071 Scream (1996) Part 1

Retro Grade Podcast

“DO YOU LIKE SCARY MOVIES?“

On this week’s episode, we talk about the 1996 horror classic, Scream. Directed by the legendary Wes Craven, starring Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, David Arquette, Skeet Ulrich, Drew Barrymore, Rose McGowan, Jamie Kennedy, and last but definitely not least, Matthew Lillard. In this first part, we get into our history with the film, and how even though Jorge hasn’t seen the film, he’s familiar with it enough simply because of how popular the franchise is.

Once we come back from watching the film, we get into our initial thoughts about, and break down some of the biggest story beats, starting with the amazing introduction with Drew Barrymore and the film’s amazing climax. We go into the cast, how they were all perfectly assembled and how each actor dons their respective character archetypes very well, from Neve Campbell being the virgin/final girl, Jamie Kennedy being the obsessive movie buff, to Matthew Lillard being the wild-card joker. We get into the film’s subversion of the horror genre, and how in a time when mainstream Hollywood films was not embracing meta storylines, letting audiences know that the film was one step ahead of them and that their best guesses wouldn’t cut it for this film.

We also talk about the use of music which Austin argues is very underrated, we talk about the overall structure of the film, the references to other horror films, and we hint at what the production of this film was like, getting more in detail in the second part. But for now, sit back, relax and enjoy part one of out deep dive into the horror classic, Scream!

(P.S. Can’t believe I called Monica Geller, Monica Beller. My bad)
Music is from Triune Digital and audio clips pulled from movies we will be reviewing in other episodes.

Artwork by @jannelle_o