Scream

“is that you randy? what movie is this from? i spit on your garage… lose the outfit, if sidney sees she’ll flip. oh you wanna play psycho killer? can i be the helpless victim? okay let’s see… no please don’t kill me mr. ghostface, i wanna be in the sequel!” no matter how many times i watch this - the original scream from 1996  will never get old, while certain sequels manage to capture a quarter of the charm, there’s truly no other sequel that comes close to this honestly. i watched all the scream films because of the new one that came out like a couple weeks ago - not like i forgot them, i just needed an excuse to watch them again. unfortunately scream 7 was pretty terrible, but that just makes me how much this films a masterpiece even more. coming from a massive slasher/horror fan - this is easily the best slasher of all time. sure, there’s been some great slashers - the texas chainsaw massacre, halloween, a nightmare on elm street - i think out of all those, scream manages to be the superior film easily (still love the other ones though). the slasher subgenre was evidentially dying in the early 90s - cliche, boring and derivative direct to video sequels were booming, but no actual new exciting material - and scream managed to completely save horror from death. it brings a new witty comedic element, and is also wildly unpredictable. horror films are infamous for character who make idiotic or unreasonable decisions - and this film points fun at that a lot. these characters are all avid horror fans, and they all know what not to do when there’s a masked killer around. that brings them movie in a movie feel (meta) which makes everything more enjoyable. this movie was marketed that drew barrymore was going to be the protagonist or ‘final girl’ - even having her face on the main cover. probably not shocking anymore, but i can imagine how audiences of the time would be confused at the ‘main’ star being killed off in the first 15 minutes. it’s not only an endlessly iconic opening scene that probably everyone on the universe has heard a line from, but also heightens the stakes - as seemingly, anyone can be killed off. while supernatural villains are totally fun, and allow for a more surreal, light-hearted watch - the idea of simply a man in a mask is simple, but incredibly effective. he’s a human who trips over furniture, but is still arguably scarier than those villains i mentioned before - as anyone can put a mask on and decide to stab people - which can bring a more scary feeling overall. by the killers disguising themselves as regular people - it creates a really fun mystery element - it uses characters like billy loomis, the red herring, as the obvious killer - but it just feels too obvious so no one would really guess it’s him. the killers probably are predictable, and i’m pretty sure i guessed both of them on my first watch, but it’s fun nonetheless. the cast is stacked - david arquette, neve campbell, rose mcgowan, courteney cox. the characters are all iconic and all incredibly likeable: from tatum the tragic best friend, to gale the money-hungry news reporter who ends up saving the day at the end. sidney prescott is also one of the best final girls of all time, she feels like a dully fleshed out person, rather than a useless caricature that some final girls seem to be like. besides that, it uses characters like gale to show the toxicity of the press, as they exploit real life situations for a quick buck. it also shows the desensitised society, with highschoolers dressing up like ghostface as a simple prank. easily one of the best horror movie ever made - and i just loved the constant film references.