So. My thoughts on Scream, 1996. Director Wes Craven.
Miramax Films.
Horror movies in the 80s were the same way. Slasher films
were incredibly successful and an ever-increasing number of them began popping
up in the early 80s. By the end of the decade, however, the genre was overwrought
and tired, and the slashers popping up in the 90s were pale imitations of their
predecessors, recycling the same tired plots and setups. They had become, in
many ways, downright silly, if truth be told.
SCREAM came along in 1996 as the icing to the bloody cake,
with a mega budget, superstar cast, and self-aware characters spouting pop
culture facts and horror movie “rules” for survival. Scream was to horror
movies what Poison was to Heavy Metal; a joke, a parody, a mockery of its
predecessors - to put it bluntly, an embarrassment to serious horror movies,
albeit a financially successful one. But then Poison raked in millions of
dollars, too.
BUT here’s the difference; the early slasher films were
trying to make a legitimately scary horror film. There is a real sincerity
to them, an honesty that is lacking in Scream. They didn’t have the budget or
production quality behind them that Craven had, but you had to admire them in
spite of it because they were sincerely giving it their all. Craven, on the
other hand, wasn’t trying to make a real horror film, because he was jaded by
this point. The previous year he had directed the dreadful flop VAMPIRE IN
BROOKLYN. He was out of tricks, and all that was left was to parody real horror
films, something he had previously experimented with in WES CRAVEN’S NEW
NIGHTMARE two years prior. He almost passed on directing Scream, and is on
record stating he was thinking of moving away from the horror genre. Scream was
a disingenuous sham, nothing more than a string of gimmicks. The entire killer
on the phone plot was a tired trope even in the 90s, channeling such films as WHEN
A STRANGER CALLS, BLACK CHRISTMAS, THE NEW YORK RIPPER and even William Castle’s
I SAW WHAT YOU DID and so many others.
I’ve had arguments with friends (well, one in particular)
who credit Scream with saving the horror genre, when this is honestly a bit of
historical rewriting. In truth Scream almost killed the entire horror market,
and made a mockery of the genre. Its effect was far reaching, spawning a host
of equally tiresome self-aware flicks and near comedies. Scream was a big budget,
bloated franchise full of pretty faces and superstar actors. It was the equivalent
of 70s stadium bands, full of excess and extravagance but little substance.
It is far more accurate to say the film that turned the tide
in horror was THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, a little film made on a shoestring
budget that shocked the world with its success. Suddenly the path was paved – fuck
spending millions and hiring “stars” for your film, now anyone with a camera
and an idea could make their own movie! Blair Witch was the Ramones of the
horror world, inspiring legions of filmmakers to grab a camera and start
shooting.
You know what the working title for Scream was? SCARY MOVIE.
How appropriate that the outright comedy spoof film of the same name came out
in 2000. THAT movie, unlike Scream, doesn’t masquerade as a real film; it tells
you outright that it is a comedy, a spoof, a parody of the genre, a joke. Just
as Scream is. And a lame one at that.
