Cue up a ‘Scream’ marathon with original films, ones featuring cast
The fifth “Scream” movie is now in theaters, arriving 25 years after the first film in the franchise brought the slasher subgenre back to its feet.
If you’re a “Scream” fan, this film’s release is an event, one that should be honored with a streaming movie marathon of the previous installments. Plus, that “Scream-a-thon” will feel extra meta when taking in the “Stab-a-thon” that’s a centerpiece of “Scream 4.”
Original director and legendary horror auteur Wes Craven helmed all four of the “Scream” movies before his death in 2015, while writer Kevin Williamson penned all but one of the scripts. Each film remains consistent in tone and style, highly selfaware slasher flicks that comment on the specific nuances of the media zeitgeist of the day. Plus, in hero Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) and knife-wielding slasher Ghostface, it’s a Final Girl/ Murderer matchup to rival the legendary Laurie Strode/Michael Myers pairing of the “Halloween” franchise.
The original “Scream” films are entertaining, witty, funny and oh-sobloody, just like a slasher should be. “Scream,” “Scream 2” (1997) “Scream 3” (2000) and “Scream 4” (2011), are all available to rent for a $3.99 rental fee on all major digital platforms.
Taking over for Craven and Williamson are the team behind the 2019 horror hit “Ready or Not,” directors Matt BettinelliOlpin and Tyler Gillett, as well as co-writer Guy Busick, who teams up with “Zodiac”screenwriter James Vanderbilt for the new “Scream”
script. “Ready or Not” was seething with class rage as bloodied bride Grace (Samara Weaving) attempts to survive her wedding night in her in-laws’ sprawling mansion as they play a satanic game of hide and seek. Williamson’s writing style is marked by a wordy, rapid wit, and “Ready or Not” was rife with quips, as well as BettinelliOlpin and Gillett’s clever aesthetic, so it should be an ideal match for the material. Rent “Ready or Not” on all major digital platforms for $3.99.
Returning to “Scream” are, of course, Campbell as Prescott, as well as Courteney Cox as dogged reporter Gale Weathers, and David Arquette as the long-suffering Deputy Dewey Riley. Perhaps you’re wondering what those three have been up to since the last time Ghostface paid them a visit.
Campbell co-starred on Netflix’s “House of Cards” for several seasons, and she more than held her own opposite Dwayne Johnson in his 2018 “Die Hard”-inspired blockbuster, “Skyscraper,” which is available to rent for $3.99.
Cox you may know from a little show called “Friends,” but if you’re burned out on a rewatch of the beloved sitcom, give her series “Cougar Town” a whirl, streaming on Prime Video and Hulu.
Cox’s ex-husband Arquette (they met while filming the first “Scream”) recently got very meta with himself and his own career, producing and appearing in the 2020 documentary “You Cannot Kill David Arquette,” about his ventures into professional wrestling. Stream it on Hulu or Kanopy.
Craving even more? Dive into the filmography of Wes Craven, one of horror’s greatest pioneers. From his directorial debut, “The Last House on the Left” (1972) (stream it on Tubi and Pluto TV), to “The Hills Have Eyes” (1977) (stream it on Tubi, Kanopy and Shudder), to “Nightmare on Elm Street” (1984) (stream it on Tubi or rent elsewhere), and much more, he is one of the defining artists that established the rules, conventions and aesthetics of the horror film. What’s even more impressive, he
eagerly deconstructed and reexamined those tropes and conventions in his work, constantly making and remaking what it means to be a horror movie.