The tape belongs to the subgenre slasher that encompasses all kinds of serial killers but has made unbridled youth its favorite victim. It enjoyed enormous popularity in the 70s and 80s, a product of the teenage debauchery of the time, then fell into a pothole from which he seemed unable to get up. This is largely due to its formulaic conception that resulted in increasingly predictable plots.
The premiere in Mexico is on January 13, 2022
And then Wes Craven came along. The filmmaker had already guaranteed his place as a master of horror with titles like The last house on the left (1972), The Hill of Terror (1977) and especially a Nightmare on Hell Street (1984). It was this same experience that allowed him to rise as a true legend of the genre: someone capable of understanding and expressing it, but also of deconstructing and manipulating it to finally revolutionize it from its foundations.
Rules for breaking
It is ironic that the renewal of the slasher began by replicating the formula of its first great exponent. It is about Psycho (1960), for many the jewel in Alfred Hitchcock’s crown and that surprised locals and strangers with the brutal murder of the character played by its star actress, Janet Leigh. In the case of Scream, much of the promotional campaign revolved around Drew Barrymore, contemplated to star in the film until it was concluded that her appearance as the first victim would make us think that we were facing a story where anything could happen. A risky bet but one that worked with flying colors.
No less curious is that the conversion continued from the two most recurrent archetypes of the subgenre: the final girl (final girl) and of course, the murderer. The first, Sidney Prescott, was played by a popular Neve Campbell thanks to her participation in the series Party of Five (1994) and the recent premiere of Young Witches (1996), but very far from star status. A character whose stormy past made her shy, introverted and above all virginal, or in other words, very different from all the young people around her. The second, a mysterious sadist whose identity remains hidden until the final moments of the film. It hides behind a mask whose lamenting face is inspired by Edvard Munch’s The Scream as well as the cover of Pink Floyd’s The Wall.
Conventional characters who ended up becoming horror icons: she rose as the most important final girl in cinema after Laurie Strode played by the mythical Jamie Lee Curtis and referenced at different points in the film; he rose as a benchmark of popular culture supported by the most important mask of audiovisual entertainment until the arrival of ‘La casa de papel’.
The rise was due in large part to the peculiarity that these and the rest of the characters faithfully operate under the rules of survival that govern these films and that are mentioned throughout the story. Don’t have sex, avoid alcohol and drugs, and never say now I’ll be back. Every time someone usurps one of these guidelines, they are violently attacked or killed. A fascinating metanarrative that pays tribute to the subgenre while playing with the viewer, putting them to the test at all times. Do you like horror films? Prove It: Identify the killer and prove that you would have survived this one.
The challenge becomes more challenging with each new installment under the cinematic premise that the number of victims will increase, the deaths will be more elaborate and the murderer will always return. The latter does not imply the return of the same person, but the essence of evil hidden under a disturbing mask. A line that is maintained with the premiere of Scream that marks the fifth installment of the franchise.