly become way too intense in this movie. Mind you, this movie here is a must-watch, if you are someone who hasn’t watched it yet, you have some serious catching up to do!
Scream 2 (1997)
Two years have already passed since the terrifying events at Woodsboro. Sidney Prescott along with fellow Woodsboro survivor, Randy Meeks is currently studying at Windsor College and they both are trying to get on with their lives. In the meantime, Cotton Weary exonerated for the murder of Sidney’s mother is finally out of prison and is trying to gain back popularity on his ill-fated incarceration. On the other hand, news reporter Gale Weathers’ book based on the events of Sidney’s life titled, The Woodsboro Murders, has not only turned into a bestseller but has also been made into a film, amusingly called ‘Stab’.
However, with the screening of the new movie approaching, a new cycle of death begins with the murders of Windsor College seniors Phil Stevens and Maureen Evans. Police officer Dewey Riley comes to offer Sidney protection. Initially, no one believes that the murders are in any way connected to the Woodsboro incident. It is only after Ghostface brutally kills the student Cici Cooper, whose real name happens to be Casey, that Gale deduces that the new killer is actually targeting students with the same names as the Woodsboro slain victims. Randy also theorizes that the killer is likely to be someone whom Sidney knows.
The body count starts piling up and the new Ghostface manages to murder Randy inside the broadcast van of Gale. While two officers arrive and drive Sidney and her best friend Hallie McDaniel to a local police station, Ghostface makes an appearance and kills the officers. Although the killer is knocked unconscious in the subsequent struggle, Ghostface revives and slaughters Hallie. Sidney is able to escape for the time being. When she goes back to campus, she is shocked to find her boyfriend Derek Feldman bound to a cross in the college auditorium.
As Sidney begins to untie Derek, Ghostface emerges. He discloses himself to be Derek’s best friend, Mickey Altieri, and without any warning shoots Derek! He tells Sidney about his master plan of how he planned to kill her and then get himself arrested so that he can eventually put the blame on the element of violence as shown in movies for the murders during his trial, and ultimately get released on the grounds of insanity.
Next, he reveals local journalist Debbie Salt as his accomplice. It does not take Sidney much time to realize that this whole time, it was Mrs. Loomis, or in other words, the mother of Billy Loomis who was seeking vengeance against Sidney for killing her son. Of course, she betrays Mickey and shoots him as well. But right before Mickey falls down, he manages to shoot Gale, who falls off the stage. This results in an intense fight between Sidney and Mrs. Loomis, and with Cotton interrupting their fight, he is able to take the upper hand and shoots her right in the throat. Gale is found still alive, but with Mickey resurfacing and attacking the group again, Sidney and Gale react by not only shooting him to death but also making sure that Mrs. Loomis joins the deceased, once and for all.
You might be surprised to know that screenwriter Kevin Williamson actually came up with a five-paged rough draft as a sequel to ‘Scream’ while auctioning his original script in the hopes of tempting bidders with the potential of buying a franchise. It was only after an efficacious test screening of the 1996 flick, keeping in mind both the financial and critical success of the movie, that Dimension Films decided to go ahead with it. ‘Scream’ was still being screened at the theaters at that time when the original cast returned to reprise their roles. This was accompanied by Craven’s direction and Marco Beltrami providing the background score.
As for the plot twists, all of them were a matter of top privacy, all throughout the production. Fascinatingly, the screenplay was not just profoundly guarded but also limited to the most important stuff. It goes without saying that none of the cast knew how the film would actually end because the final ten pages were kept a secret from them. So, when the initial 40 pages of the script were leaked on the net, Williamson was left with no other choice but to re-write them. This means that the movie literally went into production without a complete script.
But did that stop the sequel from earning say about one-third of its total gross of 101.3 million dollars already in the opening weekend? Well, we all know the answer to that! While it’s true that the sequel was a step down from its predecessor, you have to admit that it was a perfect blend of action as well as humor. It’s way bolder in terms that Ghostface hardly wastes much time in killing the victims here. Indeed, a flick that’s bound to keep you entertained throughout the run time of 120 minutes!
Scream 3 (2000)
Sidney Prescott has been living a life in recluse as a crisis counselor, with fear at the back of her mind that another killer may strike soon. And guess what? That’s precisely what happens when a third film based on the brutal murders of Ghostface comes under production. A killer is on the loose yet again and having found out Sidney’s location, the masked killer forces her out of hiding and draws her to Hollywood. On the other hand, Cotton Weary, currently the host of a successful TV talk show titled ‘100% Cotton’, gets slaughtered along with his girlfriend, by Ghostface. Following the murders, Detective Mark Kincaid gets in touch with Gale Weathers, who also travels to Hollywood and finds Dewey Riley employed as an adviser on the sets of ‘Stab 3’.
The masked tormentor continues killing the cast members of the movie. With Gale, Dewey, and the remaining cast of Stab 3 attending a birthday party of the film’s director Roman Bridger, Ghostface emerges and Roman’s body is found in the basement. Gale and Dewey are eventually held hostage at the mansion, and Sidney is commanded by Ghostface to get there and save the duo. It is there that the killer discloses himself to be Roman, clearly having faked his death, thanks to a bulletproof vest that helped him survive. But that’s not all; Roman further confesses to being Sidney’s half-brother, as inborn to their mother Maureen, who worked as an actress in Hollywood.
He had apparently tried to reconnect with her and when that didn’t happen, Roman filmed Maureen and all the men she flirted with. Sooner or later, he showed Billy Loomis the videotape of his father and Maureen, thereby giving himself credit for all the murders that have taken place so far. Upon discovering the amount of fame that Sidney had received for all of his actions, he eventually snapped and had Sidney drawn to Hollywood.
As he tells her of his plans of framing her for all the murders, the duo gets into a fight that leads to Roman shooting Sidney in the chest. And, although Sidney disappears, she makes an appearance yet again and stabs Roman in the back revealing that she too was donning a bulletproof vest the whole time. Gale and Dewey arrive at the scene but Roman resurfaces all of a sudden with a knife. Dewey shoots him, unaware of his vest but with Sidney telling him to shoot Roman in the head, Dewey ultimately complies and Roman meets his fated death.
Kevin Williamson’s commitment to other projects is projected in his inability to come up with a full script for ‘Scream 3’; hence, we have Ehren Kruger replacing him as the movie’s screenwriter. It’s reported that Kruger had discarded several notes of Williamson’s. No wonder the production faced a little too many troubles especially with the script getting re-written. But having said that, the movie actually set a record right on its opening weekend, and also became the seventh widest opening for an R-rated movie. To all the fans of the franchise, what sets apart the third movie from its counterparts is the sole fact that it keeps itself entirely distinct from the first two movies.
Horror hounds will be happy to know that this flick here boasts less humor and more horror. When it comes to the opening sequence of the film, the pre-credit murder scene conclusively happens to be one of the highlights of the whole production along with the climax. No wonder, it’s often addressed as the best movie of the franchise but that’s for you to watch and judge for yourself. So, if your hopes regarding the movie aren’t unrealistically high, there’s no reason for you not to enjoy ‘Scream 3’.
Scream 4 (2011)
Sidney Prescott comes back to her hometown to promote her self-help book. Nevertheless, her book signing tour gets interrupted after some evidence related to a recent murder in Woodsboro is found in her rental car. Sidney not only becomes the prime suspect but is also not allowed to leave town till things get solved. On the other hand, Dewey Riley is now the sheriff of the town and married to Gale Weathers. Gale is struggling with writer’s block. In an effort to be in the spotlight once again, Gale decides to get her old spunk back and probes deeper into the murders herself. Sidney reconnects with her cousin, Jill Roberts, and aunt Kate, and stays over at their place.
But that night, their neighbor Olivia Morris gets killed by Ghostface who has resurfaced and has started tormenting the whole town once again. Meanwhile, Gale attends a screening party of the Stab franchise being held that night at a farm, to probe deeper into the matter. And while she is at it, Ghostface emerges and stabs her in the shoulder. As for Sidney, she gets a call from the killer, who threatens to harm Jill. Upon finding out that Jill has left for her friend Kirby’s place, Sidney drives there.
The old game of horror movie trivia continues as Kirby is coerced to answer the questions in order to save a high school movie fanatic called Charlie Walker, who’s tied up outside. Kirby manages to answer the questions correctly and she goes outside to untie Charlie only to get stabbed by the latter, who discloses himself as Ghostface. Sidney is also confronted by Charlie but gets stabbed by Jill, who not only happens to be his accomplice but also the mastermind behind the carnage. Jill elucidates the fact that she did everything out of jealousy, given how Sidney garnered so much fame for having survived all the murders. She further adds that she has plans of framing her ex-boyfriend, Trevor Sheldon as Ghostface, executing him as well as Charlie to make it look like he was Trevor’s accomplice.
Wanting to take the credit for being the solitary survivor, she stabs Sidney and also deliberately mutilates herself. With the police arriving, Sidney along with Jill is taken to the hospital. However, after finding out that Sidney survived, Jill goes to her room to try and end her life but instead is at the receiving end, when Sidney eventually disables her with a defibrillator and shoots her.
While the previous movie was initially released as the concluding chapter of the film series, the franchise was revived with this 2011 meta-slasher flick, boasting a screenplay by Kevin Williamson yet again. It’s also reported that the screenwriter had recurrent clashes with the Weinsteins, and that was one of the reasons why Ehren Kruger was also hired during production, for the re-writing of the script. Naturally, the final script was quite different as compared to the original drafts.
As for the movie, it acquired mixed reviews; the original cast was praised for their performance and Wes Craven for his direction. Nevertheless, it did receive its share of criticism too, especially for its dependency on cliched tactics. Having said that, you cannot deny the fact that the movie had certain unavoidable predictability to some of the events shown. Horror fans are bound to admire how impeccably everything is executed. ‘Scream 4’ marks the final film directed by Craven before his death in 2015. Made on a budget of 40 million dollars, it turned out to be the lowest-grossing movie in the whole franchise!
Scream (TV Series)
Also known as ‘Scream: The TV Series, this anthology slasher television sequence was developed for both MTV and VH1. Based on Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson’s Scream film series, the show spanned three exhilarating seasons producing 30 exciting episodes.
Season 1 and Season 2 are set in the fictitious town of Lakewood. It revolves around a teenage girl called Emma Duval, who is connected to the dreadful events of the town’s past. As the killer’s core obsession starts to take a gripping post a vicious murder, Emma somehow finds herself in the middle of the impending danger. With her family and friends at risk, she embarks on a journey to unravel the shady mysteries of the town and also expose the identity of the tormenting Lakewood Slasher.
The third season centers on a local football star in Atlanta called Deion Elliot, who is literally plagued by his tragic past. With Ghostface making use of Deion’s darkest secrets against him and carrying out the killing rampage, his activities start affecting Deion’s rich and deserving future plans, and also the lives of his friends and family members. They eventually end up being the potential victims of the ill-famed masked killer.
Future Of The Franchise
It’s true that there is a fifth ‘Scream’ movie on its way and there’s no stopping the upcoming film from slashing its way into the theaters sometime in the next year. Fans of the franchise will be happy to know that Kevin Williamson will be serving as executive producer alongside Chad Villella. Co-directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillet, and co-written by James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick, the flick will have Neve Campbell, David Arquette, and Courteney Cox reprising their roles. It has also been reported that the storyline will vary a little bit from the original – we have Sidney coming back to her old hometown after a suspicious line of copycat murders torment the sleepy, peaceful suburb. Rest assured that you’ll enjoy the gore-dipped movie with a gracious amount of revolutionary humor.
With the film’s post-production ending last month, it was Matt Bettinelli-Olpin who announced the completion of the film via Twitter saying, “SCREAM (2022) is complete! We’re so excited for you all to see it soon. #ForWes”. For those of you wondering about the hashtag, of course, it is a straight reference to Wes Craven!
Apparently scheduled for a January release next year, the latest Scream installment also features Jenna Ortega, Melissa Barrera, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Mikey Madison, Sonia Ben Ammar, Dylan Minnette, Jack Quaid, Mason Gooding, and Kyle Gallner as the new cast. We are counting days! What about you? Do tell us in the comments section below!