Re: Scream Go
Lilly Rosenau
Scream is a 1996 American slasher film directed by Wes Craven and written by Kevin Williamson. It stars David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Matthew Lillard, Rose McGowan, Skeet Ulrich, and Drew Barrymore. Set in the fictional town of Woodsboro, California, Scream's plot follows high school student Sidney Prescott (Campbell) and her friends, who, on the anniversary of her mother's murder, become the targets of a costumed serial killer known as Ghostface.
Williamson, who was struggling to get his projects off the ground, was inspired by reports of a series of murders by the Gainesville Ripper as he wrote a screenplay that satirized the clichs of the slasher genre popularized in films such as Halloween (1978), Friday the 13th (1980), and A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). Developed under the title Scary Movie, Williamson's script became the subject of an intense bidding war from multiple studios before Miramax Films purchased the rights. Craven, despite turning down the opportunity multiple times, agreed to direct the film after he had read the script as he was determined to re-establish himself after several career setbacks. The involvement of Barrymore and Cox helped secure more support from the studio. Principal photography took place from April to June 1996 in California on a budget of $15 million. Craven trimmed down the violence in the film after being involved in a tense conflict with the Motion Picture Association of America over the desired R-rating.
Released on December 20, 1996, Scream was not expected to perform well due to concerns over releasing a slasher film in a time normally reserved for holiday entertainment, but it went on to gross approximately $173 million worldwide through the strength of word of mouth, becoming a surprise success and one of the highest-grossing films of the year. Reviews praised the performances of its cast and its unique meta humor but criticized its excessive violence and lack of suspense in favor of that humor. The film helped elevate Williamson's career as a writer and raised the profiles of the rest of the cast.
In the small town of Woodsboro, California, high school student Casey Becker is home alone when she receives a phone call from an unknown person. They discuss horror films until the caller turns sadistic, threatening her life and revealing that her boyfriend, Steve, is tied up on her patio. The caller demands she answer questions about horror films to save his life, but she gives an incorrect answer about Friday the 13th and Steve is killed. Casey attempts to flee but is stabbed to death by someone wearing a "Ghostface" costume and her disemboweled corpse is hanged from a tree.
The news media descend on the town as a police investigation begins. Teenager Sidney Prescott struggles with the impending first anniversary of the rape and murder of her mother Maureen by Cotton Weary. The trauma has made her unable to consummate her relationship with her boyfriend, Billy Loomis. As her father Neil is traveling for work, Sidney waits home alone for her best friend, Tatum Riley. She receives a call taunting her about Maureen's death and is attacked by Ghostface, who disappears just before Billy comes through her window. However, she becomes suspicious when he drops a cell phone, and he is arrested by Deputy Sheriff Dewey Riley, Tatum's brother. At the police station, Sidney is confronted by investigative journalist Gale Weathers, who claims that Maureen had several affairs, including one with Cotton, and that he was wrongly accused of her murder. Sidney stays at Tatum's home but receives another taunting call from the killer. The calls are traced to Neil's phone, but the police are unable to locate him.
After his release, Billy encounters Sidney at school and further upsets her by comparing his absent mother to Maureen's death. After suspending school in the wake of the murders, Principal Himbry is stabbed to death in his office. To celebrate the closure, Stu Macher, Tatum's boyfriend, hosts a party at his secluded home. Dewey and Gale keep watch on the party in case the killer strikes again. As fellow high schooler Randy Meeks details the rules of surviving a horror film, Tatum is isolated in the garage by Ghostface, who crushes her with the garage door. After discovering Himbry's murder, most of the partygoers leave to see his hanging body, nearly running over Dewey and Gale and inadvertently leading them to Neil's hidden car. Billy arrives at the house to reconcile with Sidney, and they finally have sex. Afterward, they are suddenly attacked by Ghostface, and Billy is stabbed. Sidney evades Ghostface, who kills Gale's cameraman Kenny and stabs Dewey when he returns. Gale, attempting to flee in her van, crashes and is knocked unconscious. Sidney seeks refuge inside the house, locking Stu and Randy outside as they accuse each other of being the killer.
A seemingly wounded Billy returns and allows Randy inside before shooting him in the shoulder, revealing himself as the killer and Stu as his accomplice. Billy confesses that they killed Maureen because the discovery of her affair with his father was responsible for his mother leaving. The pair abducted Neil to frame him for their crimes and proceed to stab each other to portray themselves as the only survivors. They are interrupted by Gale's return, which gives Sidney the chance to incapacitate Billy and kill Stu by dropping a television set on his head. Billy attempts to stab Sidney but is shot by Gale. After Randy remarks that horror film killers revive for a final scare, Billy sits back up and Sidney shoots him in the head, killing him. As dawn breaks, Neil is rescued, Dewey is taken away by ambulance, and Gale provides an impromptu news report about the night's events.
Scream also features Roger L. Jackson as the voice of Ghostface,[17] and Kevin Patrick Walls as Steve Orth, Casey's boyfriend.[16][12] Lawrence Hecht and Lynn McRee portray Sidney's parents, Neil and Maureen.[14][18][19] C.W. Morgan appears as Hank Loomis, Frances Lee McCain portrays Mrs. Riley, and David Booth and Carla Hatley appear as Casey's father and mother.[14] Leonora Scelfo portrays a "bitchy" cheerleader in the school bathroom.[20] Scream features several cameo appearances, including Henry Winkler as principal Arthur Himbry, Linda Blair as Obnoxious Reporter, casting director Lisa Beach as a reporter, and director Wes Craven appears as Freddy the janitor, an homage to iconic horror character Freddy Krueger.[a]
In 1994, Kevin Williamson was a novice and financially struggling screenwriter, having recently sold his first script, Killing Mrs. Tingle (1999).[b] While house-sitting, Williamson watched a Turning Point documentary about serial killer Danny Rolling which he said left him unsettled. Williamson later noticed an open window, armed himself with a knife, and called his friend for support. The pair began discussing horror characters that had resonated with them such as Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees.[26][28] The following morning, Williamson was woken by a nightmare and used the experience as inspiration for the opening home invasion of Scream. He was also influenced by a one-act play he wrote in college about an unknown caller taunting a young girl.[24][26][28]
Williamson spent the next three days writing a script for a slasher film he called Scary Movie while listening to the score to Halloween (1978) for further inspiration.[c] He also drafted two five-page outlines for possible sequels.[d] He developed much of the script around a single line of dialogue, "movies don't create psychos, movies make psychos more creative". This was his response to contemporary concerns about the influence of cinematic violence on audience, and he "thought it was a great line."[25] Williamson's script drew upon many of his favorite horror films, such as Halloween, Friday the 13th (1980), Prom Night (1980), and A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984).[29] At the time, the successful slasher films of the 1970s and 1980s had fallen out of favor, in part because of increasingly poorly received sequels to long-running horror franchises.[31][26][27]
His characters were intentionally designed to be knowledgeable about these horror films and their typical elements, with the intention of creating a unique killer who was not only aware of horror film clichs but also exploited them for his own advantage. Williamson expressed his approach, "I thought if you could expose the rules and play with them, then the audience doesn't know what they're going to get. Suddenly they're on edge. I started playing with the tropes, and the 'rules' were part of that."[27][26] The opening scene depicting Casey Becker's death emulates that of Janet Leigh's character in Psycho (1960) by killing off a possible main character early on. Williamson believed it would hook studio executives and leave audiences unsure how the plot would progress.[26] Williamson set the script in his hometown of Bayboro, North Carolina, believing its quiet atmosphere would provide a strong contrast with a serial killer's actions.[32]
Williamson pursued Scary Movie because it was the type of horror film he enjoyed as a child but believed were no longer being made.[33][26][34] Even so, he did not believe studios would develop and intended to use it to garner attention and secure other work.[25] Williamson's agent had him scale back the gore, removing descriptions such as "the insides are slowly rolling down her leg," because it would make it difficult to sell the script. Williamson refused to cut any dialogue, however, believing it set it apart from similar films.[29][28]
Williamson revised the script based on studio input, removing some gorier content (such as exposed internal organs and severed limbs) and adding the murder of principal Himbry because Weinstein said there was too long a period following the opening without any deaths. This solved a separate difficulty Williamson was having explaining why all but the core group of characters leave Stu's party in the finale, as they go to see Himbry's corpse.[38][28][39] The Scary Movie title was also changed to Scream late in production because Weinstein was concerned Scary Movie would lead audiences to believe it was a comedy instead of a horror.[h]
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