Scream (1996) review

Set in America during the 1990s, ‘Scream’ follows many conventions of a horror movie through a series of fast snappy, shots in an attempt to build tension and thus sending chills right through its audience. We as the audience are straight away exposed to what is in store for many victims of a horror movie, this is transparent from the moment we hear a sinister voice from a bizarre caller, whose identity is unknown. From such an unsettling conversation between the supposedly ‘villain, it’s obvious he wants one thing alone and that is his intention to kill the innocent teenage girl who he is terrorising. The unnamed person convinces the young girl to participate in a game, which quickly becomes matter of life or death for both her and her boyfriend; with this the petrified girl has no choice but to take part in his twisted game. Here he presents the outcomes if the girl refuses to take part in such game. Stating that if she does answer his set of horror movie questions correctly she will live but if she so much gets a question wrong both her and her boyfriend will die as a result of answers. Nevertheless the unnamed caller comes to her door in a ghost mask and takes matters into his own hands and kills the teenagers in a gruesome way. For both the audience and the killer this is just the beginning as he takes us on a ride for his desire for blood, allowing his twisted version of events to unfold in his small community. But the unanswered question on everyone’s lips who is next? A similar phone call from the same unnamed killer, threatens yet another teenage girl (Neve Campbell), only this time he is more and more determined to kill her thus continuing his killing rampage. Again highlighting the conventions of a horror movie, the police and the members of the community are presented far too naive, meaning they are not able to put a stop to the killings taking place within their town. We later on find out that the main character who the killer is so desperate to kill, had only lost her mother almost a year ago when she was brutally raped and killed by unknown killer who is still on the loose. Through their local news presenter, we learn that Campbell has wrongly sent an innocent man to prison, whom she thought was her mother’s killer. Leading the journalist to convinces the girl that the real killer of her mother is still at large and therefore poses a threat. From that point onwards everyone becomes a suspect including her boyfriend ‘Billy’, even her own father becomes a suspect as he been away on a ‘so called business trip’ after the death of his wife. On the eve of her mother’s anniversary the killer comes back for more victims during a house party. Where it was later revealed Billy and his friend were the actual killers who have been hunting their town. As a result has tied Sidney Prescott’s father up ready to kill him aswell as her. But in twist of the event and an attempt to change the way the story ends, Campbell is saved by the journalist who shoots Billy in the precise moment he was on the edge of killing her. Consequently the journalist (Gale Weathers) becomes the hero and the story ends happily ever after, well at least for now..... Key:  Neve Campbell: known as Sidney  Journalist: Gale Weathers