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“Do you like scary movies?” One of the most iconic horror movie lines of all time, from the film we’re covering this week, the film that many argue raised the horror genre from the dead, 1996’s Scream. Coming off some questionable horror showings early in the decade, Scream brought a fresh, relevant take on the horror movie, and jump started a new boom that produced sequels, copycats, sequels to the copycats, parodies, and sequels to the parodies. It’s tough to point to a horror film with a larger impact in the 90’s than Wes Craven’s Scream!
Wes Craven re-invented and revitalised the slasher-horror genre with this modern horror classic, which manages to be funny, clever and scary, as a fright-masked knife maniac stalks high-school students in middle-class suburbia. Craven is happy to provide both tension and self-parody as the body count mounts – but the victims aren’t always the ones you’d expect.
Join Clay, and Amanda, and special guest Wes from The Pensky File, as they cut too deep and get woozy with an off-brand, budget Johnny Depp, movie references, aggressively 90’s styling, more movie references, one of like five different usages of Nick Cave’s Red Right Hand in 1996, movie references, old-looking teenagers, unexpected Linda Blair, and the ever-loving questionable parenting!
Unfortunately for horror fans, the 80’s horror boom that arguably started with 1980’s Friday the 13th (coverage available now through our Patreon!) also arguably ended with 1989’s Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan, which left horror in a very peculiar place in the new decade. With New Nightmare, the meta take on the icon and legacy of Freddy Krueger, already under his belt, Wes Craven was the perfect person to usher in a new era of self-aware horror films boasting big stars, as well as stars in the making, pumping new life into the genre with a movie whose influences can still be felt to this day.
So burn the popcorn, convolute the hell out of your evil plan, change your voice, and follow the rules of horror movie survival with us…if you DARE!