In 1996 a movie was unleashed on the world that resurrected the slasher genre from the consumerist graveyard of the 1980s. Not only that, it completely spoofed and subverted it.
Scream was a movie that should never have happened, never should have worked. And yet it managed to redefine horror and become a cult classic.
But that was twenty-three years ago. Does it still hold up in 2019?
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Movies With Mikey takes a look at this modern classic in his latest video for FilmJoy.
He opens by enticing viewers with intrigue and a touch of history.
“Scream happened at the worst imaginable time and its a miracle that anyone saw it, but lets back up a bit”
After laying down a brief timeline of the most influential horror flicks, he lands on the 1980s. This was a time when the slasher sub-section of the genre ran rampant, with a large focus placed on the Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th franchises.
This was, “The moment horror basically turned into a never-ending 1980s cocaine waterfall… make as much money as possible as fast as possible… the Disney way,” says Mikey.
By the mid-90s the appetite for these kinds of films had completely dried up. Yet, this was exactly when Kevin Williamson (yeah, the creator of Dawson’s Creek) decided to shop around a classic slasher script around Hollywood… but with a twist.
I’ll let you experience the rest of miracle story that is Scream for yourselves, as well as Mikey’s incredibly apt commentary regarding the now-deceased Wes Craven. But I will say that yes, the film absolutely holds up in 2019.
The bedrock of violent horror films has, for the most part, been at the expense of young women. They have been maimed, murdered and raped for entertainment value – and Scream addressed that.
In 2019 society is speaking out louder than ever about the treatment of women in both in art and the real world. While we are far from a resolution, the rumbles of rage are becoming increasingly louder.
And we’re seeing this reflected in film. We’re seeing even more movies that place kick-arse women front and centre as more than just victims or love interests. Scream feels like a precursor to this important cultural shift.
Mikey puts it best when he say, “Scream in 2019 is almost too relevant”
Considering the franchise is about to get a reboot, he just might be right.
[FilmJoy]