A standard for the horror genre for so many reasons. Roger L Jackson is one of the VA greats and vastly underrated, and his performance as Ghostface proves it. It’s as iconic a performance as Freddy on voice alone, and he’s the perfect scumbag. Wes Craven hit on a bit of this before with Freddy, who despite his powers at his core was a petty, cruel piece of shit. Ghostface, and his true identities are an extension of that. No powers, just some asshole teens acting out their power fantasies.
The performances of Lilliard and Ulrich are keyed into this. Loomis’ past is perfunctory, as he says before revealing it. They’re just teenagers on the high and rush of thinking they can get away with being cruel. Lilliard especially is keyed into this with amazing reads and expressions, and an absolutely killer ad-lib. And all the cast kills it! Campbell follows in Nancy’s footsteps as a developed Final Girl to root for, Arquette is just so charming, and Cox and Kennedy are great subversions of their archetypes while still hitting every note needed.
That’s the thing; I can hear the complaints of it being too meta or winky. But for me, that’s just camp adding to the fun and adding to the detachment the themes of the movie are going for. There’s just so much this movie does right. Ghostface eats shit so many times and every time I was delighted. Loomis being so stupid and up his own ass that he couldn’t resist the last scare set up only to get shot in the head killed me. They’re stupid teenage boys who keep fucking up in ways that feel natural and not contrived. The background extra hearing Meeks’ spiel in the video store and her reactions being just enough in shot is just a wonderful touch from Craven. And The 30 second delay, the blood on the windshield, all clever and inventive. The film even touched upon the ‘now the final girl is the predator and her killers the prey’ beat that is now commonplace.
This movie is delightful, top to bottom, and there’s a reason it’s endured. It’s a horror, a thriller, a mystery, a comedy. It’s a Scream.
Review by JCVIP 4BlockedParentSpoilers2022-01-24T06:11:10Z
A standard for the horror genre for so many reasons. Roger L Jackson is one of the VA greats and vastly underrated, and his performance as Ghostface proves it. It’s as iconic a performance as Freddy on voice alone, and he’s the perfect scumbag. Wes Craven hit on a bit of this before with Freddy, who despite his powers at his core was a petty, cruel piece of shit. Ghostface, and his true identities are an extension of that. No powers, just some asshole teens acting out their power fantasies.
The performances of Lilliard and Ulrich are keyed into this. Loomis’ past is perfunctory, as he says before revealing it. They’re just teenagers on the high and rush of thinking they can get away with being cruel. Lilliard especially is keyed into this with amazing reads and expressions, and an absolutely killer ad-lib. And all the cast kills it! Campbell follows in Nancy’s footsteps as a developed Final Girl to root for, Arquette is just so charming, and Cox and Kennedy are great subversions of their archetypes while still hitting every note needed.
That’s the thing; I can hear the complaints of it being too meta or winky. But for me, that’s just camp adding to the fun and adding to the detachment the themes of the movie are going for. There’s just so much this movie does right. Ghostface eats shit so many times and every time I was delighted. Loomis being so stupid and up his own ass that he couldn’t resist the last scare set up only to get shot in the head killed me. They’re stupid teenage boys who keep fucking up in ways that feel natural and not contrived. The background extra hearing Meeks’ spiel in the video store and her reactions being just enough in shot is just a wonderful touch from Craven. And The 30 second delay, the blood on the windshield, all clever and inventive. The film even touched upon the ‘now the final girl is the predator and her killers the prey’ beat that is now commonplace.
This movie is delightful, top to bottom, and there’s a reason it’s endured. It’s a horror, a thriller, a mystery, a comedy. It’s a Scream.