Twenty-eight years and five films later, theScreamfranchise is still chasing the high of the original movie’s opening 13 minutes. A masterclass in horror filmmaking that ratchets up the tension to nearly unbearable levels, that first scene – which findsDrew Barrymoreon the receiving end of a prank phone call that turns deadly – has directorWes Cravendeclaring a mission statement for the entire film. It’s not the only reasonScreamcontinues to resonate a quarter-century after its release. (Just for starters,Neve Campbell’s Sidney sits comfortably in the Final Girl Hall of Fame.) But nearly everything that defines theScreamfranchise as a whole is front and center in that scene. Mention the movie to someone, and the image of a terrified Barrymore on the phone is likely the first thing they think about. The entire sequence is iconic, and, to this day, it serves as the franchise’s true north – a bloody beacon lighting the way for all the sequels that have followed.
A year after the murder of her mother, a teenage girl is terrorized by a masked killer who targets her and her friends by using scary movies as part of a deadly game.
‘Scream’s Opening Scene Establishes the Tone for the Whole Series
“What’s your favorite scary movie?” asks the unnerving voice (Roger L. Jackson) on the telephone. After taking a few seconds to think about it, Casey Becker (Barrymore), who’s home alone cooking up some popcorn for a lazy night of movie-watching, answers, “Halloween.” At the same time, she pulls a blade that looks exactly like the one Michael Myers tends to use on his victims out of a kitchen knife block. It’s the first overt reference to a horror classic in a movie and series full of them, and it’s the first big tip-off thatScreamisn’t just a horror film – it’s a horror filmabouthorror films. In theScreamuniverse, the characters have seen all the same scary movies the audience has, and the tropes of the genre are commented on and played with in a way that gives the film a winking, meta layer that is laid over the top of a classic slasher.Kevin Williamson’s script starts building a film that both comments on – and relishes in – the genre right there in that opening scene. It’s not long beforeCraven’s ownA Nightmare on Elm Streetgets name-checked, and then the other shoe finally drops. “Why do you want to know my name?” Casey asks the prying voice on the phone. The chilling answer back: “Because I want to know who I’m looking at.”
It’s the first “oh shit” moment in a scene that has about three of them and the first time Casey understands what the audience might now be starting to suspect – she is in some serious trouble. Craven and editorPatrick Lussierpace the sequence perfectly, using each successive phone ring to increase the sense of impending doom being felt by both Casey and the viewer. Eventually, the mystery caller wants to play a game — a bit of horror trivia. Answer correctly and maybe everything will be okay. Give a wrong answer, however, and it might cost both Casey and her boyfriend Steve, who is revealed to be tied up outside the house, their lives. Unfortunately, Casey doesn’t know that Jason Vorhees isn’t the killer in the originalFriday the 13th– it’s his mother. BeforeScream, there were slasher dos-and-don’ts that would get you killed; in theScreamfranchise, it’s notknowingthe horror-movie basics that turns into a death sentence. Within moments, Casey is brutally stabbed to death in her own front yard and Barrymore departs the picture.
The ‘Scream’ Scene That Made Matthew Lillard and Skeet Ulrich Horror Legends
They’re the best Ghostface duo for a reason!
Drew Barrymore’s Early Death in ‘Scream’ Was a Surprise
In 1996, when online movie spoilers weren’t yet a constant string of potholes to be avoided, it was a shock to a lot of filmgoers. At the time, Barrymore may have been the most famous person in the cast. The actresssays it was her ideato play Casey, and there’s no question the gambit worked. By killing off one of its biggest stars in the first 13 minutes,Screamimmediately sent out a warning to the audience: Any one of these characters can die at any time. It’s a precedent that was carried forward, most notably when fan-favorite Randy (Jamie Kennedy) is shockingly taken out halfway throughScream 2. ThenScream 3opens with series mainstay Cotton Weary (Liev Schreiber), whose increasingly more important part had fans theorizing that he would play a major role in the third film, getting wiped off the board. And when the series isn’t killing off who you’d least expect, it continues the trend of messing with your expectations.Scream 2actually opens with a movie-within-a-movie version of the Barrymore sequence withHeather Grahamplaying Casey.Scream 4goes one step further by putting a movie within a movie within a movie, and then of course immediately offers up a commentary on the increasingly illogical nature of long-running horror franchises.Scream VIpulls the rug out from under the audienceby having Ghostface take off his mask immediately following the movie’s opening murder.
It’s all an exponential riff on the franchise’s very first scene, which Williamson and Craven also used to start laying the groundwork for the series’ consistent whodunnit structure. It’s not entirely uncommon for films in the slasher genre to be presented as whodunnits, butScreamis somewhat unique in that, since there’s a new killer or killers in every installment, it doesn’t lose this feature in any of the sequels. Everyone watching gets to start playing detective right in that first scene: Who is this guy on the phone? Why is he doing this? What does he want? Eventually, we see the series' trademark Ghostface mask in a jump-scare reveal, but when Casey pulls it off later in the scene, the mask wearer’s face is obscured. No way that info is going to be given out early, not when the film has a large group of possible suspects to introduce.
“You should never say, ‘Who’s there?’” the killer tells Casey at one point. “Don’t you watch scary movies? It’s a death wish. You might as well just come out here to investigate a strange noise or something.” Horror movies have their own sets of well-trodden rules and oft-used tropes, and theScreamfilms have thrived on directly calling them out before cleverly tweaking them to surprise the audience. The series went on to offer commentary on topics ranging from the trouble with bad horror sequels to minority representation within the genre. Even theFriday the 13thtrivia that poor Casey forgot comes back into play in a surprising way inScream 2. To this day, that layer of meta-commentary continues to be the series' defining trait, even if some of the sequelsare more successful at employing it than others. (This is where we all giveScream 3a bit of side-eye.) But it all started with that very first scene – laid out clearly and resolutely right there in those first 13 minutes.
