On this episode of History of the ’90s, we look at Scream, the movie directed by the legendary Wes Craven that gave new life to the horror genre and inspired a generation of teen movies.
In the mid-’90s, the horror movie genre was almost dead, thanks in part to a slew of badly received sequels to iconic franchises like Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th.
Then Scream, with its “Ghostface” serial killer, slashed its way into theatres.
Scream was like no other horror movie before because it wasn’t just terrifying, it was also incredibly self-aware.
From the opening scene when Drew Barrymore is asked, “What’s your favourite scary movie?” it was pretty clear this wasn’t what we were used to. Scream was unique. The characters knew about slasher movies and ironically recognized they were in the middle of one.
This episode looks back at how Scream came to be, including the little-known story of its inspiration. Also, did you know that Scream was originally called Scary Movie? But studio execs thought it was too on the nose so they suggested Scream…which was the name of a hugely popular song and video released in 1994 starring Michael Jackson and his sister Janet.
We’ll cover all this and we’ll try to understand why it became the most successful slasher movie franchise in history and how it continues to influence horror movies over 20 years later.
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Contact:
Twitter: @1990shistory
Facebook: @1990shistory
Instagram: @that90spodcast
Email: 90s@curiouscast.ca
Guests:
John Kenneth Muir, author of Horror Movies of the 1990s
http://reflectionsonfilmandtelevision.blogspot.com/
Twitter: @JKMuir
Alexandra West, author of The 1990s Teen Horror Movie Cycle: Final Girls and a New Hollywood Formula
Cohost of the Faculty of Horror Podcast https://www.facultyofhorror.com/
Twitter: @ScareAlex
Steven West, author of Scream (Devil’s Advocates series)
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