Scream

A horror movie made in 1996. Directed by Wes Craven. Written by Kevin Williamson. Players: David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Matthew Lillard, Rose McGowan, Skeet Ulrich, Jamie Kennedy, Drew Barrymore, Liev Schreiber, and more.

Someone has taken their love of scary movies one step too far.
Don't answer the phone. Don't open the door. Don't try to hide. And whatever you do, don't Scream.
Make Your Last Breath Count.

Nearly a year after the death of Sidney's mom more killings begin to occur. Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox), a report who covered the original murder, returns to cover these also because she believes Sidney (Neve Campbell) fingered the wrong guy for her mother's murder. This time Sidney is the target. The murders are very typical slasher movie style, but who is the murderer? Sidney's missing dad, her boyfriend (Skeet Ulrich), the movie buff (Jamie Kennedy), someone else?

This movie set out to be true to the slasher movie genre while still adding some new twists and it did just that. It even poked fun at itself and the whole genre at the same time using slasher movies as a motif for the entire film. I really loved this movie. It is one of my all time favorites. I give it 4.0/4.0.

Also a British horror comic aimed at kids. It ran for about 16 issues during 1984, then just died, which upset me greatly. I have every issue, sad bastard that I am. Some of the stories were genuinely disturbing, and it's a shame it had to die so young. It was a bit of a ripoff of the EC horror comics like Tales From The Crypt, but it was still pretty cool.

Some of the characters and stories featured:

• The Dracula Files - a modern day continuation/retelling of the Dracula legend, which was quite nasty and effective.
• Beware the Werewolf - a cool strip about a detective hunting a werewolf.
• Monster - a hideously deformed guy locked away by his parents, due to his freakiness and immense strength. He escapes, kills them, and goes on the run with his only "freeeeeennnnd", the kid who discovers him and loves him unconditionally. This was a sympathetic, tragic tale, that taught me a lot about tolerance, discrimination, and not judging people on appearances. I cried at the end, too...
• Tales From The Grave - a different twist in the tale story every week, usually with lots of fingernail ripping, gouging, blood and gore.
• Ghastly McNasty - the editor. We never see his face. Bit like Bones, but without the nice line in shorts and sandals.
• The Cats - this ran for 6 issues, and basically involved the entire cat population of England going insane and killing people.
• The Thirteenth Floor - the best story in it, easily my favourite. A new tower block of flats/apartments is built, with a highly advanced, intelligent computer called Max as the superintendent. Due to superstition, like a lot of buildings it has no thirteenth floor - but when anyone hurts or threatens the tenants, Max takes them to his own version of this non-existent floor, and uses "computer projections" (dodgy science bit) to teach them a lesson (read: kill them). Bizarre images of death, zombies, grinning men in bowler hats with umbrellas, sharks - the victims usually ended up dying of fright. Max then hypnotises one of the tenants into disposing of the body for him. This story had some dead freaky imagery in it, and Max sometimes got a little bit power-crazy, which gave the whole thing a nice edge to it. I imagined his voice sounding a bit like Hal, which was probably the intention - he was always saying things like "I simply can't allow anyone to threaten one of my tenants with violence, now can I?"

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By the way, if anyone knows how I can contact Ian Holland, script-guy for The Thirteenth Floor, I'd be very grateful, he hinted menacingly...

A tongue-in-cheek slasher flick from the mid-1990s, Scream was probably known best for the killer's 'Mr. Ghostface' mask, and for the scene in which one of the characters explains "the rules":

There are certain rules that one must abide by in order to successfully survive a horror movie. For instance,
Number One: You can never have sex. Big no-no, big no-no. Sex equals death, okay?
Number Two: You can never drink or do drugs. The sin factor! It's the sin, it's an extension of number one.
And Number Three: Never, ever, ever, under any circumstances say "I'll be right back." Cause you won't be back.

The other well-known scene in Scream is the beginning, wherein Drew Barrymore receives the infamous "Do you like scary movies?" phone call from the killer. These scenes and several others from Scream and its sequels, as well as other 1990s horror movies such as I Know What You Did Last Summer and The Blair Witch Project, go on to be lampooned in the Wayan Brothers' parody Scary Movie; as some are aware already, "Scary Movie" was the working title for Scream.

Scream is a band out of the D.C. suburb of Alexandria, formed circa 1981, near the end of Washington D.C.'s hardcore music scene. The original lineup consisted of Peter Stahl, Franz Stahl, Skeeter Thompson and Kent Stax. Perhaps the best known popular-music connection for most readers would be that of Dave Grohl, former hard-hitting Nirvana drummer and current Foo Fighters utlity man who joined up with them, replacing Stax around 1987. Gradually, he began having an ever-larger role in the band.

In the mid-80s, the band began to take on a definite leftist feel, and also began touring Europe. However, they went through troubled times soon thereafter, Thompson's ongoing drug problems having much to do with this. The band eventually went on hiatus in 1990, at which point Grohl went on to become a member of Nirvana; The remaining members briefly reunited to tour, a few years later.

Scream (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Screamed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Screaming.] [Icel. skraema to scare, terrify; akin to Sw. skrama, Dan. skraemme. Cf. Screech.]

To cry out with a shrill voice; to utter a sudden, sharp outcry, or shrill, loud cry, as in fright or extreme pain; to shriek; to screech.

I heard the owl scream and the crickets cry. Shak.

And scream thyself as none e'er screamed before. Pope.

 

© Webster 1913.

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Scream, n.

A sharp, shrill cry, uttered suddenly, as in terror or in pain; a shriek; a screech.

"Screams of horror."

Pope.

 

© Webster 1913.