"Movies don’t create psychos; movies make psychos more creative!"
Watching Casey Becker (Drew Barrymore) being terrorised by an unknown caller in the opening scene of 'Scream' invokes a rather peculiar nostalgia for that most mythical of devices: the landline. As we become ever more attached to our mobile phones, the landline - and all the anxieties it gave shape to concerning the melding of public and private realms - will soon be nothing more than an antique, a home accessory for the trend-conscious. It is now commonplace to be pestered relentlessly by our devices: phones ring, smart watches buzz, appliances speak, and Alexa listens to it all from her corner. Looking back from this age of unprecedented reachability, the mid-90s techno-paranoia embodied by the sadistic antagonist Ghostface, who toys with his victims on the phone before attacking them, is almost quaint.
That's not to say that Wes Craven's 1996 slasher doesn't still pack plenty of genuine punches. After all, this is the film that not only spawned one of the most lucrative and critically respected horror franchises of all time, but also changed the game regarding how mainstream horror could seek to captivate an increasingly media-savvy audience. Meta-commentary takes centre stage in the film, supplying its teenage protagonists with both a roadmap of tropes by which they might manage to evade the Ghostface killer, and opportunity to subvert the time-worn conventions of the genre. In this sense, Sidney Prescott becomes more than just your run-of-the-mill Final Girl; she is able to shape her path through the narrative as much as the narrative works to shape her. So what are you waiting for? Turn off your notifications and tune in now to Part 5 of our 'Meta-Horrors' journey!
Reading List:
DELGADO , MICHELLE., 2021. How ‘Scream’ Explored the Exploitative Nature of the Nightly News.. [online] Horror Homeroom.
MCGRATH-CONWELL, DEVIN., 2021. How Scream (1996) Takes a Stab at White American Masculinity - Horror Movie - Horror Homeroom. [online] Horror Homeroom.
ROMANO, AJA., 2021. Scream turns 25 this year. Here’s how it changed horror movies forever.. [online] Vox.
ROWE KARLYN, KATHLEEN., 2003. Scream, Popular Culture, and Feminism’s Third Wave: “I’m Not My Mother”.. [online] Colorado University: Genders 1998-2013.
WEE, VALERIE. “The Scream Trilogy, ‘Hyperpostmodernism,’ and the Late-Nineties Teen Slasher Film.” Journal of Film and Video, vol. 57, no. 3, [University of Illinois Press, University Film & Video Association], 2005, pp. 44–61.
