Scream (1996)

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.

Director:

Wes Craven

Writer:

Kevin Williamson

Stars:

Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette

11 wins & 10 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Drew Barrymore	...	Casey Becker
Roger Jackson	...	Phone Voice (voice)
Kevin Patrick Walls	...	Steve Orth
David Booth	...	Casey's Father
Carla Hatley	...	Casey's Mother
Neve Campbell	...	Sidney Prescott
Skeet Ulrich	...	Billy Loomis
Lawrence Hecht	...	Neil Prescott
Courteney Cox	...	Gale Weathers
W. Earl Brown	...	Kenny Jones
Rose McGowan	...	Tatum Riley
Lois Saunders	...	Mrs. Tate
David Arquette	...	Deputy Dewey
Joseph Whipp	...	Sheriff Burke
Matthew Lillard	...	Stuart

Storyline

A year after her mother's death, Sydney Prescott (Neve Campbell), and her friends started experiencing some strange phone calls. They later learned the calls were coming from a crazed serial killer, in a white faced mask and a large black robe, looking for revenge. His phone calls usually consist of many questions, the main one being: Whats your favorite scary movie? Along with many scary movie trivia, ending with bloody pieces of innocent lives scattered around the small town of Woodsboro.

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Plot Keywords:

slasher | serial killer | masked killer | mystery killer | whodunit | 

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Taglines:

Someone Is Playing A Deadly Game, Someone Who Has Seen Way Too Many Scary Movies.

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Genres:

Horror | Mystery

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong graphic horror violence and gore, and for language

Did You Know?

Trivia

Sidney's boyfriend in the film was named Billy Loomis. That is the same spelling as the doctor from Halloween (1978), although Doctor Loomis never mentioned anything about whether or not he had children of his own.

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Goofs

Generally, for the fact there has been a massacre, the house in which it occurred seems quiet and serene, especially when Sidney discovers Tatum's body, but as if no one else would be around, or could have seen her.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Casey: Hello?
Phone Voice: Hello.
Casey: Yes?
Phone Voice: Who is this?
Casey: Who are you trying to reach?
Phone Voice: What number is this?
Casey: Well, what number are you trying to reach?
Phone Voice: I don't know.
Casey: I think you have the wrong number.
[...]

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Crazy Credits

Henry Winkler, who played Principal Himbry, was asked to go uncredited because the producers did not want to detract any attention from the younger, lesser known actors.

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Alternate Versions

The US LaserDisc version contains the director's cut with ca. 20 seconds of restored footage that was originally cut to avoid being slapped with the NC-17 by the MPAA. It also has commentary by director Wes Craven and writer Kevin Williamson. In the commentary, Craven notes five places where his cut differs from the theatrical release:

• Steve's guts are shown pouring out of him as Casey looks on. In the released version, the very last few moments of this are shown.
• Casey hanging from the tree was time compressed in the film release (it is at normal speed here).
• When Tatum meets her death by garage door, her head is shown, very briefly being flattened.
• After Kenny the cameraman's throat is cut, he stares at the blood on his hand after touching his neck, and then looks up at the killer.
• Billy clearly loses control as he delivers his final cuts to Stuart.
• After Billy and Stuart have finished stabbing each other, there is a shot of Stu's hand dripping blood into a puddle, with Sidney's father looking on.

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Connections

Spoofed in 1997 MTV Movie Awards (1997)

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Soundtracks

I Don't Care
Performed by Dillon Dixon, Marco Beltrami & Steve Carnelli
Written by Marco Beltrami

User Reviews

Scary, funny and clever – the best Scream movie by miles

Almost a year after someone raped and killed Sidney Prescott's mother in the small town of Woodsboro, someone is killing teenagers. When Sidney herself becomes a target, the link is apparent and her missing father is a suspect. However, as with all good scary movies, everyone is a suspect.

The film that sparked the revival of horror movies (Halloween H2O, I know what you did last summer, Urban Legend etc all followed…..thanks a lot!). This stands out from all those (and it's lackluster sequels) by being really good and clever. The story is nothing more than the standard slasher plot – but it avoids the cliches quite well. In fact it uses the cliches as references and makes plenty of jokey references to other movies and the supposed rules of horror movies – we even have a quick flash of a caretaker dressed in Freddy's jumper and hat!

That doesn't mean it's not scary – it is! From the tragically horrible opening 10 minutes through each gory killing the tension is high and the shocks are real. The plot twists nicely and the ending is much better than most slasher movies (including the absurd endings of 2 and 3). This manages to be fresh, clever and scary – getting by any sticking moments with it's tongue in it's cheek.

The cats are good – Campbell is a believable virgin, scarred by what happened to her mother – before she starts turning into Buffy the vampire slayer in parts 2 and 3. Cox is excellent playing against type and David Arquette is funny as the Deputy Sheriff. Kennedy as Randy is also funny as the movie geek – in fact he remains the highlight of the next 2 films. The cast being filled of up and coming faces (including Ulrich) makes it even more thrilling when the `wrong' people get killed, technically all the cast are `unknowns' who usually make up the body count, so really anyone can potentially get offed.

Overall funny black comedy, scary thrills and gory excitement. A rare treat – a really good teen horror movie

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 December 1996 (USA)

Also Known As:

Scary Movie

Filming Locations:

3871 Tomales Road, Tomales, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$14,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$6,354,586, 22 December 1996

Gross USA:

$103,046,663

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$173,046,663

Company Credits

Production Co:

Dimension Films, Woods Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

111 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1