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Wes Craven is one of the few horror-genre directors to search for new twists within stereotyped forms, as WES CRAVEN'S NEW NIGHTMARE demonstrated. In this recycled vision of the FRIDAY THE 13TH and HALLOWEEN series, Craven -- using an original script by Kevin Williamson -- mixes standard terror thrills with mocking satire that spoofs the formula.
This lack of distinction between real-world reality and movie reality is summed up by one of the characters: "It's all one great big movie."
Craven/Williamson even remind us of the three things a character in a horror movie should never do: 1. Never have sex. 2. Never drink or take drugs. 3. Never say, "I'll be right back." Do any one of them and you're the next corpse. You can be dead certain about that.
All that aside, SCREAM is, in many ways, a scream and a half when Craven trowels on the shocks and thrills as heavily as he dares. A knife-wielding killer wearing a startling ghost mask attacks and corners babysitter Drew Barrymore in the film's opening, and best, setpiece. Her stalking and death scene, as disturbing as they area, are so well directed by Craven that it's difficult for him to top himself for the next 90 minutes. Barrymore, incidentally, could have a great career as a scream queen, although there are probably better things in life for her to pursue.
After her bloody demise, the rural community of Woodsboro, CA, is frequently beset by the fiendish killer, who complicates the lives of heroine Neve Campbell, her boyfriend Skeet Ulrich, TV reporter Courteney Cox, high school principal Henry Winkler, deputy David Arquette, and assorted horror-movie-happy teenagers.
The twist ending, designed to poke more fun at the plotting of horror-slasher movies and the whole issue of movie motives for murder, is slam-bang crazy if totally implausible, but then that's the point.
SCREAM, which is frequently gory and has several stalking-followed-by-death scenes, is designed to satisfy and yet tinker with the expectations of hardcore horror buffs, so everyone geared to this stuff should find it filling and/or bemusing. Outsiders will only find it confusing and shouldn't bother, especially since Barrymore's opening death sequence may be too intense and nihilistic to pass as entertainment.
By the way, Courteney Cox (star of TV's FRIENDS series in the role of Monica Geller) is surprisingly good as the video reporter gal and suggests a far greater range than this kind of material normally allows. More power to her acting future. Matthew Lillard, Rose McGowan, Lawrence Hecht.