Why the Scream franchise Stands Apart with Genre Saviness and Meta Commentary
Horror movies, one of the oldest genres in the history of cinema. Horror movies are made with the primary intention of scaring people. More often than not, though, there’s going to be someone watching a horror flick not to be scared, but so they can dunk on them. These are the people who watch movies like Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, and Halloween so they can see how dumb the characters are. They think that they wouldn’t make the same obvious mistakes if things like that happened to them because they’re genre-savvy. So back in 1996, Wes Craven of Nightmare on Elm Street decided to make a slasher film that fused meta and genre-saviness together. The result was the birth of Scream, one of my favorite scary movie franchises and something so meta, it occasionally feels like it’s a meta-singularly.
Birth of a Singularity
The premise behind Scream seems at first glance, but it can actually be quite complicated. In the original film, the fictional town of Woodsboro, California is being terrorized by a pair of killers called Ghostface, wearing screaming ghost masks that have since become synonymous with the character. The duo commits a series of grisly murders as it becomes apparent that they are following the tropes of popular slasher films. Thus, in order to survive, they need to become genre-savvy enough to avoid all the major red flags that get people killed in horror movies. The basics are to not split up, to avoid certain lines, and avoid intimacy. And to always double-tap when it looks like the killer is dead.
From the start of the first film, the thing that makes Scream different from other slashers is how rife it is with meta. The film openly references other famous horror film series, with the cast using them as guides once they realize they’re acting out a horror movie in real life. This level of genre-saviness is done so that the film can simultaneously praise what came before it while also commenting on their flaws, albeit in a manner that’s still respectful.
It might be because I’ve spent my life from my teen years onward watching shows like Family Guy and South Park, but I like it when shows and movies get meta like this, so long as it’s coming off in a playful manner and not trying to be mean-spirited. As much as I might like a story, it’s also fun to poke fun at it. It’s a way for us for critique our work and improve in a healthy manner. And Scream does a great job of pushing the envelope when it comes to meta, because the sequels keep upping the ante.
A Movie Based on a Movie
The first thing that people learn in Scream 2 is that the events of Scream were turned into a movie. Gale capitalized on the events of the film to create a best-selling book, which was swiftly made into a blockbuster film called Stab. So, Scream went from being a movie providing meta-commentary on other horror movies to a movie within a movie. You can see how much hold the meta starts to have on the franchise even as the original survivors face a new pair of Ghostfaces. Sadly, the most genre-savvy of the group does not make it.
While the other films would ultimately continue its use of the concept, the meta nature of the Scream franchise feels like it culminates in Scream 3. After the events of the last film got made into another film, Hollywood started working on a sequel that was actually supposed to be fictional. That goes sideways when another Ghostface shows up, drawing Sidney, Dewey and Gale to Hollywood as they’re filming the movie. The result is a movie about a movie being made that was inspired by another movie. That’s pretty meta!
Meta Singularity
In the context of the franchise, Scream 3 was made with the intent of being the finale to the story. As such, it gets very meta about wrapping up everything from the previous films into one overarching narrative. As if to drive this point home, it’s revealed that the Ghostface of that movie set the entire franchise in motion by instigating the original killers. In addition, the film also satirized how toxic show business can get. Case in point, one scene had the late Carrie Fisher playing a fictional look-alike who almost got the role as Princess Leia, only to fail because she didn’t kiss up to George Lucas. Which did earn a chuckle from me when I first watched it.
The bottom line is that being meta and genre-savvy are the hallmarks of the Scream franchise, and it’s worked for it. Almost thirty years since the original film came out, it’s now standing shoulder to shoulder alongside the flicks that it was commenting on. In fact, it hasn’t stopped commenting, with the newer films having things to say about reboots, requels, and franchises in general. They might be some of my favorite slasher films, and I watch the original at least once every Halloween.
