Warning, spoilers ahead for those who haven’t watched “Scream”!
Amelia
When my colleague, Nora, suggested we review “Scream”, I was skeptical. As a fan of classic horror movies such as “Friday the 13th” and “Saw”, I have to admit that the plot quality of these films can vary widely. Personally, “Friday the 13th” was more humorous than tense. I assumed that “Scream” would be a similar situation, but I was pleasantly surprised. “Scream” not only has effective jokes but also creates a heart-gripping tension.
Some of my favorite details in “Scream” are the jabs at horror movie logic and tropes. For example, the audience tends to distrust the romantic interest of the main character in horror movies, and “Scream” used this assumption with Sydney Prescott, the main character, and her boyfriend, Billy Loomis. Early on in the movie, Billy is arrested under the assumption that he’s the killer, and then released under the guise of it being a ‘misunderstanding.’ Personally, this assuaged all my doubts about Billy being the killer and made the great reveal even more shocking.
While it may have come as a surprise in the moment, small, clever details are laid out for the audience to see throughout “Scream” that implicate Stu and Billy. Both the killers show a certain aggressive nature, but the audience can brush it off as just being a joke for Stu, who is seen as comedic relief, and Billy is already seemingly killed, so he isn’t suspicious enough. Another aspect of Scream I enjoyed was the ability to seed doubt in the audience. There were plenty of side characters, such as Gale Weathers and Dewey Riley, that we got to know as the plot thickened.
Nora
I have to agree. As a big-time fan of horror, I went into “Scream” expecting an enjoyable watch. Still, I was pleasantly surprised by just how much I loved this film. The characters are charismatic and realistic, the set design is aesthetically pleasing and nostalgic, and the humor is witty and timeless. My favorite character in the film and the one I want to focus on in this review is Stu Macher, played by Matthew Lillard. Lillard’s performance is essential in bringing Stu’s character to life, balancing manic humor with an amusing, at times erratic, intensity. From the beginning, it’s clear that Stu has a huge personality – he’s jittery, loud, and eagerly inserts himself into every conversation. He’s also best friends with Billy, whom we are already suspicious of being the killer, and they have this magnetic, burning-hot chemistry throughout the entire film. Stu’s goofiness becomes a form of misdirection because it distracts the audience from the darker aspects of his character. His reaction to the Woodsboro murders, the central killings of the movie, feels rather performative, and he even makes jokes about the victims, despite having known them all personally.
When Stu’s mask finally drops, and it is revealed that he and Billy performed the killings together, it feels both shocking and inevitable. Lillard’s uncanny ability to oscillate between charming idiot and unhinged killer makes Stu’s character remarkably memorable and cemented him as one of the film’s standout contributors to its lasting legacy. To this day, fans are begging Lillard to return to the franchise, despite his supposed death by television screen at the end of the first movie. This proves that Stu, despite playing a lesser role in the film compared to the other main characters, Sydney and Billy, was the standout overall. I can’t help but agree, although there are some incredible sides to Sydney and Billy as well.
Amelia
The main character, Sydney Prescott, is fully realized throughout the film. The audience sees her attitude transition from fear and mourning to anger and revenge as she discovers that not only is the killer her boyfriend, but also one of her few friends left alive. The audience sympathizes with Sydney, feeling her despair when Billy gets (seemingly) stabbed and feels the same raw betrayal after finding out he was in on it the entire time. While Stu may not be my favorite character, I can appreciate the way the writers artfully crafted his witty personality. I can see how they used his “comical relief” aspect to deceive the audience, and therefore why he becomes so much more intriguing, like Nora said.
Nora
I agree! When it comes to Sydney, I found her character realistic and compelling in her vulnerability. Sydney’s mother was murdered a year before the events of the film, and her grief is brought right back up again when it is the anniversary of her mother’s death. On top of this, the “‘Ghostface”’ killer makes a reappearance, only this time, they attempt to kill Sydney, leaving a trail of destruction behind in their wake, such as the murders of several of Sydney’s friends, including her best friend, Tatum. However, Sydney stays strong and manages to overcome the Ghostface killers in the end, defeating both of them nearly all by herself!
Now, I want to go over two pivotal moments that made the entire film for me. First off, since we are mentioning Tatum, we have to talk about her epic death sequence. During a party at Stu’s house, Tatum goes into the garage to get some beers but notices that she is not alone. Ghostface has followed her into the garage and proceeds to mess around with her for several tense minutes. Ultimately, she tries to escape by squeezing herself through the doggie door. However, Ghostface presses a button, and the garage door begins to close, leaving her to scream helplessly as she gets closer and closer to the ceiling before being squashed. I found this scene compelling for two reasons. One, because of the tense atmosphere between her and Ghostface, and the method of death that I guarantee nobody saw coming. And two, because the killer behind the mask is none other than her boyfriend’s best friend, who is in cahoots with her boyfriend, Stu. Both Stu and Billy decided to kill her out of their own free will, even though Stu and Tatum had been together for months by that time. She never finds out, but the audience does, which I consider one of the most insidious details of the entire movie.
Another brilliant scene was the reveal that Billy and Stu were the Ghostface killers. Just moments after Tatum’s death, most of the partygoers decide to clear out of Stu’s house because Billy killed the principal of their school and left his body on the sports field, and they want to drive over there to see it. Everyone except for Sydney, Billy, Stu, and Randy, that is, with Randy being another friend of the group. Sydney and Billy head upstairs to have relations, but things grow tense between them when Sydney suddenly realizes there is something off with his story about what happened when he was jailed overnight under accusations of being the killer. Before she can confront him, however, he is seemingly stabbed in the back by the Ghostface killer!
Shockingly, this is all a ploy by Billy so he can come back to kill Sydney later, but the audience doesn’t know that at this time. When I was watching this movie with Amelia, we were both utterly shocked and devastated, as Billy was one of our favorite characters up to this point. Sydney herself is shell-shocked, and she only manages to get up because the Ghostface killer chases her next. There is a long sequence where Sydney is chased throughout the house, and eventually, Randy and Stu end up outside the door, begging Sydney to let them in. However, she is frightened because she knows one of them must be the killer, since Billy is ‘dead.’ But at that exact moment, Billy stumbles down the stairs, covered in blood, and tells Sydney that he will take care of things, even taking the gun from her. When he opens the door, though, he immediately shoots Randy, revealing that he is the killer. He turns around with dark eyes and quotes Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho”: “We all go a little mad sometimes.”
At this point, Sydney has been through the ringer. The part I love most about this scene is that she tries to find solace and refuge with Stu, clinging to his body. However, he denies her that comfort, lifting a voice modulator to his mouth and stating, “Surprise, Sydney,” revealing that he is not on her side, and in fact, is actually another person who she thought was her friend but has actually been trying to kill her throughout the entire movie.
What makes this sequence so interesting to me is that it weaponizes the trust and emotional investment of the audience. Up until this point, both the audience and Sydney have been clinging to Stu and Billy as emotional anchors, assuming that they are ‘safe’ and will protect Sydney from the evil Ghostface. There might have been suspicions that Billy was the killer, but those were cleverly assuaged by Billy himself when he staged his own murder a few minutes beforehand. When this occurred, it felt like an emotional gut-punch because the film had ingrained the belief in us that we had just lost a protective figure and a key figure to the film’s narrative. So when Billy stumbles back down the stairs, a huge rush of relief washes over the audience – only for this relief to be shattered when he shoots Randy. The film plays into our expectations so well that we feel just as betrayed as Sydney does.
Not to mention, the cherry on top is the reveal of Stu’s betrayal. This is the moment I love most, when Sydney goes to Stu for comfort, only for him to reveal himself with that chilling and gleeful “Surprise, Sydney.” It’s heartbreaking because it’s not a simple slasher anymore – it’s the realization that the people you know, even love, can be the true monsters. That emotional devastation hits harder than any chase scene would. The emotional whiplash is what makes this scene unforgettable, and why it stands out to me as the defining moment of the brilliance of “Scream”, not to mention the fact that Billy and Stu’s mindblowing chemistry and heated glances the whole movie finally make sense – they’ve been the masterminds this whole time.
Amelia
Those are indeed pretty awesome scenes. However, one of my few critiques of the film is the beginning sequence. While it draws the audience in with a curious predicament of an unknown caller and a celebrity actress, I personally am not a fan of how the first murder was drawn into the story. At the end of the film, it is confirmed that Billy Loomis is on a quest for revenge, specifically targeting Sydney’s family due to her mother’s affair with his father, leading his mother to abandon him. The first murder at the surface level seems unrelated, but after deeper digging, I found that she was the ex-girlfriend of Stu, which I missed during my watch through. This can be seen as part of the “revenge quest”; it just wasn’t as clearly discussed.
Overall, the movie was a wild ride, pulling off the high school horror nostalgia and also maintaining suspense throughout. I would watch this movie again, whether it’s playing in the background of a Halloween party or at a group sleepover. “Scream” does not fail to entertain.
Amelia’s Rating Nora’s Rating
Plot: 7.5/10 Acting: 8/10 Characters: 6.5/10 Pacing: 7/10 Plot: 7.5/10 Acting: 9/10 Characters: 8.5/10
Humor: 8/10 Cinematography: 7.5/10 Kills: 6/10 Pacing: 6.5/10 Humor: 9/10 Cinematography: 8/10
Twists: 8.5/10 Overall: 7.375/10 Kills: 6.5/10 Twists: 8/10 Overall: 7.875/10
