Scream Essay

Below is a 700 word essay which I wrote on Scream (199). The question for this essay was ‘How does Scream (1996) subvert and conform to the conventions of horror films’?

This American slasher film which was brought to our screams in 1996. The hugely popular film was written by Kevin Williamson and directed by Wez Craven who also directed the very successful Nightmare on Elm Street and the film made a crazy total of $103,046,663 in US box offices. It follows the story of a teenager named Sidney Prescott and her friends who are being targeted by the mysterious town’s killer who goes by name of ‘Ghostface’. The film was the first of its kind to bring a tongue and cheek approach to horror film and its conventions and this is why I mostly feel that Scream subverts the conventions of horror as well as conforming to horror conventions.

I feel that this modernist film is one of a kind and it undermines horror films and through this it shows the stupidity of horror films and how they are all quite similar and all follow the same structure which is outlined by Tzvetan Todorov’s narrative theory. If you look at all the horror films that came to our screams before the first Scream there is a significant films between them and Scream as none of them make the conventions of horror known through dialogue throughout the film as other horror films follow horror film conventions but make sure the audience don’t feel that they can see the horror film conventions laid out and this is why I feel that Scream really does subvert horror film conventions due to this. An example scene of when Scream subverts horror’s mainstream conventions is when Ghostface says to Sidney “Do you like horror movies”? And Sidney replies “What's the point? They're all the same. Some stupid killer stalking some big-breasted girl who can't act who is always running up the stairs when she should be running out the front door. It's insulting”.

Scream bought something extremely fresh in terms of horror in media as before this horror films were not as popular as they once were when Psycho and Carrie first hit the screens but Scream brought a fresh of air to the horror genre as it was something completely innovative and different as it mixed comedy with horror which is not a horror film convention. Randy one of Sidney’s friends states the rules of horror films in a particular scene, stating that “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?””. Randy is stating the conventions of horror films which can decrease the chances of you living.

As well as hugely demonstrating the subverting of horror films Scream also conforms to many horror film conventions for example the mise en scene of the film. Scream has a masked killer just as in Halloween and Chainsaw Massacre a perfect ingredient for slasher films as well blood. That jarring screeching sound of piano keys that are found in loads of horror films in order to build up tension was found in Scream. And how can I forget then sinful teenagers as well as the use of a final girl and the parents that just always turn up just too late.

Scream also referenced to a lot of horror films which most horror films do. Steve Neale (1980) said that ‘genres are instances of repetition and difference’. Which I agree with as every horror film is influenced by horror films that were produced before it. Scream mirrors scenes from Halloween for example when Sidney is making popcorn at the start of the films as so is Annie in Halloween.

So Scream satirizes the horror film genre by subverting many horror film conventions by following it’s own not to do rulebook of horror films but it also conforms to the conventions of horror films by using ingredients for horror films such as blood, knives and masks.