Above, a scene from “Scream.” (Photo credit: Dimension Films)

‘Scream’ delightfully breaks the rules of horror

Wes Craven was having too much fun with “Scream.”

You see, it wasn’t enough just to create another typical teen horror movie. No, the director wanted to be clever about it. The result, 1996’s “Scream,” is an absolute brilliant satire blending comedy and horror while drowning the set pieces in blood galore.

We start off in the small California town of Woodsboro, where teenagers are being terrorized by a serial killer donning a Halloween mask and one wicked knife. Also, our killer has a penchant for flair and dramatics. His murders are quite creative.

But hey, what do you do when you’re trying to relieve the stress of a psychopathic murderer prowling around? You throw a kegger, of course. And don’t forget the horror movies.

The point of “Scream,” written by Kevin Williamson, is to be a self-conscious adventure into the use of horror-movie cliches. Hell, the film’s video store clerk (remember video stores?) even has a checklist of what’s going to happen next, the most important rule of which is that the savior heroine must be a virgin. To lose that virtue would doom them all. Or something like that.

The problem? Our hero, Sidney (an affable Neve Campbell), is ready to have sex with her persistent boyfriend, Billy (Skeet Ulrich). As you can imagine, this possible transgression becomes the center of the nightmare enveloping Woodsboro. Who will die? When? Where? And most importantly, why?

Self-reflexive in nature, “Scream” doesn’t deserve all the credit. The film pulls from legendary horror films such as “Halloween” and “Friday the 13th” for its fictional touches. Still, its creativity is ingenious and addictive. Toss in Courteney Cox as a tabloid TV reporter, David Arquette as the town’s well-meaning though somewhat incompetent deputy and Drew Barrymore just because she was Drew Barrymore, and you have yourself a recipe for a snarky and humorous slasher.

Four self-aware stars out of five.

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