The most popular films on Hulu are popular for a reason.
But there are some that you shouldn’t take for granted, despite their beloved status, especially if you’ve never seen them.
One such film is the original Scream, and October is the best month to watch it for the first time. Wes Craven’s film is a satire of slashers of the ’70s and ’80s while being a fantastic horror film in its own right and an icon of pop culture.
Today, Watch With Us would like to make the case for why it has to be the next film you check out on Hulu.
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It’s a Hilarious (and Scary) Slasher Film Parody
Scream follows a group of teenagers in the fictional town of Woodsboro, California, who become the targets of a mask-wearing serial killer on the anniversary of the death of one teenager’s mother. Sydney Prescott (Neve Campbell) lost her mother one year before Cotton Weary (Liev Schreiber) killed her, but now it seems a new killer has decided to taunt Sydney and her friends, and he’s not gonna stop until they’re all dead.
Screenwriter Kevin Williamson specifically wrote the script to satirize the clichés of the slasher genre seen in popular films like Friday the 13th, Halloween and A Nightmare on Elm Street. The result is a film that is as funny as it is a masterful horror film in its own right. Unlike its offspring, the doubly satirical Scary Movie series, Scream manages a perfect tightrope walk between humor and affecting horror that includes characters we actually like and can identify with. The sharp metatextual humor of the film set it apart at the time, helping to make it a box office smash.
It Has Inspired Other Horror Films for Decades to Come
Scream had its share of horror film inspirations as a direct parody of them, but it’s also a highly influential horror film in its own right. In addition to spawning its own long-lasting franchise along with the Scary Movie series, there are films that have attempted to ape the Scream magic for years. The blend of parody along with meta-commentary has proven to be a fruitful one.
Perhaps the most obvious of all of these films is I Know What You Did Last Summer, a popular and long-standing series similar to Scream, although with arguably diminishing returns. A more successful and better quality Scream acolyte would be the Final Destination sequels, which aren’t parodies but are often deliciously campy (and the newest installment does offer some wink-wink humor). Other films include The Faculty, Urban Legend, Valentine and Cherry Falls. Even a Halloween sequel, H2O, capitalized on Scream‘s success by becoming a parody of its own franchise.
It Features One of the Most Iconic Opening Scenes of All Time
A huge part of the draw when Scream released was that Drew Barrymore was in it — she’s on the poster after all! Well, fans got thrown for quite a loop when they discovered that she dies film’s opening sequence. The scene is probably the most iconic in the entire Scream franchise — Barrymore in the little blond bob wig, answering questions about horror movies with someone she doesn’t realize is a sadistic killer. When she answers a question wrong, he comes for his life. You’ll never hear the question “Do you like scary movies?” the same ever again.
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The scene is not just the most famous of the Scream franchise — many consider it to be one of the most shocking and subversive horror sequences of all time. But its inclusion was crucial in multiple ways — not only did Barrymore’s involvement help secure funding for the film, it also helped to revitalize the actress’s career as well as boost the careers of much of Scream’s nascent cast, including Campbell, Matthew Lillard and Rose McGowan.
