Scream (1996)

When this came out, I was well aware of it but too young to watch it unaccompanied, and I doubt any adults in my life would have obliged. It wasn't really my genre anyway, or I would have seen it just a few years later. But since it made waves and retains moderately high ratings, it seemed useful for my education if nothing else.

In a small town whose apparent claim to fame has been a brutal murder almost exactly a year ago, more brutal murders suddenly crop up, this time targeting high school students. Sidney, daughter of the previous victim, narrowly escapes an attempt and can report that the killer wears a vaguely Munchian "Ghostface" mask and grim reaper cloak. He clearly knows the targets rather well, so paranoia spreads among ostensible friends.

Long ago, I had seen a clip on TV featuring the first phone call (back when cordless phones were common but cellphones less so) from the killer to Sidney. It did a fine job of creeping me out, not least with the vocal distortion. Unfortunately, once I'd seen it, follow-ups weren't so effective.

As a mystery, the plot did manage to fool me, to a point at least. It's worth noting that these characters are the biggest bunch of insensitive jerks this side of Heathers, so most would not be a stretch for suspicion. Even Sidney, while easy to sympathize with, doesn't look so good when you consider her undue insistence that she identified her mother's killer correctly in court. At the same time, the reporter who's convinced that that was a mistrial is a bit too intrusive in her hunt for a story.

I almost put "comedy" among the tags. After all, much of the point is to put slasher cliches in focus (another reason I waited to watch). The dialog makes reference to many other movies, mostly horrors, half of them less popular than Scream. There's even a janitor named Fred who wears a red and green striped sweater. But I think you're more likely to scream at the screen than find it, well, a scream. The makers left the major, if questionable, satirical humor to Scary Movie.

If there's one way that Scream stands out to me, it's the complete lack of fantasy premises amid the horror. Unlike Michael Myers, let alone Freddie Kruger, Ghostface shows no signs of superpowers; at best, he's unusually swift. In truth, the ending made me wonder how there could be a sequel or three. That would explain why the rest of the series doesn't enjoy the same popularity.

It's not my idea of a classic, but neither did it feel like a waste of my time. Probably a better choice than Friday the 13th, despite less cultural impact.