ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, December 21, 1996 TAG: 9612230144
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: C12 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: MOVIE REVIEW
SOURCE: MIKE MAYO CORRESPONDENT
Wes Craven understands his audience as well as any filmmaker in the business. "Scream" is aimed at the kids who have seen every movie in the horror section of their local video store. It assumes that they are familiar with the rules and conventions of the slasher genre and then proceeds to base all of its scares and twists on those assumptions.
That self-awareness makes it a remarkably thoughtful horror movie. Of course, it's also a remarkably bloody horror movie that never lets intelligence get in the way.
The story begins with an immediately recognizable set-piece. Casey (Drew Barrymore) is alone at night in a house with lots of windows and glass doors. The phone rings and an anonymous male voice engages her in a teasing conversation. The tone quickly becomes more threatening and violent.
After that introduction, the focus shifts to Sidney (Neve Campbell), a teen-ager whose mother was murdered a year before. Sidney's testimony put a young man in jail for the crime, but when more murders occur, tabloid TV reporter Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox) shows up to exploit the story.
Everyone, of course, is a suspect. Is Deputy Dewey (scene-stealing David Arquette) really the bumbling oaf he seems? Why is Sidney's boyfriend Billy (Skeet Ulrich) always so close at hand when the killer strikes? What about Principal Brimley (Henry Winkler) who seems to hate all young people? One of her horror-obsessed classmates explains how Sidney herself could be a mass murderer, and her dad's the most obvious suspect of all.
Writer Kevin Williamson and director Craven toss in references to virtually every major American horror film from James Whale's "Frankenstein" to his own "Elm St." series. Linda Blair shows up for a tiny cameo, and one long scene takes place in a video store.
But even as "Scream" is nudging its viewers in the ribs with those wry comments on its cinematic forebears, it's also a fine, surprising horror film in its own right. At the end, after it has laughingly described and even demonstrated all of the genre's cliches, it twists them around to come to a satisfying and original conclusion.
It takes a talented director to maintain the right tone and balance with that kind of story. Craven does and "Scream" may well be his best effort. It's certainly more successful than the challenging "Wes Craven's New Nightmare," "Shocker" and "The People Under the Stairs."
The film is still too violent and bloody to attract a large nonhorror audience, but that's not Craven's intention. Again, he knows his fans and most of them are going to see "Scream" more than once.
Scream ***
A Dimension Films release playing at the Valley View 6. 104 minutes. Rated R for graphic violence, strong language, sexual content.
LENGTH: Medium: 58 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Neve Campbell (left) and Rose McGowan star inby CNB``Scream.'' color