Wes Craven’s Scream (1996) is a great example of a postmodern slasher film. In the film, there are many slasher film elements seen. The final girl is clearly laid out from the beginning of the film. The audience sees Sidney Prescott as the boyish and very reserved virgin and as the character that seems to be the killer’s main focus. The audience also sees the terrible place in Stu Macher’s isolated home where most of the killing occurs. The weapon chosen is also very symbolic. Using a knife to murder is a very personal weapon and allows the killers to physically penetrate their victims (Clover’s article). Revenge is clearly the motive for the murders as the audience discovers later in the film when Billy reveals he raped and murdered Sydney’s mother because she had an affair with his father and broke up his parents’ marriage. It can be assumed that Stu murdered Casey out of vengeance after their breakup. This reveals that Billy and Stu are extremely disturbed both emotionally and sexually.
The audience also sees Sidney become phallicized as she becomes more masculine throughout the film (Clover’s article). Although not starting as the stereotypical feminine character, the audience sees Sidney become much more masculine as she defends herself against two killers. Sidney even becomes resourceful throughout the film, as a typical final girl does (Clover’s article), when she uses items in the house to try and aid her escape (i.e. using the door to stop another door from opening, the surfboard, the tv, etc.) When Sidney is victorious in the end, she is stripping the killers of their power and masculinity (castration). This shows when she finally kills Billy while wearing the Ghostface costume as she becomes what she feared the most the entire film and protects herself and her father.
A postmodern element seen the entire film is meta in nature. In the whole film there are references to horror movies. There is a scene when Sidney is on the phone with who she believes is Randy and she says that in a typical horror movie the girl runs up the stairs instead of out the door and that it’s insulting. Seconds after, Sidney is attacked and she does just what she deemed insulting. Later in the film, Randy discusses the “rules” of a horror movie. He talks about if you have sex, do drugs or drink , or say “I’ll be right back” you are typically a character that gets killed whereas the virgin always outsmarts the villain in the end. As Billy, Sidney and Stu stand in the kitchen and the boys are explaining their entire plan they say “Now that you’ve had sex you are supposed to die. Those are the rules”. Especially right before Sidney kills Billy she says “not in my movie”. Even though she is actually in a movie, she is referring to her reality. In many ways Scream mirrors the postmodern slasher films that Clover discusses in her article.
CMS 353 Blogs 