Scream - 8 stars out of 10

Scream - 8 stars out of 10

"Scream" is the king of the slasher movies. It birthed a new generation of scary movies, none of which ever achieved the amount of chills contained in the famous Drew Barrymore sequence at the start of the film. Although she isn't known for anything but Scream, the soft-spoken Neve Campell makes the perfect victim for this story. ...Matthew Lillard provides comic relief at all of the right times to give a break from the almost-constant terror... although some moments would be better without the relief. The key is that there are several believable suspects but the writers control which character you suspect at all times. My only complaint is that Dewey makes the worst cop ever but, despite the frustration, it makes the film better. The combination of allusions to a previous generation of horror films and creative (though brutal) deaths make Scream into a shocking display of movie magnificence. Ghostface is one of the scariest-looking villains ever and Wes Craven's ending is so twisted (and genius) that you will have to see it to believe it.