Scream (film)

Infobox Film
name = Scream

|250px
writer = Kevin Williamson
starring = David Arquette
Neve Campbell
Courteney Cox
Matthew Lillard
Rose McGowan
Skeet Ulrich
Drew Barrymore
director = Wes Craven
producer = Cathy Konrad,
Cary Woods
distributor = Dimension Films
released = December 20, 1996
runtime = 111 minutes
language = English
budget = $14,000,000 USD (estimated)
gross = $173,046,663
music = Marco Beltrami
awards =
amg_id = 1:136657
imdb_id = 0117571
followed_by = "Scream 2"

"Scream" is a 1996 film directed by Wes Craven and written by Kevin Williamson. The film revitalized the slasher genre in the mid 1990s, similar to the impact "Halloween" (1978) had on late 1970s film, by using a standard concept with a tongue-in-cheek approach that successfully combined straightforward scares with dialogue that satirized slasher film conventions. The film features many teen idols of the time, including: Neve Campbell, Rose McGowan, Skeet Ulrich, Drew Barrymore, Matthew Lillard, David Arquette and Courteney Cox Arquette (then at the height of her "Friends" fame).

"Scream" became a major commercial success upon its release, and was one of the highest grossing films of 1996. It was also highly acclaimed by many critics worldwide, who appreciated the film's tongue-in-cheek approach. It received an 86% rating at rottentomatoes.com. [ [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1074316-scream/ Scream Movie Reviews, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes ] ] As a result it spawned two sequels, "Scream 2" and "Scream 3". A fourth film was officially announced by The Weinstein Company in July 2008.

Plot

The film begins with a phone ringing. Casey Becker (Drew Barrymore) answers it and the man who has called says he has the wrong number. From there the scene turns into the ultimate trivia contest. If Casey answers the horror based triva questions right, she gets to live. Answer wrong and she dies. After a wrong answer the caller reveals Casey's boyfriend Steve is tied up outside. He is murdered before her eyes.

The caller promises Casey another round, but suddenly, a chair smashes the patio doors, and Casey runs out of the house, armed with a kitchen knife. However, she is caught by a cloaked figure in a mask and stabbed in the stomach and through the throat. With her last bit of strength, Casey takes off the killer's mask, and sees his face. When her parents return home, they find her body gutted and hanging from a tree.

Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) is attempting to cope with the anniversary of her mother's brutal rape and murder. The next night, while at home alone, the killer, who calls his/her victims on the phone and taunts them before attacking, invades her house and attempts to kill her. The killer is known as Ghostface, who wears a Halloween costume reminiscent of the painting "The Scream" by Edvard Munch.

Sidney tries to sort through the trauma of being attacked and, in reaction to circumstantial evidence, points an accusatory finger at her boyfriend Billy Loomis, played by Skeet Ulrich. She decides to stay at the home of her friend Tatum Riley (Rose McGowan) and Tatum's brother Dwight, nicknamed Dewey (David Arquette), the Deputy sheriff. While there, she receives a phone call from the killer. Billy is released, as he could not have placed the call from jail, however it is later discovered that it was possible for him to have used his one allowed phone call to call her from jail.

Already under considerable stress, Sidney is forced to deal with the scandalization of her own attack by ambitious tabloid television newswoman Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox). Gale is responsible for a tell-all book revealing the promiscuous affair between Sidney's mother and her convicted killer, Cotton Weary (Liev Schreiber). School is soon cancelled as a precautionary measure, leaving the building temporarily abandoned. Despite the closing, the school principal (Henry Winkler) is killed while in school and Sidney encounters her attacker a second time, barely managing to escape. Unaware of their principal's fate, the teenagers plan a party. They are joined by Randy Meeks (Jamie Kennedy), a horror movie buff, and Tatum's boyfriend Stu Macher (Matthew Lillard), who suggested the party. The party quickly becomes a bloodbath as the killer murders Tatum, who dies when she becomes stuck inside an automatic garage door.

In the , Gale, sensing the potential for a major scoop, hides a video camera inside the house. She then goes outside and begins searching for anything suspicious, with the help of officer Dewey. Meanwhile, at the party, Billy shows up and is confronted by Sidney; they eventually head upstairs and Sidney loses her virginity to Billy. The partygoers soon receive word of the principal's death, and head to the school football field to find his corpse.

Back at the house, Billy is stabbed by the killer while getting dressed, forcing Sidney to run out of the room to escape the killer. Randy, watching television, narrowly avoids death when the killer walks up behind him only to be interrupted by Sidney's screams. The killer leaves Randy unnoticed and chases after Sidney instead. Inside Gale's news van, her cameraman Kenny (W. Earl Brown) witnesses the killer's attempts to murder Randy and then lets a running Sidney inside. Kenny steps outside the van to try to warn Randy, but has his throat slashed by the killer.

Dewey leaves the house, and falls down to reveal a knife in his back. Sidney runs back to the house where she is greeted by Randy and Stu, who are presented as the only remaining suspects. When they both accuse each other of being the killer, Sidney does not know who to trust, and slams the door in their faces.

Billy comes falling down the stairs, not dead, but seriously injured. Sidney helps him up and gives him a gun for safety. Suddenly, Billy shoots Randy (non-fatally), and shows the blood on his chest is corn syrup (as used in the production of "Carrie"). Sidney turns and finds Stu, who unveils the voice-changing box.

Finally, the truth is revealed: The murders were planned and carried out by Billy "and" Stu, as a means for getting revenge on Sidney's mother; it is revealed that Sidney's mother had an affair with Billy's father and this was the reason for the demise of Billy's parents' marriage. It is also revealed that it was Billy who murdered Sidney's mother and not Cotton Weary, who was convicted of the murder based upon Sidney's testimony; Billy's rage over his parents splitting up because of the affair with Sidney's mother turned him into a murderer. Sidney is saved by Gale, however briefly, (she forgot about the gun's safety) until she is again knocked unconscious. Stu and Billy also reveal they have abducted Sidney's father and it was his cellphone they used to make their ominous phone calls, and that they planned to murder Sidney and her father, then stab each other in non-vital places to make it seem like they were victims of Mr. Prescott's emotional and murderous breakdown while getting away with committing the murders. Things begin to fall apart though; Billy stabs Stu too deeply and he begins to bleed profusely. Sidney then manages to escape while they're dealing with Gale, before she kills Stu in self defense. Billy is shot by Gale but comes back for one more scare. However, Sidney shoots him in the head, finally killing him. Dewey is shown being carried away in a stretcher, alive.

The film ends at daybreak, with Gale making an report on the events of the previous night as the authorities finally arrive on the crime scene.

Cast and characters

Main characters

*Neve Campbell as Sidney Prescott: The main character and protagonist of the film (as well as the rest of the trilogy). Sidney is going through a rough time throughout the film, dealing with problems such as the anniversary of her mother Maureen's murder, as well as her boyfriend wanting to lose their virginity to each other. She has a rivalry with the obnoxious news-reporter Gale Weathers due to her writing a book filled with lies and rumors about her mother's murder trial. Along with Gale, Sidney manages to defeat the killer at the end of the film.
*Courteney Cox as Gale Weathers: An obnoxious news-reporter that will do almost anything to get a story. She has a rivalry with Sidney Prescott due to Gale writing a book about Sidney's mother's murder trial that is presumably filled with lies and rumors. Gale also has a love interest with Dwight "Dewey" Riley. She bosses her camera-man, Kenny around an awful lot and doesn't seem to care about him, although after he is murdered she shows some regrets by saying "Kenny, I'm sorry but get off my windshield" because she is trying to escape the killer. At the film's ending she proves not to be too heartless helping Sidney defeat the killer.
*David Arquette as Deputy Dwight 'Dewey' Riley: A kind, yet dopey police officer who is the older brother of Sidney's best friend, Tatum Riley. He helps Sidney sort her life out and has a love interest with the news-reporter, Gale Weathers.
*Rose McGowan as Tatum Riley: Sidney's best friend, Stu Macher's girlfriend and younger sister of Officer Dewey Riley. Tatum appears to be the complete opposite of Sidney, being stronger-minded and an easygoing type person. Despite this, Tatum looks after Sidney and helps her through her troubled times. She is later killed off during Stu and Randy's party, having her head crushed with an automatic garage door after attempting to escape from the killer when getting beer from the garage.
*Skeet Ulrich as Billy Loomis: Sidney's boyfriend and one of the two actual killers in the film. He can easily project fear into people, such as Sidney, Stu and Randy, the latter of whom he threatens for implying that he's the killer. Billy was driven insane because of a lack of affection from his girlfriend Sidney, and the affair between her mother and his father. During the film's climax, Sidney stabs him with an umbrella, before she and Gale finally shoot him dead.
*Matthew Lillard as Stuart "Stu" Macher: Tatum's boyfriend and Billy's best friend. Stu is one of the two killers in the film. He is weak-willed, pathetic, and stupid, the combination of these three leading him to be easily persuaded to help Billy murder people. He is later killed by Sidney after she pushes a television screen on top of him causing electrocution in a form of self-defense. When asked for a motive, Stu claims he committed the murders because of peer pressure, claiming he is "too sensitive", an ironic argument against "desensitization theory" (stating that it is not the desensitized youth who are likely to become murderers, but the opposite, oversensitive youths are more likely to be influenced by the media or their peers).
*Jamie Kennedy as Randy Meeks: Randy is a friend of Sidney, Tatum, and Stu, but not so much Billy. He is a big horror movie buff and even works in a video store. He is the only one out of Sidney's "gang" not to be dating anyone which he appears to be happy with. It is shown that Randy wants to date Sidney and is notable that he survives the film.

Minor characters

*Drew Barrymore as Casey Becker and Kevin Patrick Walls as Steven Orth: Casey appears in the opening scene of the film being alone in her house. While making Jiffy Pop popcorn and getting ready for her boyfriend Steven Orth to arrive to watch a horror film, Casey gets phone calls from a mysterious stranger who first starts off nice conversation then ends with a taunting and threatening one. Casey is forced to play a trivia game in which she must answer questions correctly to keep her boyfriend, who is strapped to one of her outside patio chairs, alive. Casey witnesses her boyfriend being disembowled, and is then pursued by the killer herself. She is stabbed numerous times, before her horrified parents come home to see her bloody, gutted corpse hanging from a big oak tree across the road.
*W. Earl Brown as Kenneth "Kenny" Jones: Gale Weather's gullible cameraman. It is shown that Gale is both a bully and a friend to him. However, after he has his throat slashed by the killer and his corpse spread out on her van windshield, she simply shoves him off it for him to land in a nearby field, though this is excused by the fact that she herself was panicking and trying to escape from the killer at the time.
*Henry Winkler as Principal Arthur Himbry: The school principal, he disdainfully refers to his students as a 'thieving, whoring generation'. He ends up being brutally murdered and hanged from a goalpost, as means of diverting the teenagers attention away from the party in Stu Macher's house, leaving Sidney (and inadvertently Randy) alone with the killer.
*Joseph Whipp as Sheriff Burke: The police sheriff who is continuously trying to track down the killer. He is shown to have a friendship with Dewey Riley. Burke was portrayed by .
*Lawrence Hecht as Neil Prescott: Sidney's father. He is away on business and the suspicion of the killings are being heavily suspected upon him. The real killers, Billy and Stu abduct him and show him to Sidney during the film's near ending.
*Roger L. Jackson as Phone Voice (voice)
*Linda Blair as Obnoxious Newsreporter (uncredited cameo)
*Carla Hatley as Mrs. Becker
*David Booth as Mr. Becker
*Liev Schreiber as Cotton Weary
*Dane Farwell as Ghostface (uncredited)

The rules

A signature device, started in "Scream" and continued in "Scream 2" and "Scream 3", was the typical "rules" for that type of horror movie being stated by the characters.cite news |first=Jant |last=Maslin |title=Scream |work=The New York Times |url=http://www.nytimes.com/library/film/scream.html |date=December 20, 1996 |accessdate=2007-05-31] In "Scream", those rules (as described by Randy) are:
*You may not survive the movie if you have sex.
*You may not survive the movie if you drink or do drugs.
*You may not survive the movie if you say "I'll be right back","Hello?" or "Who's there?"

A similar set of "rules" was used for the movie's trailer:
*Don't answer the phone
*Don't open the door
*Don't try to hide
*But most of all don't scream

References to other horror films

The film features numerous in-jokes and references to other horror projects. The victims in "Scream" are quite self-aware: they each make clear their familiarity with, and poke fun at, teen slasher and horror flicks, which sets up their fairly ironic responses to the film's situations.cite news |first=Roger |last=Ebert |authorlink=Roger Ebert |title=Scream |work=Chicago Sun Times |url=http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19961220/REVIEWS/612200306/1023 |date=December 20, 1996 |accessdate=2007-01-27]

Two of the most common references are to "A Nightmare on Elm Street" and its director Wes Craven. In the audio commentary for the DVD, Craven says that he almost took out the line where Casey Becker says the first "A Nightmare on Elm Street" was good but the rest sucked, because he thought it would make him seem egotistical. However, it was pointed out to him that he had co-written and also wrote and directed the seventh. "A Nightmare on Elm Street" is also referenced in the high school janitor. Fred, played by Craven, wears an outfit resembling Freddy Krueger's. Later in the film, Tatum tells Sidney that she is "sounding like a Wes Carpenter flick", a fictional name created from compounding the names Wes Craven and John Carpenter (co-producer of the first three installments in the Halloween film series, co-writer of the first two, and director of the first).

At one point Billy sneaks into Sidney's room through her window, startling her, in a way that quotes Glen sneaking into Nancy's room in "A Nightmare on Elm Street". The similarity between the scenes in emphasized by the physical resemblance Skeet Ulrich, who plays Billy's character, bears to the young Johnny Depp, who played Glen's character.

In addition to its director, "Halloween" is referenced many times throughout the film. When Casey's parents come home and see that something is wrong, her father says to her mother, "Drive down to the Mackenzies'", which is a quote from "Halloween". During the party scene, Randy Meeks, Stu Macher and the other party goers are watching the horror film. They watch many famous scenes such as Michael Myers murdering Bob, as well as Laurie Strode discovering her friend's dead bodies scattered in the bedroom. The song that Billy puts on when he and Sidney are making out in her room is a cover version of "Don't Fear the Reaper" which was featured in Halloween in the scene where Laurie and Annie are driving to their babysitting jobs.

Billy's surname, Loomis, is the same as that of Donald Pleasence's character in "Halloween" (1978), which in turn was the name of Marion Crane's lover in "Psycho". In a similar fashion to Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), "Scream"'s highly-billed star Drew Barrymore dies early in the film. Referring to Crane's similar premature murder, Robin Wood writes of the "alienation effect" of killing of the "apparent center of the film."cite book |last=Wood |first=Robin |authorlink=Robin Wood (film critic) |title=Hitchcock's Films Revisited |year=1989 |publisher=Faber and Faber |location= London|id= ISBN 0571162266 |pages=146] In the later stages of the film, Billy Loomis quotes Norman Bates, saying "We all go a little mad sometimes." Licking his fake blood, Loomis says that it is actually corn syrup and food coloring, "the same stuff they used as pig's blood in "Carrie".

As Stu and Billy reveal themselves to Sidney as the killers, they stand head to head, echoing a famous still photo from the film "The Thing With Two Heads" (1972).

Many films are briefly mentioned during a scene in which Billy and Stu visit Randy at work at a video store. Films Randy mentions include "Candyman", "The Howling", "Prom Night", "Everybody's All-American". "Frankenstein" is showing on the monitors.

Sidney mentions "The Town That Dreaded Sundown" while she, Dewey and Tatum are buying food for the party.

During the party scene, the partygoers are struggling with which movie to watch. The possibilities include "The Evil Dead", "Hellraiser", "The Fog" and "Terror Train". "Clerks" is seen as a videotape on top of a television. During the party scene, when Billy arrives, Randy exclaims "What's Leatherface doing here?". Leatherface is the antagonist in "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre".

In addition to mentioning several horror films throughout the film, many minor characters were portrayed by actors that have worked with Wes Craven before and have also appeared in prominent horror films. For example, Linda Blair, who played Regan in "The Exorcist", also plays the obnoxious reporter who approaches Sidney when she first returns to school. Joseph Whipp, who plays Sheriff Burke in Scream, also plays the sheriff in "Nightmare on Elm Street." Frances Lee McCain, playing Mrs. Riley, also played the part of Billy's mother, Lynn Peltzer, in 1984's "Gremlins."

Other films that are seen or mentioned throughout the film include:
*"Friday the 13th" - When the killer calls Casey Becker, he asks her "Who was the killer in Friday the 13th?". She exclaims Jason Voorhees as the answer, but the killer meant the original killer from the first movie, Jason's mother.
*"The Exorcist" - When Billy sneaks into Sidney's bedroom, he says he came by due to being bored, sitting at home watching a TV-cut version of "The Exorcist". Also, Exorcist lead star Linda Blair appears in the film as a shrill voiced reporter.
*"Basic Instinct"
*"All the Right Moves" - Tatum mentions wanting to see "All the Right Moves" so she can see Tom Cruise's penis.
*"Clueless" (Alicia Silverstone's character was quoted)
*"The Silence of the Lambs"
*"Trading Places"
*"I Spit On Your Grave" - When Tatum encounters the killer in the garage, she mistakes him for Randy, exclaiming "So what movie is this from? I spit on your garage?"
*"The Town That Dreaded Sundown".
*"The Bad Seed".
*"Clerks". Seen on the top of Stu's video player and a poster for it is seen in the background of the movie store

atirical/self-referential style

"Scream" is very much aware that it is a movie, and has fun with this. During the opening scene, Casey discusses movies, sequels, and trivia with the killer on the phone. Randy seems almost unable to tell the difference between a movie world and his own world. He constantly compares what is going on to situations in horror films, and at one point even says: "If this was a scary movie, I would be the main suspect." Randy also seems to believe very devoutly in his "Rules For Surviving a Horror Movie;" he eventually believes that the only reason he himself survives is because he's a virgin. Billy also comments that life is just "one big movie. Only you can't pick your genre."

Most notable of all, the climactic scene of the film revolves around the characters watching the movie "Halloween", unaware that they themselves are being watched on a hidden camera with a time delay. At one point Randy (played by Jamie Kennedy) yells at the movie: "Look behind you, Jamie", unaware that there is also a killer behind him. Kenny watches this from inside the news van, and also yells: "Behind you, kid." despite the time delay meaning the warning is just as pointless as Randy's. The result is a movie character (Kenny) watching what the hidden camera in the room shows, giving advice to another movie character (Randy), also watching a movie, also giving advice to a movie character (in the movie he's watching).

In addition to this, the movie features cameos, such as Linda Blair and Henry Winkler and general references to Hollywood figures, such as Sharon Stone and Richard Gere.

Reaction

Box office performance

The film opened in 1,413 theaters, taking $6,354,586 in its opening weekend. The film made almost 87 million dollars in its initial release, and was then re-released to theatres on April, 11 1997 and went on to make another 16 million, making total a domestic gross of $103,046,663, [ [http://www.cinema.com/film/1516/scream/index.phtml Scream (1996) ] ] [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117571/business Scream (1996/I) - Box office / business ] ] with, as of 2007, a worldwide lifetime gross of $173,046,663. [cite web|title=Scream|work=Box Office Mojo|url=http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=Scream.htm|accessdate=2006-12-27] It peaked at number 3 in the U.S. domestic box office.

Critical reception

The reaction to "Scream" was generally very positive amongst film reviewers, who appreciated the shift from the teen slasher films of the 1980s and their "endless series of laborious, half-baked sequels." [ [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/1996/12/20/DD42123.DTL Satirical `Scream' Is Out for Blood -- and Lots of It] ] Williamson's script was praised as containing a "fiendishly clever, complicated plot" which "deftly mixes irony, self-reference and wry social commentary with chills and blood spills." [cite news |first=Richard |last=Harrington |title=Go Ahead and 'Scream' |work=Washington Post |url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/review96/screamharr.htm |date=December 20, 1996 |accessdate=2007-01-27]

Roger Ebert appreciated "the in-jokes and the self-aware characters", but was confused over whether the level of violence was "defused by the ironic way the film uses it and comments on it?" "The New York Times" says "not much of 'Scream' is that gruesome", but observes that Craven "wants things both ways, capitalizing on lurid material while undermining it with mocking humor. Not even horror fans who can answer all this film's knowing trivia questions may be fully comfortable with such an exploitative mix."

"Scream" ranked number 32 on Entertainment Weekly's list of the [http://www.ew.com/ew/report/0,6115,1532588_1_0_,00.html 50 Best High School Movies] and number 13 on Bravo's "100 Scariest Movie Moments". In 2008, Entertainment Weekly dubbed the film a "New Classic" by ranking it number 60 in their list of the [http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20207076_20207079_20206983_15,00.html 100 Best Films of the Last 25 Years] . The film received an 84% fresh rating on RottenTomatoes.com.

Awards

The film won several awards, including Best Movie at the MTV Movie Awards 1997, and Saturn Awards for Best Actress (Neve Campbell), Best Writer and Best Horror Film. Craven was awarded the Grand Prize at the Gérardmer Film Festival. [cite web |title=Awards for Scream (1996/I) |work=IMDb |url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117571/awards |accessdate=2007-01-28]

Cultural impact

The film inspired a revival of interest in the genre including "Cherry Falls", "Urban Legend", and "I Know What You Did Last Summer". Two sequels were produced ("Scream 2" and "Scream 3"), with Williamson's "I Know What You Did Last Summer" following in 1997. It was also the inspiration for several parody films such as the "Scary Movie" series and "Shriek if You Know What I Did Last Friday the Thirteenth". "Scary Movie" had been "Scream"'s working title.

Ghostface's mask has become an icon in horror films, and has now become a staple mask during the Halloween season.

The film has been parodied many times on television. During the 1997 MTV Movie Awards, the opening scene was parodied, with Mike Myers calling and terrorizing Casey Becker instead of the film's killer, Ghostface.

One of the unique aspects of the film involved the mystery surrounding the identity of the killer (a plot device that had not been used for some time) and the twist ending inwhich it is revealed there are in fact two killers, which also became a popular trend amongst the horror revival that followed.

oundtrack

Infobox Album
Name = Scream: Music from the Dimension Motion Picture
Type = Soundtrack
Longtype =
Artist = Various Artists


Released = December 17, 1996
Recorded =
Genre = Alternative rock
Length = 46:30
Label = Warner Bros. Records
Producer =
Reviews = *Allmusic Rating|3|5 [http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:kxfwxquhldke link] When Billy comes into Sidney's room at the beginning of the movie a cover of Blue Öyster Cult's song "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" performed by Gus Black is played. This song is played in the first "Halloween" film when Annie and Laurie are on their way to baby-sit.

The theme song for all three movies is "Red Right Hand" by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.

An alternate version of the music video "Drop Dead Gorgeous" by Republica featuring clips from the film was shown on music networks such as MTV. Although the song can be heard in the film, it does not show up on the soundtrack album. The song was also used in one of the TV promo spots for the film.

The soundtrack album was released on December 17, 1996 featuring songs from the film. A CD featuring Marco Beltrami's orchestral music for "Scream" and "Scream 2" was released on the Varèse Sarabande label in 1997. [cite web |first=Mikael |last=Carlsson |title= Scream/Scream 2 |work=Music from the Movies |url=http://www.musicfromthemovies.com/review.asp?ID=79 |accessdate=2007-01-27]

Track listing

# "Youth of America" - Birdbrain
# "Whisper" - Catherine
# "Red Right Hand" - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
# "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" - Gus
# "Artificial World" [Interdimensional Mix] - Julee Cruise
# "Better Than Me" - Sister Machine Gun
# "Whisper to a Scream (Birds Fly)" - Soho
# "First Cool Hive" - Moby
# "Bitter Pill" - The Connells
# "School's Out" - The Last Hard Men
# "Trouble In Woodsboro"/"Sidney's Lament" - Marco Beltrami

VHS and DVD releases

The original, gorier version of the film was released on VHS in 1997. The box covers classified the film as rated "R" even though it was actually the unrated version. The unrated cut was only available on video when the film was released for sale to the general public while the rental version, released earlier that year, still contained the theatrical cut. The unrated version was officially released as "The Director's Cut" on laser disc but has yet to be released on DVD in America. The unrated version has been released on DVD in other regions such as Europe and Japan with quality varying. Differences in the film include: A shot of Steve's entrails falling out of his stomach; a longer, slower version of the shot where Casey's body is shown hanging from a tree; Tatum's head getting crushed by the garage door; More blood can be seen pouring down Kenny's chest after getting his throat slashed; A more graphic version of the scene where Stu and Billy stab each other.

When the film was released for sale on VHS in 1997 it was available in several different forms including three collectible covers with one featuring Drew Barrymore's face, one had Neve Campbell's face and the other had Courteney Cox's face. There was also a collector's set which came with the wide screen version of the film on one tape and another tape featuring the movie with audio commentary by Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson. The set also featured a special Scream phone card with 10 minutes of talk time and three large collector's cards with the faces of Drew, Neve and Courteney (the same images used on the special VHS covers).

References

External links

*imdb title|id=0117571|title=Scream
*" [http://www.metacritic.com/video/titles/scream Scream] " at MetaCritic
*" [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1074316-scream/ Scream] " at Rotten Tomatoes
* [http://www.moviehole.net/interviews/20061011_exclusive_interview_david_arqu.html David Arquette interview]