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Scream
Miramax Films

7.4 based on 25 reviews Read critic reviews How did we calculate this? based on 15 votes Read user comments Rate this movie

FILM:

• Cursed
• Music of the Heart
• Red Eye
• Scream 2
• Scream 3
• Vampire in Brooklyn
• Wes Craven Presents: Dracula 2000
• Wes Craven Presents: They

• Internet Movie Database
• Official Studio Site

MPAA RATING: R for strong graphic horror violence and gore, and for language

Starring Neve Campbell, Drew Barrymore, Courteney Cox, Skeet Ulrich, David Arquette, Matthew Lillard, Jamie Kennedy, and Rose McGowan

A teenage girl (Campbell) becomes the target of a psychopathic serial killer.

GENRE(S):	Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	Kevin Williamson
DIRECTED BY:	Wes Craven
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: December 2, 1997  Video: December 2, 1997  Theatrical: December 20, 1996
RUNNING TIME:	111 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

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 Owen Gleiberman

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) Keith Phipps

Finely crafted, tense, scary thriller from start to finish.

90

LA Weekly Paul Malcolm

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 Kevin Thomas

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 Andy Klein

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 Sean Means

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 Marc Savlov

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 James Berardinelli

Scream is a rarity: a horror movie spoof that succeeds almost as well at provoking scares as laughs.

75

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

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 Frank Lovece

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 Susan Wloszczyna

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) Liam Lacey

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 John Petrakis

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 Lisa Alspector

Tiresome, blood-filled comedy.

50

Film.com John Hartl

Doesn't know when to stop with the jokes about other horror movies and settle down to tell a coherent story.

50

Mr. Showbiz Michael Atkinson

Just another basketcase with a blade.

50

San Francisco Chronicle Peter Stack

Wicked fun with flickers of intelligence.

50

The New York Times Elvis Mitchell

Wes Craven (of the 'Nightmare on Elm Street' films) is in the mood for parody.

40

Time Richard Corliss

An idiot-savant movie, knowing but not smart.

25

Baltimore Sun Ann Hornaday

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.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.4 (out of 10) based on 15 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Mark S. gave it a9:
This really is a great movie, and that surprised the heck out of me. The opening sequence is one of the greatest in movie history. This is one of if not the best slasher-horror movie ever. If you didn't like this movie, I think you're just incapable of appreciating the genre, which is fine in and of itself. But in that context, all these one and 2 reviews are useless.

Patrick D. gave it a2:
Thrilling and lots of fun, but flawed. The characters were so stupid! There is one moment when one of them says what NOT to do in a horror film, and then decides to stay home alone while a killer is on the loose. Another features a girl trying to guess who the man in the costume is. ("Is that you Kevin?") Her guesses are wrong, and she knows because the killer says so. Yet, she decides "How about we pretend you are the killer, and I am the victim?" And whenver they hurt the murderer, they don't decide to do something smart such as taking his knife and killing the killer. There are many moments like this in Scream, and we wish that maybe once, they could turn on thier brains.

Andrew S. gave it a10:
Quite simply one of the best horror films. Its funny, scary and awesome. Matthew Lilard is definitely the best character.

Glynn H gave it a10:
This is by far the best movie ever in the slasher genre. In fact, it is pretty close to being the best movie of any genre. There is not one thing wrong with this movie. Even if you are jaded it will scare you more than anything has ever scared you before. I was so scared in the opening that I almost got up and left the theater. I am glad I didn't, but it was that good at what it did.

Andrew M. gave it a 7:
Revolutionary in that it revived that good ol' cinematic bogie-man, the slasher film! It's not my favourite genre but, oddly enough, Halloween is one of my favourite films and it's been endlessly crowned the mother of all 'slashers'. Oddly, again, I like Scream for completely different reasons. Whereas Halloween was discreet and stringent and visually creative, Scream is candid and accomodating for the audience, but this doesn't detract from its effect. Actually, it helps it because this time the audience knows what to expect. I'm not sure if it was intended but the humour in the film has a dual purpose: 1) it saves it from an otherwise inevitable cliched deterioration, and 2) it contributes heavily to the atmosphere by being both the antonym and antidote to the periodical slash-attacks unleashed on the viewer. In both ways, it takes Scream to a higher level than it might have otherwise reached. Craven uses these tools well, and there are definitely elements of his other well-known film, A Nightmare On Elm St. Finally, the use of popular, attractive actors makes it easy on the eyes and mind, when not reeling from the visual, tomato-sauce onslaught. It's a very effective recipe, with all the right ingredients, and one very clever chef in the kitchen.

Saer A. gave it a 9:
Scream is a very scary movie. It was haunting me for days when I was little.

Gilbert Mulroneycakes And His Cat gave it a 10:
Ooh, it's post-modern. That'll be a load of smug, pretentious bollocks, then. Like hell it will: the next person to have a go at what in 1996 was the best major scary-suspense film in years, just because it was - gasp - intelligent and thoughtful and didn't patronise the audience, gets a slap round the earhole. Those people can just go and watch the infinite Halloween sequels, if they like dumb slasher movies so much. My old comrade Yoon Min Cho still needs that Daily Mail snatched from him as well. Oh, no, there's blood. For crying out loud, it's a horror movie, Yoon (or is it Cho? Which is the surname and which the first? Not to be rude, I really don't know). What is your problem? If you can give Reservoir Dogs 10, you can find a place in your heart for this. Anyway, Scream is a brilliantly effective slasher movie - it's not really a spoof because it doesn't make a joke of the genre's conventions, merely acknowledges them, then uses them to great effect - greater, perhaps, because they've just been pointed out. Wes Craven's not stupid, he knows scary. He just also knows that the audience knows scary. If you see what I mean. Point is, it's a good, scary thriller\horror dealie shot through with black horror and a certain self-awareness, which could be dismissed as smug, if it weren't so scary. And if pointing out smugness weren't the smuggest thing anyone can do.

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