Review of Scream (1996) by Gilbertmulroneycakesandhiscat — 01 Nov 2003

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 thrillerhorror 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.