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 llow me to get pretentious for a moment by looking back at
the first postmodern work in the Teen Slasher genre -- the "Scream"
trilogy. Conceived by screenwriter Kevin Williamson and directed by Wes Craven,
the trilogy returned life to the stale Teen Slasher genre with its host of hip
characters, irreverent dialogue, and too-cool-for-school plots. Other genres
eventually took the postmodern hip of "Scream" and used it on the Teen
High School movies and just about anything and everything they could get their
hands on. Even the Western wasn't spared, as "American
Outlaws" can attest to.
Seven years after the film's initial release, I don't think
I need to go over the movie's plot, but for those who don't know: a pair of
killers go around slaughtering teens for one reason: because they can.
The star of "Scream" is Neve Campbell ("Panic"),
who plays Sidney, the trilogy's Fair Hair Lead. Other recurring characters
include Courteney Cox as spunky reporter Gale Weathers, David Arquette as Dewey,
the Deputy most in need of some respect, and Jamie Kennedy ("The
Specials") as Randy, the video store and horror movie aficionado. The
rest of the cast is unimportant because they only last long enough to get killed
off.
Despite what you may have heard about "Scream",
and despite its very bloody finale, the movie itself is relatively light on the
bodycount. Drew Barrymore ("Charlie's
Angels") shows up in the film's first 10 minutes, but is killed off
early in the trilogy's most well known sequence. From that moment on, it takes
another 40 minutes or so before the next body falls. In-between the blood and
gore that's requisite in all Teen Slasher films, "Scream" offers up a
host of characters that are just too damn hip for their own good. The dialogue
by Williamson is quite good. Or, to be more precise, the dialogue by Williamson
is so good that every would-be Teen Slasher filmmaker has attempted to copy him
ever since.
"Scream" rebels against the conventions of its
genre, but that doesn't keep it from embracing the old traditions. The movie
constantly winks at us, and it's a lot smarter than its brethren, but that
doesn't stop it from also being extremely familiar. For instance, who didn't
know that the loose girl played by Rose McGowan was going to bite it, and bite
it in a most brutal fashion? Or that there will be red herrings all over the
place? Or the fact that Skeet Ulrich's character keeps literally popping up at
the strangest places?
"Scream" is a good movie that, although it
doesn't completely re-invent the wheel, does splash a new coat of paint on it.
The starring turn by Neve Campbell is terrific, with the Sidney character
showing a lot more resourcefulness than we're used to seeing in our Fair Hair
Leads. The direction by Wes Craven is slick and the director proves again that
he definitely knows his stuff. The violence is very realistic, which makes the
few kills that can be found in the movie resonate with greater impact.
There's a reason why "Scream" spurned two sequels
and made a lot of money, after all. It is quite good, even for a genre film. But
while the movie definitely takes clever to a new level, old fans of the genre
like myself can't help but wish that some of the characters would shut up and
die already. You can only stand so much goofy teens with clever dialogue before
you start envisioning a masked killer ripping their guts out. But maybe that's
just me.
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