Speaking of which...
The movie I will be showing next week for the Halloween Movie Madness II series will be Wes Craven's modern classic, Scream. For those who have become used to the longer posts with a lot of information about the movies, I am afraid this will not be one of those posts. After being sick for two days, there is a good bit I am trying to catch up on; movies to view, reviews to prepare and write, other blog entries to prepare for, etc. I am going to have to try and keep this one short and sweet, but still provide some good information about the movie.
Scream was originally released in 1996, directed by horror-maestro, Wes Craven, and has famously become the first entry in Craven's "Scream" trilogy. Scream has also become a Halloween movie staple and I would venture to guess that it is part of a lot of people's Halloween movie watching each year. This is because Scream truly scares people. It should come as no surprise that the use of Caller ID increased three time the usage after the movie came out. It also took the teen-slasher horror genre and added a much more frightening aspect. (Do not read any further if you have not seen the movie. I am about to reveal some spoilers.) For years, the young people in horror slasher movies were pursued by these hulking serial killers who were mostly middle-aged, grown men. With Scream, new ground was broken. Scream made it popular for some of the teens themselves to be the killer. The victims no longer fear the unknown figure, but the also must harbor fears and doubts about their own friends. It adds an interesting new element to any horror script.
Scream not only broke new ground in horror plot construction, but it also broke one of the oldest standing movie "laws." One of the longest standing rules of film-making is that characters in a film should not have anything to do with movies in their world. Yes, there have been countless movies where characters go to a movie, like Bonnie and Clyde or The Last Picture Show. This is true. But in those films, the emphasis is on the act of going to or watching a movie and not an emphasis on the movie they are going to see. The real violation of the rule occurs when the characters discuss or analyze movies; when the characters are seen as knowledgeable about the world of film. The key word in all of that is knowledgeable.
In Scream, all aspects of the rule are broken. The characters watch a movie, react to it, and the movie watching plays a somewhat pivotal role in the movie. On top of this, the characters (specifically just one) are knowledgeable about movies and how movie plots operate. There is even a discussion on the rules characters must abide by if they are to survive in a horror movie. Wes Craven is well aware of these rules and you can tell that he, and writer Kevin Williamson, have a whole lot of fun breaking them as many times as they possibly can.
By now, I am sure that a great many people have seen, or at the very least heard about, Scream. It has taken its place among the great horror movies of its time. I think what most people do not realize, however, is how influential and ground-breaking it was when it was released. It made it O.K. for characters in movies to be knowledgeable about film and it helped redefine some major components of the horror genre. It also gave birth to one of the most sought after Halloween costumes around.
We will showing Scream on Wednesday, October 22 in the Community Room of the Freedom Regional Public Library at 6:00pm. There will be free popcorn available for those who attend the movie. Hope to see you there!
Until next time....
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