The Month of Horror Day 12: Scream

Basement contributor Matt Bellamy has taken it upon himself to watch and review at least one horror movie a day for the month of October . . . because he's awesome that way! For this installment Bellamy asks "What's your favourite scary movie?"

When this movie came out in 1996 it was such a breath of fresh air because it really was the first mainstream attempt at deconstructing the horror genre! Director Wes Craven (A Nightmare on Elm Street) was the ideal choice to helm because he's obviously a man with his feet firmly planted in the ghoulish genre, some may say a true master of it, and I wouldn't disagree with that statement. We all know the "rules" of a scary movie now because of this flick; don't say "I'll be right back!", don't have sex, don't smoke pot etc. etc. It really is a love letter and homage to slasher flicks as the now iconic Ghostface stalks, torments, and murders the teenagers in the film, who obviously do not watch enough horror movies themselves seeing as they constantly make the wrong choices and even fail the movie trivia Ghostface presents them with. What I really enjoy about this first installment is that it never really goes over the top or tries to be too clever which its sequels unfortunately go overboard with, instead it's a horror movie first and foremost. Yes, it is darkly humourous at times, and yes, it will have you grinning when it's being tongue in cheek but it's actually legitimately scary to boot! I definitely enjoy the Scream series however I don't think there's even an argument in saying that this is easily the best one.

**BONUS** Who was the villain in Friday the 13th? ;)

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