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

7 wins & 8 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:

serial killer | masked villain | homicidal maniac | human monster | insanity | 

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Taglines:

Don't Answer The Door, Don't Leave The House, Don't Answer The Phone, But Most Of All, Don't SCREAM.

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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

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, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$103,046,663

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$173,046,663

Company Credits

Production Co:

Dimension Films, Woods Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

111 min 103 min (cut) (PAL DVD)

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

All the killer's phone calls were really done by Roger Jackson on-set with a cell phone. At one point, the crew were contacted by the police demanding to know who they were, because they thought there was a real killer making the phone calls.

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Goofs

(at around 6 mins) When Casey sees Steve on the patio, the killer tells her to turn off the light. You see the shadow fall across his face. Yet when the camera flashes to Steve just before he's killed, we see the already turned-off light go off again.

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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

No thanks whatsoever to the Santa Rosa City School District Governing Board.

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Alternate Versions

Version shown on USA cable network Starz is cut for violence (using a freeze-frame, for example, for the scene where Casey looks at Steve's guts).

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Connections

Referenced in Once Upon a Time When I Tried Committing Suicide (2016)

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Soundtracks

Better Than Me
Performed by Sister Machine Gun
Written by Chris Randall
Courtesy of Wax Trax! Records/TVT Records

User Reviews

Enjoyed it a lot more than expected...

I have been recently reading a lot of reviews of the latest film in this series, Scream 4. Now, for one reason or another I have never seen any of the 'Scream' films before… well not all the way through anyway. Time to change that I thought and so here we are with the first one, Scream. I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would, it doesn't take itself all that seriously and there's an awful lot more humour than I expected.

We open with a mysterious voice calling up a girl called Casey, who is home alone about to watch a scary movie. She tries to blow him off but he is persistent and eventually begins to creep her out. Things don't end too well for Casey, or her boyfriend, Steve, after a masked assailant has finished with them. We then switch to another girl, Sidney, her mother had been murdered almost a year ago and her father is about to leave on a business trip. All the talk the next day at school is about the murder and on returning home Sidney receives a call from a man with a mysterious voice. She isn't so easily scared, but still she is attacked by the same masked assailant. Having fought him off, her boyfriend, Billy turns up just before Deputy Dewey. Having found a cell phone on him, Dewey arrests Billy and Sidney goes to stay the night with Dewey's sister, Tatum. As time goes by the bodies begin to mount up and this attracts the media, particularly ambitious reporter, Gale Weathers. It's only a matter of time before Sidney is to be the next on the list, and anyway, there's a score to settle and an awful lot of suspects.

This made a refreshing change for me, a horror film that doesn't take itself too seriously but at the same time has all the scares and shocks of a more serious one. I liked it! Decent performances all round; Neve Campbell did a good job as Sidney, as did Skeet Ulrich as Billy. Also of note were Courteney Cox as Gale Weathers, David Arquette as Deputy Dewey and Matthew Lillard as Stuart. Also nice cameos from Drew Barrymore as Casey, Wes Craven very briefly appeared as Fred the Janitor and Henry Winkler as Principal Arthur Himbry.

There is a great soundtrack too, including an interesting acoustic rendition of 'Don't Fear the Reaper' when Sidney and Billy are first seen on screen together (very nicely done). I suspect, unfortunately, that the other films in the series may not live up to this rather good beginning, but we shall see… If you haven't seen it, it's definitely worth a viewing, even if you're not really a fan of teen horrors (like me)… Final verdict: Recommended.

My Score: 7.5/10