Scream is a 1996 American slasher film directed by West Craven and written by Kevin Williamson. The film stars David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Mathew Lillard, Rose McGowen, Skeet Ulrich and Drew Barrymore. The film follows high school student Sidney Prescott and her group of friends in the fictional town of Woodsboro, California, who become the targets of a mysterious killer in a Halloween costume known as Ghostface. Scream is a satire of the slasher genre and horror genre in general, with the characters referencing real-word horror films and openly discussing clichés that the film subverts.
This idea of the film being a satire of the horror/slasher genre is present from the very being with the stereotypical opening of the babysitter opening the phone. The films iconic lines “do you like scary movies?”, “what’s your favourite scary movie”, clearly shoes a satire of the genre. Wes Craven even gives his own personal meta commentary when the girl is talking about A Nightmare on Elm Street, “the first one was good but the rest sucked”. Whilst the killer is on the phone to Ghostface he even tells her not to say who’s there again showcasing a satire of the genre. This satire extends to the premise around the ghost face killer in that they use horror movie trivia and if they get a question wrong, they die, there are classic horror movie imagery in this scene with her getting killed by a masked killer with a knife and her blooded body hanging form a tree.
In the scene were Billy sneaks into Sidney’s bedroom, Wes Craven reuses the same shot he used in A Nightmare on Elm Street to satirise himself. Within the film Billy is obviously nuts again showcasing the genres satire, that is also shown when Billy uses the edited down tv version of The Exorcist as a metaphor for their relationship and Sidney flashing her breasts at Billy.
The characters in the film discuss the murders in relation to other films like Basic Instinct as well as talking about how to kill someone and joking about the whole thing showing a satire of the genre. Within the film Sidney seems like the only normal one, despite the murder being on every station and the backstory of her mum being raped and murdered. The commentary on the film is on the nose and obvious but works for comedy with Sidney saying she doesn’t like horror films because there about a big breasted girl running up the stairs when she should be going out the front door and its insulting. She comments how the ae you alone in the house trope is unoriginal, as Ghost Face attacks her. However, adding the fact that the killer messes up and that she doesn’t realise the door is locked adds to the comedy element of the film. Her boyfriend Billy then pops up at the same moment the killer disappears and props the phone making it obvious he’s the killer. He then ends up getting arrested, gale the reporter woman gets the scope as she talks to Dewey the good but dumb cop. There is a lot of evidence that obviously points to him being the killer, however Ghost Face then rings Sidney as there is a lot of red herrings in the film.
There is lots of comedy throughout the film such as Hughie randomly running out in his underpants and gun. There are lots of red herrings to show Billy not being the killer, such as the principle acting like a nutcase. The film shows typical mean girls talking about Sydney being the murderer with a media frenzy being whipped out. Wes Craven even showcases his own meta narrative within the films universe with the school janitor looking like Freddy Krueger. The films satire is very much on the nose with the phrase “you’re starting to sound like some west carpenter flick or something” refencing both the director West Craven and famous horror director John Carpenter. The film is steeped in horror aesthetics with the zoom shot of Ghostface running in the bushes. This satirical take on the genre is felt throughout, with the mass murder section in the video stores sales being up, and Billy being in the horror section. With the guy in the video store saying there’s always a stupid reason again points jab at horror films. The video store guy then geos off saying Sidney’s father will turn up at the end dead, as well as saying that theses a formula to slasher films and that everyone’s a suspect.
Billy then comforts him freaking him out, again it’s obvious he is the killer. Sidney’s father then seems to have rung her as tomorrow is the anniversary of her mother’s death. This parody of slasher films also references Jamie Lee Curtis movie i.e. Halloween. When Tatum confronts Ghostface she thinks it’s a joke at first again showcasing the self-aware nature of the film with the phrase “no please don’t kill me mister Ghost Face I want to be in the sequel”. She then tries to climb through the cat flap as Ghostface opens the garage door smashing her against the celling killing her. The fact that Billy relates to Sydney’s troubles through Silence of the Lambs references again shows the satirical nature of the film. Lines such “its all a movie it’s all one great big movie only you can’t pick your genre” said by Billy again showcases the satirical nature of the film. The sex scene between Sidney and Billy was ultimately imitated so by horror movie rules Billy can kill her. As this is going on the rules of slasher films are explained being no sex, no drinking, and no drugs again poking fun at the generic conventions of horror films and the formulaic quality, as he says not to say “ill be right back” which the other guy says as he goes out for a beer. There is a good use of match cut editing as they are watching a horror film and comment “here comes the obligatory tit shot” and Billy and Sydney have sex. They also react to the principles death as if they are watching a horror movie.
There are red herrings throughout the film such as Sydney’s dad’s car hidden in the woods there are a lot of red herrings throughout the film. As Sydney still believes Billy to be the killer, she points out the obvious that he could have used his one phone call, Billy says he isn’t a killer before being stabbed by Ghost Face. Sidney then escapes as she sees her friend being mangled the garage door. As this is going on Randy watches Halloween yelling at Jamie Lee Curtis to look behind her as Ghost Face appears behind him. Scream does a good job at subverting expectations as the audience thinks Stu will die however, they are seeing a delay meaning the killer sneaks up behind them and slits Kenny’s throat. The film still goes into the realm of with Gales pushing Kenny’s body off her car. Nancy then locks herself in her car, but Ghostface has the keys which is funny, there are lots of great red herrings in the film with Billy being blooded and rolling down the stairs. This satire is also shown as Billy quotes Psycho by saying “we all go a little mad sometimes” before shooting Randy is a twisted form of satire as the horror movie nerds killer uses a quote from Psycho. This satire of the gerne further reveals himself as Billy reveals himself to and used corn syrup for blood the same thing they used as pigs’ blood in Carrie to pretend to be stabbed. Stu then appears behind Sydney with a voice changing device to revel there were two killers. It is revealed how she is the one that killed Sydney’s mother using horror films as an inspiration with Billy saying that its scarier when there no motive.
They then reveal that Sydney’s mum was a slut and had an affair with Billy’s dad, Billy’s mum then found out, moved out and abandoned him. Billy had sex with Sydney so she would no longer be a virgin and by horror movie rules she can die. There is a lot of self-aware dialogue in the film such as “it’s a scream baby” and the reincorporation of “I’ll be right back”. They then stab themselves to they have plausible deniability. Again, the film as a lot of self-aware dialogue such as “because these days you gotta have a sequel”, “you’ve seen one to many movies” and “movies don’t make psychos movies make psychos more creative”. Gale then comes to rescue Sydney saying she has a story for them relaying what she’s going to do again showing the self-awareness, Sydney reenforces this by saying she likes that ending. Billy ends up pointing a gun on her saying “this is gale weathers singing off” as his about to killer is a cheesy horror movie self-aware quote. Sydney then escapes and rings them in the Ghost Face voice saying she’s rung the police. Billy gets stabbed by Sydney wearing the ghost face mask and drops a TV on Stu’s head killing him in an ironic twist of fatten that the horror movie nerd and killer gets killed by a device used to watch horror films. This use of the logic of horror films comes into play with Randy being naive because he’s a virgin. Billy attacks Sydney but is saved when Gale shoots him. Randy then says that this is the part to killer resurfaces for one last scare, as Billy goes in for one last attempt to kill Sydney and she shoots him in the head killing him. The films end with Sydney’s dad breaking out still being alive as Dubie gets in an ambulance as Gale gives her report stating like it’s something out of a scary movie.
Scream is a satire of horror films. It uses the known tropes and clichés of the genre to subvert them for comedy and well as commentary of both the slasher and horror genre.