Scream

Matt just got back from Japan, and he brought me a copy of Wes Craven's SCREAM on DVD. This is especially cool because the Japanese disc features the director's cut of the film, only available on LD here in the states. Additionally, the transfer in 16:9, unlike the American DVD, which is 4:3. I watched it last night, and was reminded how insanely good that movie is.

Taken at face value, it's a slasher movie which holds its own next to the best of the genre. But it also acts as an analysis of the genre, sometimes quite literally. It asks why horror movie conventions work, and then challenges them to do so.

Formally, it's a very intricate movie. Everything needs to be a certain way for the film to get its point across, and the filmmakers balance all of the movie's elements very delicately in order to make it work on multiple levels.

Because the topic under analysis is openly discussed over the course of the film, the work of the filmmakers to reinforce these ideas structurally is often times overlooked. But from the first scene on, SCREAM is a really tight movie which is worth checking out again.