| 100 |
TNT RoughCut
Spencer H. Abbott
Wes Craven continues to explore (and blur) the lines between reelity and reality with his latest, and perhaps best, cinematic slice of horror.
|
| 91 |
Entertainment Weekly
A deft, funny, shrewdly unsettling tribute to such slasher-exploitation thrillers as "Terror Train," "New Year's Evil," and Craven's own "A Nightmare on Elm Street."
|
| 90 |
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Finely crafted, tense, scary thriller from start to finish.
|
| 90 |
LA Weekly
A meta-horror film that hilariously parodies the genre's clichés with smarts to spare. It's also the scariest fucking movie Craven has made since the first "A Nightmare on Elm Street."
|
| 90 |
Los Angeles Times
It's sensational in both senses of the word: a bravura, provocative sendup of horror pictures that's also scary and gruesome yet too swift-moving to lapse into morbidity.
|
| 90 |
Dallas Observer
Craven's other accomplishment here, besides resuscitating the genre, is the way he keeps things scary even when they're at their funniest. The grand finale, while thoroughly bloody and tense, has some genuinely hilarious shtick.
|
| 80 |
Washington Post
Richard Harrington
Deftly mixes irony, self-reference and wry social commentary with chills and blood spills.
|
| 80 |
Film.com
Craven creates his savviest and most frightening movie since the original "A Nightmare on Elm Street" by spoofing the horror cliches and simultaneously reinventing them to scare you all over again.
|
| 78 |
Austin Chronicle
Craven is obviously having a ball here, and it's impossible not to sit back and go grinning into this dark, gory ride.
|
| 75 |
ReelViews
Scream is a rarity: a horror movie spoof that succeeds almost as well at provoking scares as laughs.
|
| 75 |
Chicago Sun-Times
What did I think about this movie? 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.
|
| 75 |
New York Daily News
Dave Kehr
Builds to a splattering finale that should leave genre fans highly satisfied.
|
| 70 |
TV Guide
Compared with most of what passes for scary movies these days, this is golden: It's not stupid, it's not wussy and it pulls off a couple of pretty nasty jolts.
|
| 63 |
USA Today
While Scream has its frights, it feels more like one of those solve-the-mystery jigsaw puzzles than a real movie.
|
| 63 |
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
May not be the most scary or the grossest horror film you've ever seen, but it has one distinct feature: it actually talks up to the audience. By the conclusion, you won't be shaking in your seat, but you may enjoy the status of someone who has earned a Master's in Slashology.
|
| 63 |
Chicago Tribune
Pretty run-of-the-mill stuff. [20 December 1996, Friday, p.J]
|
| 50 |
Variety
Leonard Klady
Though the material is more intelligent than the norm and has an unusual third-act twist, it also employs some very clunky stereotypes.
|
| 50 |
Chicago Reader
Tiresome, blood-filled comedy.
|
| 50 |
Film.com
Doesn't know when to stop with the jokes about other horror movies and settle down to tell a coherent story.
|
| 50 |
Mr. Showbiz
Just another basketcase with a blade.
|
| 50 |
San Francisco Chronicle
Wicked fun with flickers of intelligence.
|
| 50 |
The New York Times
Wes Craven (of the 'Nightmare on Elm Street' films) is in the mood for parody.
|
| 40 |
Time
An idiot-savant movie, knowing but not smart.
|
| 25 |
Baltimore Sun
Indeed, Scream is better than the average slasher film, as its advertisers insist. And, indeed, it is probably Wes Craven's best film, as they also insist. But that is a little like saying the pimple on the left side of your nose is "better" than the pimple on the right side.
|
| 25 |
San Francisco Examiner
Bob Stephens
An artificial and hypocritical effort to escape the artistic limitations of teenage slasher flicks.
|
