REVIEW: Scream0

I watched the pretty much classic “Scream” a few weeks ago, and I thought I’d give you some of my thoughts about it and if it really lived up to the hype which I’ve been hearing about it.

I bought the entire “Scream” trilogy at a Virgin Megastore when I visited London a little under two weeks ago. I found it for just £15 so I decided to buy it and finally get around to watch the films. To be honest, I really wasn’t that excited about watching it, especially having watched the horrendous “Scary Movie” (the parody version) not that long before.

The story was actually much more entertaining than I thought it would be, as I imagined it to be a straight-up horror/thriller-shocker with no real plot and no real hook for the viewers to grab on to. While in a way, it’s a very basic story about a guy murdering people, it turns out that it parodies a lot of films at the same time, and is actually quite funny. But, keep in mind you don’t need a lot of brain power to survive through the story without getting confused…so in a way, it’s a perfect late-night Saturday no-brainer movie. It parodies off a lot of films, including some of Wes Craven’s earlier ones (Nightmare on Elm Street, anyone?).

Some very familiar faces (although in the beginning of their careers) pops up throughout the film – including Rose McGowan, who is nowadays known as the woman with the machinegun-leg – which is really nice. There’s really nothing that special about the acting, it’s pretty much on par with what you’d expect from a movie of this genre and budget.

I liked the various sets used in the movie. There’s a lot of different locations and houses for the characters to be frightened in, and just when you’re starting to feel tired and bored by a particular setpiece, the film changes the scene. This keeps the experience pretty fresh throughout the film and it also makes it not as boring as it could otherwise had been. There’s hardly any visual effects, but there are some pretty cool practical and on-set effects such as blood and gore make-up and gunshot squibs which really sells some of the scenes. It just looks pretty real and grose.

I loved the sound effects and cinematography for the film. It really shows how you can sell scenes just based on sound, or in some cases, the lack of sound. The film is framed in such a way that it constantly keeps you in the scenes with the actors and actresses, which I think is a really good grade for a film. To get back to the sound effects, some of the later knife stabbing sounds are just insanely grose, and it really sounds scary and lethal.

What about the music? Honestly, I can’t say that I remember a single tune or track from the entire film, which I guess could either prove that it’s a somewhat lackluster soundtrack, or that the rest of the film is of such standard that it outshines the musical score.

Overall, I thought this was a very entertaining film, with some cool characters and most of all, a love to filmmaking that shines through the final product. Yes, it has some flaws, but if you like horror films, this is definently one ot watch.

Verdict: 6 out of 10