31 Days of Horror: Scream (1996)

Scream--it's not just a mask; it a horror original. 10+ years since it's release, Scream is a top-notch, audacious and campy romp that celebrates the genre.

The story of psycho-serial killer that returns to prey on the local {and mainly teenage} population of a quiet town almost a year after murdering Sydney's (Neve Campbell) mother. A group of 'meddling kids' and a 'hard-nosed' tabloid reporter (nicely played by Courtney Cox) decides to dig around in hopes of solving the case.

Scream is deceptively simple in structure. In essence, the film makes fun of itself, but still manages an edge of seriousness and fear that delights. The sheer randomness of the killings--every one's suspect, including the suspects--it's great. Graphic, horrible deaths loom and the viewer is riveted by the horror of it all. It's not that you don't see it coming, you just don't have time to scream.

The cast is fun and provided good performances. Campbell, Cox, Drew Barrymore, Skeet Ulrich, Matthew Lilliard, Cox, Rose McGowan, and Jamie Kennedy get amazing material to work with. Cliches are embraced, explored, and then employed. As the killer hacks and slashes in an effectively brutal manner, listening to this bunch deduce basic horror film do's and don't's and then fall for them is equally hysterical and gory.

Barrymore's short-lived {oops, did I give it away?!} performance is great. Campbell, our heroine is little ahem, emotional, but she is a solid main character. Jamie Kennedy as Randy get some of the best lines.

Wes Craven crafts an original concepts and kills it. Suspenseful and engaging, Scream is a dead-on slasher thanks to Craven's direction. His is tongue-in-cheek, yet restrained delivery as he builds to a tense conclusion is simple perfection.

Scream is {no puns here} pure popcorn; it's a brilliantly executed {sorry} horror film that delivers time and time again.