Scream (1996)

The genius mind of Wes Craven gave horror fans the movie Scream, during a time where slasher movies were beginning to fade out. At the beginning of the movie, we are greeted with a girl (Drew Barrymore) in what feels like a tribute to When a Stranger Calls. A maniacal voice keeps leaving taunting phone calls and insists on playing a game or the girl dies. After a suspenseful chat, the blonde meets her maker, being hung from a tree afterward for her parents to find. The movie is full of bloody violent slayings and this is only the beginning. Turns out the killer, who is dressed in a black cloak accompanied by a white ghost-like mask, is after another girl by the name of Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell). We quickly find out Sidney is a high-schooler whose mother was murdered one year prior. Ghost face attempts an attack her with Sidney narrowly surviving. This event causes the local media outlet run by no other than TV journalist Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox) to spring to action.

What makes this film neat is how the characters all know they're basically in a horror movie, being fans of horror themselves. They each strategize and go over what they'll do to survive. Each character has a smart quality but seems to have the typical teenage negative attitude, however. It's also interesting how Sidney makes remarks about how "all horror movies are the same" and how Randy Meeks (Jamie Kennedy) goes in-depth on the formula behind horror movies. This is all within a horror movie mind you which makes a lot of these poking fun scenes unique. Randy talks about probably the most relatable tips for surviving in a horror movie which is never having sex, never drinking or doing drugs, and never saying "I'll be right back." The last great aspect is how the ghost face costume, especially the mask, is genuinely terrifying. Think of Edvard Munch's The Scream painting but brought to life in a chilling and frightful way. Overall besides the heavy gore, there's a great sense of cleverness viewers can appreciate.