how to save a genre
By the mid-nineties, the powerhouse franchises of the slasher genre had started to collapse, leaving little left to stand on but a worn-out narrative formula. Progressively worse sequels and a quantity over quality approach from studios had the genre oversaturated and uninspired. Enter Kevin Williamson and Wes Craven.
Kevin was an aspiring screenwriter who had recently moved to LA to pursue his career further. He began writing the script for Scream (at the time titled Scary Movie) after being inspired by the Turning Point episode on the Gainesville Ripper, his love of horror films, and his experiences growing up gay during that time period. Under financial pressure, he decided to focus on developing the script and two sequel outlines with hopes of being able to sell this as a franchise. Dimension Films purchased the script, setting into motion the development of a film that would revitalize the slasher genre.
Wes Craven was brought on after recently finishing Wes Craven’s New Nightmare, a film adjacent to his Nightmare on Elm Street series. New Nightmare also explored meta storytelling and commentary of the horror genre but was less successful in its execution. However, his experience with the Nightmare franchise and dabbling with the question of how films can affect people seemed to provide the perfect setup for taking on a project like Scream. Together, Kevin and Wes were primed to create something that would subvert the tired tropes while simultaneously working within them.
The best example of this is the iconic opening scene. The marketing of the film featured Drew Barrymore front and center. Drew was an established actress and fit the mold of the blond-haired sweet final girl seen in so many films prior, so when she was brutally murdered in the first fifteen minutes of the film it became clear that Scream was here to break the mold.
There was no longer just one, predictable killer. This time around there were two and they were humanized characters you knew and could potentially relate to. Sydney was a typical girl who was intelligent, strong, and had depth. Wes had created Sydney in the same vein as Nancy from the Nightmare franchise, influenced by his daughter as he describes in an interview:
“When I was doing Swamp Thing there was a scene with Adrienne Barbeau and she tripped—it was something I’ve seen in a lot of horror movies, the damsel getting caught. My daughter saw the film and said, “Women don’t fall when they run.” And I saw the truth in it.” And from this, a new version of the final girl was born. The term ‘final girl’ had only recently been coined in 1992 by author Carol Clover so when Scream came out in 1996, it was the first time a film referenced the trope overtly.
Reading this now, none of this information may seem new but it’s important to remember the how the pivotal films of the genre left an impact. As Aja Romano writes in her Vox article on the film: “The horror genre has since become so saturated with films following Scream’s self-aware horror-comedy model that it’s worth recognizing that all this metatextuality basically has a single point of origin. We wouldn’t have films like Get Out, The Cabin in the Woods (2011), or even 2020’s Promising Young Woman without Wes Craven’s hit meta franchise…”
-Bus
Fun Facts:
The name Billy Loomis is a nod to Dr. Loomis from Halloween, Kevin Williamson’s favorite film
The actor, Joseph Whipp, who plays the cop in Scream also played the cop in Nightmare on Elm Street
The actor that voiced ghostface was never revealed to the cast but was still on set to perform the phone calls live. “It made scary for the actors and Wes just got better performances out of them.” (Maddalena quote from hollywood reporter)
Drew Barrymore turned down the role of Sydney to play Casey instead
Wes played the janitor, was named Fred in the film, and had the classic fedora and stripped sweater from Elm’s iconic dream ruiner “Freddy Krueger”
References and links to more in-depth info:
Documentary on scream: Still Screaming 2011 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1792617/
https://www.vox.com/22634481/scream-influence-horror-genre-wes-craven-new-nightmare-get-out
https://movingpicturesfilmclub.com/2022/01/31/analysis-the-90s-slasher-cycle/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scream_(1996_film)
https://thefront.tv/read/wes-craven-one-last-scream/
Ryan Hollinger “The art of Scream: Horror logic done right.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etYaB-abllQ