In 1996, the post-modern horror classic Scream first appeared onto our screens which depicted murderous teenagers killing people in their hometown.
Most of us are familiar with this iconic slasher film, which saw horny and moronic teens being picked off one by one. The popularity of Scream may have been the reason as to why so many awful teen slasher movies have been created, but Scream stands out as the ultimate modern classic.
It’s one of those films that just sticks in your mind. Although parts of it are extremely upsetting, as it’s aged, it’s gotten sharper and funnier and has become the ultimate scary movie to sit down and watch with a bowl of popcorn.
Recently, Skeet Ulrich and Matthew Lillard sat down with UniLad and reflected on the very first instalment of Scream. Ulrich and Lillard played gruesome twosome Billy Loomis and Stu Macher and were the original culprits behind the grisly murders.
Despite moving on in their lives (and acting careers), the two have remained friends, and have often delighted fans at conventions. Appreciating the love that fans have for original, Ulrich said, ‘it’s an incredible fan base. There’s definitely some committed fans or should be committed [laughs]. It’s a rabid fan base for sure.’
‘That’s one of the great things about the franchise: the fans still love it, it still resonates with them, and it’s an authentic love for the movies. I know I’m saying it on behalf of Skeet and I, we’re both proud to be part of the original,’ Lillard added.
Although Lillard couldn’t quite remember his own personal reaction to watching Scream for the first time, he reflected back with a more general sentiment: ‘There’s a famous photo in the social media world of you [Ulrich], I and Neve [Neve Campbell, who plays the movie’s ‘final girl’ Sidney Prescott] at the premiere. When I see that photo, it brings back all kinds of memories of that time in our lives. Looking back on 25 years ago, it was just such a monumental moment in all of our youths. It was part of our growing up.
But that moment… it’s so sort of symbolic of our youth, right? That’s where we grew up. We were young and ended up being part of a movie that became something special, but when we made it we didn’t think it’d be anything else other than another Wes Craven horror movie. Here we are 25 years later still celebrating it.’
At the time, Director Wes Craven’s status as a horror icon had been compromised by mediocre films such as Vampire in Brooklyn and Deadly Friend. But in the end that didn’t seem to matter, and Scream went on to earn $173 million at the box office.
Thanks to it’s teen appeal, iconic Ghostface mask, and one of the sharpest and wittiest horror scripts ever written (thanks to Kevin Williamson), the original cast knew they were working on something great, they just didn’t expect it to be so cross-generational.
Due to it’s success, there have so far been three sequels to the 1996 original. Scream 2 saw the likes of Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox and David Arquette reprising their roles. But interestingly, Scream 4 (2011) has been dubbed the best sequel since the original.
Now in January 2022, the fifth instalment of the franchise, simply named Scream will be released. Campbell, Cox and Arquette are back, but this time they’re helping a new generation who are being targeted by Ghostface.
Check out the trailer here:
Speaking honestly about how they felt about the upcoming film, Lillard said: ‘I don’t think I was excited about it, to be honest,
‘I hope the movie is great, and I know Neve respects the filmmakers and she believes in the film, which leads me to believe it’ll be an awesome and great experience. When Wes passed, I felt like that was a great opportunity to sort of change the trajectory of the franchise – but, that said, I love that Neve, David and Courteney are all still part of it, that makes me really happy. I have high hopes for the film and franchise going forward.’
As we seem to be stuck in a never-ending cycle of remakes, it’ll be interesting to see how the 2022 Scream holds up, especially as there’ll be no input from Craven.
One thing is for certain, however, out of all the people who have worn the Ghostface mask, none have been better than Stu sobbing ‘My mom and dad are gonna be so mad at me.’
