Scream (1996)
Added How We Rate
- Directed by
- Wes Craven
- Written by
- Kevin Williamson
- Produced by
- Marianne Maddalena, Cary Woods, Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein, Cathy Konrad
Why it’s HorroRated
Few movies have rewired a genre this completely: Craven and Williamson gave us characters who had seen every slasher, then used that knowledge to make the scares sharper rather than softer. The opening phone call is a perfect slow squeeze of dread, and the whodunit keeps everyone, audience included, guessing until the end. Neve Campbell gives Sidney grief and grit, while Jamie Kennedy's rule-reciting Randy turns film-nerd knowledge into a survival guide. Funny, frightening and endlessly rewatchable, it's the place to start for any slasher fan and the reason a Ghostface mask is still a Halloween staple.
Synopsis
Woodsboro, California, is the setting for Scream (1996), Wes Craven's slasher from a script by Kevin Williamson, in which teenager Sidney Prescott is stalked by a masked killer a year after her mother was killed. Neve Campbell leads a cast with Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Skeet Ulrich, Rose McGowan and Matthew Lillard, playing characters who know every horror rule and argue about them while the killer turns those rules against them. Its famous opening phone call with Drew Barrymore set the tone for a decade of self-aware horror.
Filed under
Where to watch Scream (1996)
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Streaming in the US changes often. Listings from JustWatch via TMDB, checked October 27, 2026.See every option
Quick facts
- Release date
- December 20, 1996
- Runtime
- 1 hour 52 mins
- Country
- United States of America
- Language
- English
- Content rating
- R
- Entry type
- Movie
Content notes
- Graphic stabbings
- Bloody kills
- Strong language
Tags
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