MeFi Horror Club: Scream (1996)
June 25, 2015 11:08 PM - Subscribe

Scream is a 1996 American slasher film.

Summer is heating up, and it is a great time to re-watch the slasher film that revitalized the genre.

From Wikipedia: Based partly on the real-life case of the Gainesville Ripper, Scream was inspired by screenwriter Kevin Williamson's passion for horror films, especially Halloween (1978). The script, originally titled Scary Movie, was bought by Dimension Films and was retitled by the Weinstein Brothers just before filming was complete. The production faced censorship issues with the Motion Picture Association of America and obstacles from locals while filming on location. The film went on to financial and critical acclaim, earning $173 million worldwide, and became the highest-grossing slasher film in the US in unadjusted dollars. It received several awards and award nominations. The soundtrack by Marco Beltrami was also acclaimed, and was cited as "[one] of the most intriguing horror scores composed in years". It has since earned "cult status". Scream marked a change in the genre as it cast already-established and successful actors, which was considered to have helped it find a wider audience, including a significant female viewership.

Scream was credited with revitalizing the horror genre in the 1990s, which was considered to be almost dead following an influx of direct-to-video titles and numerous sequels to established horror franchises of the 1970s and 1980s. These sequels drew decreasing financial and critical success, as they exploited clichés that films in the genre had become reliant upon. Scream‍ '​s success spawned a series of sequels, though only Scream 2, released in 1997, achieved a level of commercial and critical success equal to the original film. In the years following the release of Scream, the film was accused of inspiring and even inducing violent crimes and murders.

Mefi Horror Club Guidelines. Also, if you want to choose the next film, let me know.
posted by Literaryhero (10 comments total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
Before you groan too much about picking something so mainstream, watch it and tell me that you don't love this movie.
posted by Literaryhero at 11:08 PM on June 25, 2015


Awesome.

My only groaning will be because as a completist after watching this one I'll probably watch the rest back-to-back and feel all of the air drain out of the franchise's tires starting near the end of part 2. But that's on me. No complaints about the original.
posted by doctornecessiter at 3:56 AM on June 26, 2015


I support this choice wholeheartedly.

(We're all gonna watch the show, too, right?)
posted by Etrigan at 6:06 AM on June 26, 2015


I watched it earlier this year, just to pass the time, expecting to be bored.

Holy. Shit. Was I wrong. And didn't need my old teenage crush on Neve Campbell to hold me on the movie.
posted by lmfsilva at 1:29 PM on June 26, 2015


Wow, I was expecting to be lambasted for this pick. Anyway, it will get posted to Fanfare on Friday July 3, since I neglected to mention that in the original post.
posted by Literaryhero at 2:57 PM on June 26, 2015


I saw this in 1997! Three dudes in their early twenties. My one blustering tough guy friend spent the entire film battling an anxiety attack, while my I and my fellow nerd friend spent most of the film talking about how hot Rose McGowan was. I will try to rein that in next week.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 4:22 PM on June 26, 2015


Wow, I was expecting to be lambasted for this pick.

When How Did This Get Made (a podcast devoted to ripping on terrible movies) did their take on Con Air a few weeks back, Jason Mantzoukas started by saying something to the effect of "For this week only, we're renaming this podcast to Thank GOD This Got Made."
posted by Etrigan at 5:32 PM on June 26, 2015 [1 favorite]


Oh I loved this movie when it came out and continue to love it. I am excited.
posted by miss-lapin at 12:02 PM on June 27, 2015 [1 favorite]


(We're all gonna watch the show, too, right?)

I DVRed the premiere last night...I'll leave it to someone else to start making episode posts because I'm lazy, but after this evening when I've had a chance to watch it I'll probably chime in.
posted by doctornecessiter at 8:50 AM on July 1, 2015


I'm down with this since it's (as are 2 and 3) on Netflix streaming so my lazy ass doesn't have to try to find it anywhere.
posted by rhizome at 4:30 PM on July 2, 2015


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