Scream (1996, R)

Directed by Wes Craven

Written by Kevin Williamson

Starring Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, RoseMcGowan, Mathew Lillard, Jamie Kennedy, Skeet Ulrich, David Arquette, and Liev Schrieber

As Reviewed by James Brundage (MovieKritic2000)

Two words: Brilliant Satire.

This is what everyone's been waiting for, a movie that's funny, scary, brilliant, and has a message at the same time. Enough blaming of the movies to satisfy the Christian Coalition. Enough creative one-liners to make anyone laugh. Enough black comedy to have us all forget the body count. And enough corn syrup (fake blood) to satisfy even the wackiest of gore-hounds. SCREAM has something for everyone.

What is it? Not a horror movie or a comedy, or even a dark comedy, but a cross-over between all of these, incorporating parodies with fright, brilliant cinema with purposefully terrible acting. A human element that rubs off as so surreal in context that its almost laughable. And characters you will never forget.

The plot is that of any slasher movie from 1970 onward, put in the words of Neve Campbell in the line "What's the point? They're all the same: some stupid killer stalking some big-breasted girl who can't act who's always running up the stairs when she should be going out the front door..."

Sound familiar?

What's worse is all of this happens to the characters, making for a darkly comic in an Edward Scisscorhand's type fashion, making you laugh in hindsight. And then there are Randy's (the movie-freaked mind that may or nay not have lost its reality base) rules to surviving a scary movie: all both followed and broken.

What's the best thing? The mystery. This movie doesn't just slice and dice, telling you who the killer is right off the bat, but instead waits until the end to explain it all, and has fun every step of the way. Sit back, relax, enjoy, and throw your popcorn into the air as the knife comes up one to slice through the air as the person is to be silenced in one final SCREAM.