Characters, Conventions and ‘The Rules’: Creating Scream’s Thieving, Whoring Ensemble

This chapter reviews the scene from Wes Craven's Scream that establishes the heroine, Sidney, and her unconsummated relationship with boyfriend Billy Loomis. It recounts the traumatic backstory of the murder of Sidney's mother and her inability to sacrifice her virginity that reflect the film's reverential tone and provide the first hint of Billy's psychotic detachment from reality. It also talks about the immediate positioning of Sidney as a sensitive virgin with a tragic backstory that conveys to the audience that she will be the 'final girl' or heroine. The chapter discusses how Scream is about knowledge of the movies, in which the characters have seen so many horror films that they know what to do and what not to do. It points out how casting and characterisation played a major part in Scream's marketing and success in a way that performers and characters of a typical 1980s slasher film did not.

First Blood: The Opening of Scream

This chapter discusses the first character seen on screen in Wes Craven's Scream named Casey, portrayed by Drew Barrymore, in a sequence generally regarded as an arresting self-contained set piece. It explains how Scream serves as a short film in its own right, priming the audience for the film's principal gimmick. It also describes the way Scream acknowledges the standard role of a prologue in a slasher film, which follow the terrorisation and murder of a short-lived character as a means of establishing the antagonist prior to the introduction of the central characters. The chapter mentions the ominous caller in Scream that is voiced by Roger Jackson who represented the vocals of the killer through a universal, gender-defying voice-changing device employed by the antagonist. It talks about Scream's opening scene and the slasher format that has its origins in an enduring urban legend referred to as 'The Babysitter and the Man Upstairs'.

Watch A Few Movies, Make A Few Notes: Scream’s Layer Cake of References

This chapter describes how Halloween is referenced throughout Wes Craven's Scream as the definitive slasher text in its own time that was received by some critics as a genre-savvy confidence trick in its own right. It notes the numerous references to Halloween in Scream as an example of periods rewriting the past to create their own heritage, consequently imposing understandings from the present on to the past. It also emphasizes how it became common for 1980s American horror cinema to playfully incorporate references to past-genre films via excerpts, character names, or dialogue quotes. The chapter talks about how Scream is sceptical about the horror genre as a whole, openly highlighting the weaknesses of the Nightmare on Elm Street sequels and critiquing its exploitation of young actresses. It explores Halloween's main purpose in Scream's narrative that is climactically used to mirror the onscreen action in the film.

Horror, Happy Meals and Hybridisation: Scream and The 1990s

This chapter discusses Wes Craven's New Nightmare and John Carpenter's In The Mouth of Madness that blurred existing horror cinema and horror literature with reality and pseudo-realities. It analyses how the acknowledgment of both creators and audience within intricate, self-reflexive narratives equally strive to operate as serious, frightening genre films in an age of pastiche and repetition. It also talks about Last Action Hero from 1993 as a higher-profile failure that was conceived by two neophyte writers as a parody of 1980s action films. The chapter examines the icons of horror that formerly dominate the covers of genre bible Fangoria that were fading from public popularity as the 'McDonaldisation of horror'. It describes the fervour to capitalise on the popularity of anti-heroes like Freddy Krueger that led to increasingly campy and gimmicky sequels.

Scream and Scream Again: The Legacy of Scream

This chapter recounts the release of Scream 2 in American theatres less than a year after the counter-programming Christmas unleashing of Wes Craven's Scream. It discusses how Scream 2 took the self-reflexivity to the logical next level by commentating on the first film's success. It also analyses Craven's parody for his own Scream prologue that amounts to a renowned, proficient horror filmmaker masquerading as a trashy one for the purpose of a gag. The chapter illustrates the scenes from the film Stab that represents a typical 'bad' horror film, with crude shock effects, gratuitous shower scenes, hammy acting, and character behaviour that would have prompted derision from the real Scream audience had it been the first film's opening scene instead.