Scream Essay

The most inventive element about this movie is that it follows the basic direction of a typical horror movie but also includes a good amount of innovation with the self-criticism and ironic approach of the movies. The characters tease the generic pattern of a horror movie, while simultaneously proving that the typical rules are to be taken very seriously if you want to be part of the surviving cast at the end of the movie. Most horror movies contain those of reoccurring elements such as the final girl, teens that sin, gore etc. Scream contains each of those elements but are portrayed in a unique way. For example, the teens in this movie all drink beer and have sex despite the fact that they know better than to do this; especially since one of the characters mentions the basic rules to follow if they do not want to be killed. However, they all break those rules and therefore individually die. Although, the twist is that the Final Girl loses her virginity towards the end but still manages to live in the end, thus changing the constant cycle of who survives in horror movie.
The most obvious and inventive parody in Scream involves a sequence from Halloween, where the killer is stalking Jamie Lee Curtis through the house. While that scene is playing on a TV, similar events are happening in the very room where the TV sits. As Michael Myers is approaching Curtis' character from behind, the masked killer is sneaking up on the guy watching the video, who is screaming at the TV, "Look behind you!" Since he's so familiar about the genre, he should consider taking his own advice, making an ironic approach to the whole concept of horror movies.

Additionally, in the beginning of this movie, Craven immediately grabs the attention of his audience with the on the spot action within the first 12-minute prologue to the movie, instantly hooking his viewers into the story. He used the basic elements and icons, such as gore and a teenager home alone, while at the same time creating an inventive way to kill off this character by creating an entertaining yet horrifying mind play between the victim and the killer by questioning about other horror films, making it quite amusing to the audience while concurrently building tension and suspense.

In most classics, the reason the villain always seems to commit such horrendous crimes is due to the fact that they were just born that way, such as Mike from Halloween who was ultimately born “pure evil”. Similarly, we predict the same for Scream, up until the very end where we discover that the killer actually had a motive. This movie is proven to be an evil “game” but with a purpose. Therefore, Craven in a way recycles this element of a killer born evil by adding two killers with one that supposedly with no morals and thinks of it to be a “fun game” and one with an intention of vendetta.

Overall, Craven successfully manages to attract fans of the horror genre and impress them with the use of classics. He brings back this genre with a fresh and innovative style, creating a new generation of horror movies.