After slashing 1980s cinema screens with the NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET franchise, Wes Craven did the same in the 1990s with SCREAM, only with an ironic twist.
High school student Casey is terrorised and murdered by a masked killer. Her classmates - all horror film aficionados - wonder what might happen next using the 'rules' of the genre.
For Sidney Prescott it also marks a year since her mother's murder. Her mother's lover was found guilty but among the newly-arrived news reporters is pushy Gale Weathers, the author of a book on the Prescott murder which questions his guilt.
With her father away on business, Sidney is invited to stay at her friend's house... but then the killer calls...
Screenwriter Kevin Williamson and Craven delight in their students breaking all the horror films rules: they DO answer the phone, they DO stay in the house, and they DO wander off alone...
Shelf or charity shop? It's stalking the other DVDs on the shelf. Scary and smart, SCREAM is a repeatable pleasure. Wes Craven knew exactly when to ramp up the tension and his cast all deliver sparky, engaged performances - Drew Barrymore is a perfect choice to be SCREAM's Janet Leigh, Neve Campbell makes a sympathetic scream queen while Jamie Kennedy, Rose McGowan and Matthew Lillard all deliver as her horror fan class-mates (although what they are still doing in school in their mid-twenties is beyond me). The "grown ups" are also nicely played by Courteney Cox as the relentless Gayle Weathers and David Arquette has a real charm as sheriff Dewey. This was the first - and best - of the SCREAM franchise which collapsed under the weight of it's own Meta-ness.
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