Happy Friday! I hope you all have fun plans for the weekend! I plan to relax and get some sleep haha! As it gets closer to Halloween, watching the perfect horror flick seems like a great idea. One of my favorites is Wes Craven’s Scream. Cheesy horror movies kind of disappeared after the 80’s so this was a bit of a comeback and it was so much fun. According to IMDB, here’s the synopsis of the film: Sidney, attempting to cope with her mother’s mysterious murder, and her horror movie-obsessed friends are stalked by an unknown killer who seems to have a hard time letting the past go (IMDB). I’m sure you’ve seen it, but if you haven’t, go watch it this weekend, you’ll love it I promise. In the meantime, here’s some fun trivia about the film to get you going…have a fabulous Friday!
–The party scene near the end of the film runs 42 minutes long. It was shot over the course of 21 days from the time the sun set to the time it rose. After it wrapped, the crew had t-shirts made that read ” I SURVIVED SCENE 118″ (which was the name of the scene during shooting). The cast and crew jokingly called it “The longest night in horror history.”
–These are the horror film rules as stated in the movie:
1. You will not survive if you have sex
2. You will not survive if you drink or do drugs
3. You will not survive if you say “I’ll be right back”
4. Everyone is a suspect.
Two additional rules come from the killer:
5. You will not survive if you ask “Who’s there?”
6. You will not survive if you go out to investigate a strange noise.
–When the phone slips out of Billy’s hand and hits Stu’s head, it was completely unintentional. Wes Craven kept it in because of Stu’s realistic reaction.
–The use of caller ID increased more than threefold after the release of this film.
–The film’s high school scenes were to be shot at Santa Rosa High School in California in the Santa Rosa District. However, very close to the shooting date, the school board read the script and denied the film to be shot there due to the violent nature, as they had been under the impression the film was a comedy, and production was moved to Healdsburg, CA. As payback, Wes Craven put in the end credits under the special thanks section “NO THANKS WHATSOEVER TO THE SANTA ROSA CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT GOVERNING BOARD”.
–Matthew Lillard ad-libbed “My mom and dad are going to be so mad at me.” Wes Craven thought it was so funny that he kept it in the film.
–Courteney Cox and David Arquette met and fell in love on the set of this movie. They eventually married, but divorced in 2013.
–When the killer smashes his head through a window and Casey hits him in the face with the phone, Wes Craven is actually wearing the costume and was really hit in the face.
–Matthew Lillard (Stu) adlibbed the line “Ah… Houston, we have a problem” when he discovered that the gun was gone.
–The film was released in December, five days before Christmas. The studio did this because during the holiday season, family friendly movies are usually released, and the studio wanted to give the horror audience something to see during a time when no horror movies would be out. It opened at #4 with 6.4 million, which led the studio to believe the film had flopped. However, the film’s good word of mouth is what led to its success at the box office. With every week it went up or stayed at the same place in the box office. By the end of its run, it ended up making over 100 million at the United States box office.
–The film was sent to the MPAA over nine times for re-consideration, as they were going to slap the movie with a NC-17 rating. With each time the MPAA made Wes Craven cut out more of the films gore heavy shots. Bob Weinstein eventually had to step in, which secured the films R rating. Wes Craven wanted to know what Bob Weinstein had said to the MPAA to get them to give the film its R Rating – he told them to view the film as a comedy and not a horror film. This completely changed the MPAA’S view point.
–During production, Ghostface’s signature black robe was going to be white, to make him appear even more like a ghost. This was changed in fear of people comparing the costume to those that the Ku Klux Klan wear.
–Drew Barrymore and Neve Campbell did not meet Roger Jackson, the actor who played The Voice, before shooting commenced. Whenever they are talking on the phone to the killer, they are actually talking to him.
–Drew Barrymore was originally cast as Sidney Prescott (eventually played by Neve Campbell). But Drew Barrymore insisted that if she played Casey then it would make the audience think anything could happen.
–Being a favorite of the writer Kevin Williamson, Molly Ringwald was offered the role of Sydney Prescott, but turned it down, saying she’d rather not be playing a high school student at the age of 27.
–To keep Drew Barrymore looking scared and crying, director Wes Craven kept telling her real life stories about animal cruelty. She is a keen animal lover in real life.
–It is mentioned near the end of the film that they used Corn Syrup dyed red for the blood in several famous horror movies. During the films climax, the production crew really did use corn syrup dyed red.
–The boyfriend in Psycho (1960) is named Samuel Loomis. Samuel Loomis was the doctor in Halloween (1978). In Scream, the teens are watching Halloween. In Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998), the teens are watching Scream 2 (1997). This makes the films self-aknowledging, showing that in the Halloween franchise, movies were made based off of the murders, and in the Scream franchise, there’s obviously the Stab films.
–Courteney Cox approached the production herself to pursue the role. She was interested in playing a “bitch” character to offset her “nice” Friends (1994) image. . This image was the main reason why the producers initially refused to consider Cox for the part. Cox continued to lobby the studio as she felt she could believably play the character; her efforts ultimately succeeded.
–The mask is based on the painting “Scream” by Edvard Munch.
–At one point during the filming of the opening scene, somebody forgot to unplug the phone that Casey used to try and call the cops. This resulted in real, puzzled 911 operators hearing Drew Barrymore screaming for her life on the other end.
–When Henry Winkler opens the closet his black leather Fonzie jacket (from Happy Days (1974)) is hanging in it.
–Skeet Ulrich and Neve Campbell had worked together on The Craft (1996). They believed the experience helped them be more comfortable with each other, which allowed a more natural portrayal of the relationship between their characters.
–This uses the Murder on the Orient Express plot device of having multiple killers when there only originally appeared to be one.
–There is a scene towards the end of the film where Sidney runs through Stu’s house in order to escape the killer. One of the rooms she runs in is decorated extensively with macabre imagery, including several mutilated dolls hanging from the ceiling. Sidney barricades this room with a surf board, a clue that she’s in a teenager’s bedroom. This is all a hint that Stu is the killer (he’s later revealed to be one of two), and further development of his character, as his motives for homicide are never fully explored.
–Drew Barrymore was the most famous of the cast members, so she was prominent in the promotion for the film, even though she dies in the opening scene. It was an unexpected move to kill the film’s “star,” but Alfred Hitchcock used the same trick on his audience. In Psycho (1960), Janet Leigh was billed as the “star” of the film, only to die less than halfway into the story.
All trivia courtesy of IMDB
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