Scream (1996)

Director: Wes Craven
Stars: Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, David Arquette
Runtime: 111 minutes

Synopsis: A year after the murder of her mother, a teenage girl is terrorized by a new killer, who targets the girl and her friends by using horror films as part of a deadly game.

Performances: 6/10
Screenplay: 4/10
Editing: 6/10
Cinematography: 6/10
Score/Soundtrack: 7/10
Entertainment Factor: 6/10

Verdict: It was a Sunday evening. I had the time to squeeze in one last movie to end what was a very cinematically rich weekend. I was in the mood for a horror movie, preferably one I've seen in the past and want to revisit. Wes Craven's "Scream" pops up and, with all the news of a sequel being currently shot, I decided to put it on.

Before this rewatch, I had seen "Scream" only once, a very long time ago. Being the cultural event that it is, I vaguely remembered the premise and some scenes here and there, but overall forgot what the experience of watching it felt like. And to my disappointment, it wasn't as fun as I was expecting it to be.

I'm not saying that "Scream" doesn't contain moments of pure, gory entertainment, because it does. The opening scene alone can testify of that very fact. But the self-labeled scary movie is nowadays known more for its meta approach rather than its scares. Ghostface is not an iconic slasher figure and there are no real memorable or over-the-top kills, but rather tons of self-aware references to tropes found in films that fall in the same genre such as "Halloween" or "Nightmare on Elm Street". And by tons, I really do mean tons. Every couple of minutes, the audience is reminded that the tropes present in the movie are intentional and not to be taken seriously, to the point where the film loses its unique approach and comes off as full of itself. The meta references lose their weight after a while and turn into lazy excuses to justify the use of the same tropes found in every slasher film that came out during that golden era.

Yes, "Scream" does contain iconic lines and a good lead (though the youngest-looking high schoolers look like they're in their mid-20s), but this observation is sadly what stuck with me while rewatching it. To me, it's a perfect example of a film that thinks that it's smarter than it actually is. I don't have anything against using a self-aware approach to criticize the very thing you are as long as it's done in a subtle, intelligent way, but Wes Craven's creation does not fall into that category at all.

FINAL GRADE: 5/10