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A Favorite Movie

A story is nothing without great characters, and "Scream" gives us:

*Gale Weathers (her name is Gale Weathers!!!), who would really like a book deal. Gale is maybe the most gripping invention in "Scream," an amoral, ambitious journalist, never fully unsympathetic. She must pretend to have motives different from her actual motives--but couldn't you say this about *any* journalist? This is heady stuff for a horror movie.

*Sidney Prescott, who must contend with a murderer, a complex response to her own mother's brutal death, a pushy interviewer, and a particularly insensitive boyfriend who really, really wants to lose his virginity. Most of us would crumble if even just two of these things were on our plate--but Sidney is like a superhero. I'm especially interested in her thoughts on sex; she maybe wants, and doesn't want, to cross that line; also, after she does have sex, she has to probe, very subtly, to see if she can trap her bedmate into confessing that he is trying to murder her. This scene is almost lost in the continuous greatness of the "Scream" script. But it's there, and it's spell-binding.

*The killer himself, who--unforgettably--tortures Drew Barrymore before slaughtering her. In an iconic cat-and-mouse scene, the killer makes Drew Barrymore answer pop-culture trivia questions to stay alive. (Drew stumbles when she says that Jason was the murderer in the first "Friday the Thirteenth," and we all know what happens next.)

"Scream" was written by a gay man, Kevin Williamson, who was down on his luck and who had a fascination with a real-life killer, the Gainesville Ripper. If you were to imagine the Platonic ideal of a movie script for this particular blogger, you would do well with "Scream." We're talking about multiple interesting female characters, an A-plus on the Bechdel Test, a plot that borrows heavily from Agatha Christie, an explicit interest in genre conventions, and a series of breathtaking Nancy Meyers-esque portraits of beautiful California homes. This is all I've ever wanted in life.

I admire so much about this story, but just to underline one thing: The script really beautifully points out that we humans crave narrative. Again and again, we're shown one character interpreting, or misinterpreting, what another character does. (A tip of the hat to "Rear Window"?) There is the popular understanding of Sidney's mother--and then there is the truth. There is the horror-movie portrait of the world--"Virgins always survive"--and there is the truth. In my favorite moment, a character believes he is safe, because he is watching far-off events on a TV screen...but, moments later, this same character is murdered, because he has forgotten that his video feed has a thirty-second delay.

So much irony, so much braininess. "Scream" is a million years old now, and it holds up. (Can I also point out that we were led to believe that Drew Barrymore would be the *star* of this film, and then she was gutted within fifteen minutes of the final opening credits?) I don't need to tell you that this is a great movie. This isn't news. But I couldn't help myself.
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