The other day I re-watched the movie Scream after how ever long it was that I watched it. I realized that there were two really cool things about this movie. The first was the mild breaking of the fourth wall. Characters imparting horror movie knowledge to the viewer, reminding us of the rules and consequences the movies have before they make those exact mistakes. In every movie it feels like the killer runs up the stairs instead of out the front door but what I appreciate about this movie was that they call out how big of a mistake it is right before they do it themselves.
The second thing was that the killer wasn’t an unnatural super-powered force. I think that the characters ability to somewhat fight the killer off adds another level of tension compared to fighting Jason where I know the guy who chooses to stand his ground is going to die quickly and violently.
On another note, the first scary movie by the Waynes bros did an excellent job parodying this movie. To the point where I was watching I expected to see the actors who played their spoof versions in the film. At times when I was watching the movie I could almost hear the spoof versions such the announcements coming on the radio at school or when Gayle meets Dewy for the first time.
It feels like the most exciting part of the movie is the wondering who the killer is. Trying to piece it together as the victims start to pile up. I’d love to see a new movie like this that would shake things up. I mean more than 20 years later people still know the line “What’s your favorite scary movie?” and that’s difficult to do, to make a movie that stands the test of time is really the hallmark in my opinion of a great movie.