An Analysis of How Genre and Narrative are Introduced in The Opening 10 Minutes of “Scream” (Wes Craven, 1996)

‘Scream’ is in the slasher sub genre of horror but also has hints of comedy horror hybrid. Written by Kevin Williamson and directed by Wes Craven in 1996. It tells the story of a group of teenagers being victimised by a psycho killer with a passion for horror movies. Although this works for fans of the genre, it may leave questions to audience members who do not know as much about other horror films and the genre in general.
 Throughout the film, through the characters speech, the film establishes the so called, ‘rules’ of a horror movie. Telling the audience what has been used to make this and other horror films, horror. These include, if you want to survive; no sex, drinking or drugs. Never say, “I’ll be right back.” The killer also adds his own rules; never ask, “Who’s there?” Never go outside to investigate a strange noise and never believe the killer is dead. If someone breaks ones of these rules they are sure to die. This raises the overall enjoyment level of the audience, it puts them in a postition of power, knowing when a character is doomed, the fact that this gives them a higher generic understanding of the genre also flatters them.
 Throughtout the film also are strong intertextual references to, ‘A Nightmare On Elm Street’, and ‘Halloween’. Just within the opening sequence is a line lifted straight from ‘Halloween’, when Casey’s dad tells her mum to, “Go to the Mackenzie’s house.” Also later on in the film we see the high school janitor, Fred, dressed in similar attire to ‘A Nightmare On Elm Street’’s Freddy Krueger as well as sharing his first name.
 There are many generic horror conventions used in ‘Scream”. In the opening sequence these include; a cute teenage girl home alone, this is typical of horror movies, its shocking to see a cute teenage girl get hunted and killed. This is because the audience are lead to believe that the girl in question is young and innocent, but overall she is vulnerable. Although this is shocking, this is what the audience want, its more entertaining than to see a middle aged man get killed, that happens everyday all over the world. Another generic convention is the setting, sticking this girl in a house on a packed highstreet wouldn’t be scary at all, this house is set in the middle of no-where, no houses in sight, no neighbours, complete isolation. This is scary because if you are alone there is no-one to help you. Everyone is left alone at some point in the day so it is something that the audience can relate to, and seeing this happen leads to a scary thought that this could be you. Using a masked killer is another generic convention. This is quite alot scarier than using a non-masked killer because it leads to suspiscion as the audience does not know who to trust, so there is always an air of mystery around every scene. The use of a knife is very generic in horror. The knife acts as a phallic symbol, it is usually used by a male killer against female victims. This is scary, more so to female members of the audience than to male, the killings are similar to rape. The knife is used by the killer to penetrate his helpless victims.
 The film ‘Scream’ is an example of a horror sub-genre, slasher movie. This is easily recognisable because in the majority of the killings and attacks a knife is used.
 The sequence that I have chosen uses generic horror conventions is a straight forward way. The sequence is in itself a mini-movie as it has alll the aspects a horror movies needs.
 My chosen film differ from previous examples of the horror genre in many ways. The choice of weapon is one, in ‘Scream’ a knife is used, but in, ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ a chainsaw is used and in ‘The Hills Have Eyes’ the cannibals themselves are weapons. It differs also in the fact that in ‘Scream’ Craven has chosen to place a girl at home, alone. This differs to ‘Psycho’ in the fact that the infamous shower murder does not take place in her home. It also differs because in ‘Scream’ it turns out to be two killers, as opposed to one killer working alone as in many films before like, ‘Halloween’, ‘A Nightmare On Elm Street’ and ‘Friday The 13th’. The fact that two killers are used surprises the audience, they break normal conventions, and to great success, revealing two killers stacks the odd’s even more in the killers favour, making the audience feel even more for the victims to be.
  Although these conventions are, because of the genre, used to scare, they can sometimes get a laugh. This happens when the ‘rules’ are revealed, we laugh because we see people breaking these ‘rules’ because we know that they are going to die, and Craven is telling us that they are going to die. The use of unrestricted narration again puts the audience in a seat of power, we feel clever because we know when the characters are going to die, but they however, do not.
 The films time span is about a week, this is scary because of the amount of murders that take place in such a short time. In real life, serial killers usually kill over a period of weeks, months or years. The fact that there are so many murders in such a short time shocks and scares the audience.
 The sequence I have chosen is the exposition of the film, although, it could work on its own as a short movie. It is typical as it establishes the killers character and the setting but it is not typical as the big movie star, Drew Barrymore, is killed within the first 10 minutes of the movie. Although she is killed the opening acts like a short movie. It has an exposition – mysterious phone calls. It has a development – Casey’s boyfriend is killed. Complication – killer gets into her house. Climax – the chase scene an ultimately Casey’s death. The only thing the opening lacks is resolution. The opening sequence is significant because it introduces the killer, and shows the audience that the killer is just a human being, this is shown through Casey’s struggle and her almost escaping, it also shows the audience what to expect in the rest of the movie.
 There are mild references to other horror films throughout ‘Scream’. These include, along with ‘Halloween and ‘A Nightmare On Elm Street’; ‘Friday The 13th’, ‘Jason’, ‘The Thing With Two Heads’, ‘Candyman’, ‘The Howling’, ‘Prom Night’, ‘The Exorcist’. ‘The Town That Dreaded Sundown’, ‘The Evil Dead’, ‘Hellraiser’, ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ and many, many more. Refering to all of these films keeps the audience in wait, after a film is mentioned we expect to see something along the lines of that particular film, but we don’t. Referencing all these films also shows that ‘Scream’ is kind of making fun of them all, saying that they are all the same, they use the same generic conventions and rules. ‘Scream’ exposes this similarity and pokes fun at it. Another moment where they are mocking other films is where Tatum tells Sydney that she is, “sounding like something out of a Wes Carpenter flick.” This combines the names of the two directors who worked on ‘A Nightmare On Elm Street’ and ‘Halloween’. This is amusing because it isnt often that the characters within a film are aware of films that we have in real life, the fact that Craven has combined his and John Carpenters name, is almost as though he is making fun of himself, along with the horror genre as a whole. This is a appealing to the audience, especially the younger members of the audience who are themselves horror fans because it is a joke especially for them.
 Throughout the film, there are certain things echoed. The fact that the victims are always alone when the killer shows up and the fact that the killer uses a knife on nearly all of the victims helps the overall mood of the film. Although the killer uses a knife nearly all of the time, the differences in the ingenious ways that the victims are killed keeps the audience entertained. There is a difference however, between the opening sequence and the rest of the movie. This is that the first killing is dragged out over about 10 minutes, this keeps the audience hooked and makes them keep watching after the initial killing in hope for more. All of the other killings barely last 5 minutes, they are short and straight to the point. All the audience needs to keep their attention fixed is killing over and over. But also, along with the number of killings, the variety in them keeps the audience entertained. The fact that it isn’t just young, teenage females, but males also, along with the changes in setting keeps the audience interested and not bored. The only character that the audience is lead to care about is the protagonist Sydney, who is essentially a ‘good’ character, she’s innocent, much like the audience believe themselves to be. The other characters however are all flawed, this leads the audience to not care about them, making them disposable. These factors mean that the killer could strike at any moment, keeping the audience on the edge of their seat throughout.