Halloween to Scream

Halloween and Scream - similarities and differences-
"There are certain rules one must abide by in order to successfully survive a horror movie" proclaims geeky film student Randy in the cult horror smash 'Scream', a movie which parodied all the slasher flicks of the late 70's and 80's. Scream is a film littered with ironies and references to other horror movies particularly John Carpenter's 1978 horror classic 'Halloween'. Scream breathed
new life into a tired genre and was such a success that the sequels were unfortunately
inevitable, and even though they are very good stalk and slash films, they miss the
point of the original film, it was self mocking, a parody, and by sequeling it again and
again Scream has become all it set out to parody when it started. Kevin Williamson has
said in many interviews that he always envisaged Scream to be a 'trilogy', that may be
but it still does not alter this fact. This parody has also been parodied itself with the
release of 'Scary Movie' (the original name of 'Scream') however this was neither subtle nor funny with the most ironic aspect being that it grossed more money than any of the Scream films and was Miramax's highest grossing film ever. The genius of the first film is that it tells a simple horror story, a kind of Haddonfield revisted, a tale set in a nothing sort of place, a small town with a small police force, but there is a killer on the loose, but to anyone who has a love of the horror genre this movie is a close as you will get to a piece of literature. It is bombarded with references to 'Halloween' there are so many that the odds are that however much a fan of the genre you may be, you still might miss some subtle references.

In the opening scene when we find Drew Barrymore talking to the killer on the phone and when asked what her favourite scary movie is, she replies 'Halloween, you know the one with the guy white mask and goes around stalks babysitters', this sets the tone and lets the audience know that more references to the film will follow. The second film mentioned is 'Nightmare on Elm Street' and Drew comments that the first one was scary 'but the rest sucked' which is a little in-joke and comment shared by the director of 'Scream' Wes Craven who hated the way 'third rate directors' has ruined his vision of Freddy Kreuger and even devoted a film to his hatred of the Freddy sequels in his film 'Wes Craven's New Nightmare.'

'Don't answer the door, don't you watch scary movies? It's a death wish' This shows how the film comments on the horror genre as a whole.

When Barrymore's character (Casey Becker) is killed, her father tells her mother to go 'down the road to the Mackenzies' which is the exact advice Jamie Lee Curtis gives to Tommy Doyle in Halloween, this is a particularly humorous link and a reference which is returned by the latest and inevitable Halloween sequel 'H20' when Jamie Lee advizes her son to go 'down the road to the Beckers' and this is possibly another in-joke provided by Kevin Williamson who did a rewrite on the script to 'H20'. Becker is killed as her mother listens to her whimpering on the phone and this is not unlike a killing in Halloween when Jamie Lee's friend is strangled whilst she listens to her on the phone presuming she is just fooling around. Whilst this is happening Jamie Lee says :'alright Annie, first I get your famous chewing, now I get your famous screaming', as earlier in the film she receives a call which alarms her but the strange noise is in fact her friend chewing. This incident also occurs in Scream where Sidney's friend Tatum phones up Sidney and something similar ensues.

The very premise of Scream was dreamed up by Williamson as he and a friend investigated a break in at a neighbours house and this scene is possibly use in Halloween H20. Halloween H20 itself borrows a few references to its predecessor and other horror movies such as the hockey mask
worn by one of the kids at the beginning (Steve Miner who directed H20 also directed
an installment in the Friday the 13th series), Scream 2 is on the video recorder in one
scene, and also there is the 'Is he there or isn't he' device that Carpenter used originally
such as when we find Michelle Williams staring out of the classroom window at Micheal
and is then asked a question by the teacher, this has a feeling of déjà vu, as this is
borrowed from the original yet again only with the added irony that this time it is Jamie Lee who is the teacher and who poses the question.

References to other films include 'Candyman' and 'Prom Night'. Randy actually proclaims that the whole thing is 'Prom Night' revisited but this as anyone who has actually seen 'Prom Night' will tell you, this clearly is not the case, but I think by this Randy is suggesting that the killer is obeying the rules of the 'stalk and slash' film as 'Prom Night' is very typical of the genre, however anyone hoping to see some kind of prequel to Scream they will be very disappointed to find that it is a very boring formulaic film.

Halloween invented this horror subgenre and Scream then completed its rebirth and with the glut of inferior slasher flicks which have followed since (I Know What You Did Last Summer 1 and 2, Urban Legend 1 and 2, Cherry Falls) it would appear that the cycle is going round again, but which will be the next truly unique slasher flick, which film will comfortably nestle alongside these two classic films on any horror fans video shelf?