While films likePsychoandBlack Christmasmay have been early slasher hits, the genre began to really take shape in the late ’70s and early ’80s. When films such asHalloweenandFriday the 13thjump-started the slasher genre,horrorbecame inescapable from the public eye. Between merchandise and the largest influx of new films the genre had seen to date, horror icons were the new pop culture craze. However, the genre began a steady decline as the ’90s began and progressed. The once box-office juggernauts were barely making their budgets back, and fans just didn’t seem to care as much.
The biggest issue was the cookie-cutter sequels. The ’80s housed some frightening horror movies, but it had gotten to a point where fans felt they were essentially watching the same films but with slightly different settings. By 1991, there were sixNightmare on Elm Streetfilms, fiveHalloweenmovies, and a whopping eightFriday the 13thinstallments. There were only so many times the same killer could stalk teenage girls before fans grew bored.
Great mainstream horror had all but died out by the mid-90s until Wes Craven directed a film that represented hope for the seemingly dead genre. While it may be iconic now,Screamwas a real gamble in 1996, and no one could have guessed the impact it would go on to have. Let’s see how the simple slasher film revolutionized the so-called “bad for horror” decade.
Scream Was a Movie Made by Fans for Fans
Those who worked on the crews of horror films throughout the ’80s grew up with a different type of scary movie. Most of them came of age with the tamermonster films from Universalor the twists found in magazines likeTales From The Crypt. While these are iconic in their own right, they are a far cry from the gore-heavy slashers that were being pumped out, and there was a kind of cognitive dissonance between what the creators actually liked and what the producers told them to make. What madeScreamspecial was that the team behind it grew up on the slasher films of the past, and they were part of the same fandom their film was marketed toward.
Screamwas written by Kevin Williamson, and his love of the genre shined in every page of the script. This is among the first times that horror fans actually saw themselves on the screen, no longer having to shout at the void to tell characters not to go into a dark room; the film did it for them, with a bloody wink.
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Over the years, slasher fans have realized a pattern of horror rules and tropes from their favorite movies, and inScream, the character Randy Meeks laid them all out word for word. This postmodern cultural self-awareness (wherein cinematic characters actually know about existing films) in the movies is still a trope today and makes smarter characters in many cases.
This wasn’t limited to the first film; subsequentScreammovies lampooned the aforementioned sequels that had been coming out in droves, with the later films cleverly laying out the rules for slasher sequels, and eventually slasher reboots.
Ghostface: The New Face of Terror
What made films such asA Nightmare on Elm Streetso popular was that they had a main antagonist who would terrorize characters in each movie. The iconic villains would seem to be stopped, but endless sequels meant that they only survived to scare the box office another day.Screambrought a new classic killer to the forefront, and what made it so scary was that it could be anybody. Ghostface wasn’t a supernatural killer with terrifying powers and the inability to die; Ghostface was always just a normal person. So normal, in fact, that the character would often trip and make mistakes any normal person would make. Humanizing (in a strictly literal sense) the villain was extremely different from horror.
This killer wore a common Halloween costume that has since become synonymous with the holiday. Ghostface remains interesting because there is adifferent person behind the maskin each movie, lending a sort of whodunit mystery to each installment as audiences speculate about just who may be the killer each time. This keeps viewers on their toes and allows for more complicated and enjoyable plot mechanics.
Highest Form of Flattery
As with the slasher giants of the ’80s,Screamspawned imitators almost immediately. The horror genre received a second wind and was back in full force. Suddenly, nearly every horror movie had a tongue-in-cheek feel to it, one which seemed to knowingly wink at the audience without flat-out breaking the fourth wall. Bringing in young and sarcastic newcomers was the new norm, and many actors such as Jennifer Love Hewitt got their breaks from these imitators.
Postmodern irony and meta-humor were all the rage (for better or worse), and nerd culture seemed to rise in popularity. IfScreamwasn’t enough proof of this, then the following year’s release ofBuffy the Vampire Slayershould be. It could be argued that the popular series owes much of its success toScream. Even series star Sarah Michelle Gellar appeared in the sequel, released the same year as her ironic horror show in 1997.
Related:How Scream Perfected the Art of the Cold Open
Perhaps the best-known imitator isI Know What You Did Last Summer, which went on to spawn its own lineage of sequels. Even other franchises enjoyed renewed success thanks toScream, such asHalloween,which had a similar feel in its seventh installment, released in 1998. Other playful genre exercises in ironic horror abound —The Faculty, Idle Hands, Ginger Snaps,Happy Death Day,Final Destination, and, of course, theScary Moviefranchise.
And It Keeps Coming Back
Basically, Paramount acquired Dimension a few years ago, and the franchise had a new home. With legacy sequels representing a nostalgia-fueled comeback for several franchises, it was only a matter of time until a newScreamfilm came out. AScreamTV show proved fans missed the spirit of the movies, and after not one but two iterations on the small screen, the announcement was made.
Simply titledScream, the film was the first time Ghostface appeared back in cinema after the long pauses followingScream 4. Craven had passed away, but his legacy was strong enough to inspire a collective group of filmmakers to make their own version of the Woodsboro Murders. Only this time, legacy characters would remain in the back as supporting and wise people. When the 1996 film had changed the face of horror with a new meta approach to the genre, the 2022 sequel was a refreshing take on the rules for the new horror generation. Everyone was delighted, as everyone felt seen by the broad emotional spectrum of the film The success was instantaneous. And promising.
So much so, that only one year afterScream VIcame out and proved the franchise was still alive. Featuring a twist on the rules (there were now three killers), the film was solid box-office-wise and the commission for a new entry was inevitable. Christopher Landon is now in the director’s seat. We’ll how he does. In the meanwhile, the franchise has enough stamina to make for a Halloween revisit each year when you’ll indulge in a film series that speaks directly to you, the horror fan that will always want more blood.
