Scream (1996)

Scream is a 1996 horror movie I had never seen before I watched it on Netflix so I could include it on my horror movie list. It is important in the genre -according to Wikipedia, "Scream was credited with revitalizing the horror genre in the 1990s, which was considered to be almost dead following an influx of direct-to-video titles and numerous sequels to established horror franchises of the 1970s and 1980s"- and spawned a series of sequels. At this point I think Scream is too dated to be effective. Also, these teen slasher movies just aren't my thing.

trailer:

Horror Freak News says, "Scream is an intricate who-dun-it that has lots of characters, creative kill scenes and twists and turns that make it difficult to tell who the killer really is. Nobody can be trusted. I really love this one..." The Telegraph says it "remains a cult classic". Empire Online concludes, "The once hip irony of Scream is now something of a cliche, but after all of the imitations, have another look at the real thing. Clever, quick and bloody funny. 'Bloody' being the operative word." Oh the Horror says it "it stands as one of the slasher genre’s few true masterpieces."

Roger Ebert gave it 3 out of 4 stars and closes with this:

As a film critic, I liked it. I liked the in-jokes and the self-aware characters. At the same time, I was aware of the incredible level of gore in this film. It is *really* violent.

Is the violence defused by the ironic way the film uses it and comments on it? Forme, it was. For some viewers, it will not be, and they will be horrified.

Which category do you fall in? Here's an easy test: When I mentioned Fangoria, did you know what I was talking about?

Rotten Tomatoes has a consensus rating of 79%.