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Casey does her valiant best, fielding the first question that the mystery voice throws her way. Unfortunately her knowledge of Friday the 13th is lacking, a vacancy that she'll never get the opportunity to fill. In a hail of glass, Casey's world caves in and admits the killer (tastefully attired with an Edvard Munch mask). The chase, wreathed in popcorn smoke and reflected in the glitter of kitchen knives, comes to a bloody climax on the lawn outside. The irony is that Casey's parents are just returning, unprepared for the devastation that awaits. The vision of Casey's warm corpse, disembowelled and hanging from a tree, is one that will haunt them forever. For Woodsboro, the double slaying is big news.
Across town Sidney (Neve Campbell) plays on the Internet, before being distracted by a noise at the window. Shocked by the sudden appearance of her boyfriend Billy (Skeet Ulrich), Sidney fails to suppress a short cry. This brings her father Mr. Prescott (Lawrence Hecht) to the door, there being just enough time for Billy to hide under the bed. Since he is going to be out of town for a few days, and Sidney's mother is no longer alive, he's protective of his only daughter. At school the next day the news breaks, so bloodsuckers like Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) prowl with camera-crews. Casey's friends, Tatum (Rose McGowan), Stuart (Matthew Lillard) and Randy (Jamie Kennedy), are all as shocked as she that one of their number could be cut down so horribly. Even worse, this revives memories of the murder of Casey's mother, almost precisely a year ago - as if one senseless slaughter wasn't too many.
Designed by Wes Craven to be something of a riposte to the critics of slasher flicks, Scream surfaces as a two-headed, sprawling beast. On one hand it is a spoof of the many terrible horror films that have come before, packed with stupid knife-fodder and ripped-off psychos. Craven knows, through long experience, all of the angles and is content to exploit them to the full in Scream. On the other hand he appears to be making a serious movie, with decent characters, which still uses gore to surprise. On the whole these two desires mesh successfully, feeding from one other and generally entertaining. However, Craven just doesn't know when to stop. Instead of quitting with a few subtle homage's, he lays the references on with a trowel. Then, caught between his twin themes, he drags the film on until it becomes tedious (giving a finale that is neither scary nor funny). Merely dropping a few parody elements and shortening the movie could have made this a classic, yet that course of action obviously didn't occur to Craven.
In the spirit of broadening the characters, while remaining true to its high-school roots, Scream features a few half-decent roles. Star of the terrific opening sequence, a gripping and terrifying high-point, Barrymore hits just the right pitch of fragility. The later characters are similarly charismatic, though believably callous and cynical. Campbell makes a fine axis, strong of mind yet capable of some disintegration when the correct stimuli are applied. Her relationship with McGowan feels right, although the latter is under-written as a sacrificial lamb. Equally, Campbell's romance with Ulrich is curiously unsettling, coloured by indications of a failure to connect. The lesser figures perform reasonably, with Cox especially well chosen. So, while Scream has flaws, these are not the fault of the cast (on the whole).
So what's the fatal drawback in watching Scream? Simply that it regards itself as being far more clever and witty than it really is. Stuffed to bursting with post-modern jokes, this is a movie that becomes tiresome by overdose. Constantly seeking to comment on itself and the genre, while simultaneously aiming to inspire terror, Scream does neither well. After building up a fine head of tension, the audience is thrown off-kilter as the characters chase each other around; Scream never recovers. That said, the numerous red herrings (each of which seem to identify the psycho) add interest, leading to a neat twist when the revelation comes. For completeness, the usual elements of a sawing-violin soundtrack and razor editing are present and correct. They do not, however, stand out in any fashion - an appropriate epitaph for the entire film.
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