Yesterday I scratched another Saturn Award winner for Best Horror Film off my list of movies to watch when I rewatched one of my all-time favorite movies, the 1996 winner, “Scream.”Released in December 1996 and directed by Wes Craven, this movie features a number of well-known actors, including David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox and Drew Barrymore.
For those of you who’ve never seen the movie, which is actually based on a Florida serial killer, the “Gainesville Ripper, it’s about a masked killer who terrorizes the fictional town of Woodsboro, Calif. The movie includes scores of in-jokes and references to other horror movies and has spawned two sequels as well as a number of “Scary Movie” parodies.
Not only did “Scream” win the 1996 Saturn Award for Best Horror Movie, but it also won Saturn Awards that year for Best Actress (Neve Campbell) and Best Writer (Kevin Williamson). “Scream” also received the Best Movie Award during the 1997 MTV Movie Awards.
Entertainment Weekly also ranked “Scream” No. 32 in its list of 50 Best High School Movies, and Bravo ranked it No. 13 in its list of 100 Scariest Movie Moments.
The movie has achieved permanent pop culture status, and the mask worn by the killer is now a Halloween staple. There are more than a few interesting bits of trivia about the mask used in the movie. According to the Internet Movie Database, the mask is supposedly based on the painting “Scream” by Edvard Munch and director Wes Craven found the mask while scouting out locations in California.
The use of the mask almost actually brought the film to an early end. When executive producer Robert Weinstein saw rough cuts of the first few scenes filmed, he thought the mask was “idiotic.” He supposedly asked the producers to film one scene with seven different masks, so that he could choose the one he liked the most. The other producers bucked at this and threatened to halt the film’s production.
According to the IMDB, they asked Weinstein to wait until the first sequence – the opening 12 minutes starring Drew Barrymore – was finished and then he could make up his mind. It’s said that after he watched that footage that he happily agreed to the mask that was ultimately used and he didn’t say another word about the mask from there on out.
In the end, I enjoyed rewatching this classic horror film, and from here it’s on to the 1997 winner, “The Devil’s Advocate.” Many of you will remember this movie, which starred Keanu Reeves, Al Pacino, Charlize Theron and Craig T. Nelson.
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