Top 9 Kills from Wes Craven’s Scream Series
Wes Craven’s Scream franchise helped to elevate the horror genre from the depths of forgetfulness. What may be even more astonishing is the fact that he leaned on the very sub-genre – the slasher sub – that had all but murdered interest in horror thanks to astounding over-saturation and a general dearth in creativity to make it happen. Scream was undeniably a slasher picture, but it was unlike anything we’d ever seen.
Kevin Williamson, who penned the tale, brought a very self-aware, often self-effacing style to his screenplay that struck a chord with viewers. He also knew exactly how to appeal to the younger market. I can say that from experience – in 1996 I was 16 years old, and every kid in Scream looked like every other lemming at my high school. Every kid in Scream acted like a kid in my high school. This was a quality that wasn’t lost on the youth of America. We saw that realism, and we dove in, only to discover a brilliant script to support the accuracy exhibited by the characters.
That’s a special film. That’s a very special film, and it never would have been what it was had any man not named Wes Craven tackled the project. Craven knew how to pull viewers in and keep them there. He knew how to pull an insane amount of tension from one single scene. He knew what it required behind the camera to create terror in front of it. And he knew damn well how to kill off naïve youngsters.
Image Credit: Ruben Voorhees
There were too many murders in the Scream series to count, and we’re all very respectful of that. But these nine death scenes specifically stand out among the pack. Each for different reasons, but each extremely impacting thanks to a man who truly mastered his craft: the late, great Wes Craven.
Drew Barrymore Gutted (Scream 1): Back in 1996, when we first made our way to theaters to scope out Wes Craven’s new slasher, Scream, we all had it in our minds that Drew Barrymore, whose Hollywood stock was beginning to shoot through the roof, would portray the picture’s lovable survival girl. It seemed an absolute no-brainer. Sure, we knew Neve Campbell had been cast, but her star didn’t seem to shine nearly as bright as Drew’s. Then the movie started and we got the shock of the decade. Drew Barrymore’s character, Casey, was dead inside of 15 minutes. Not only that, she met a very, very grisly demise. She was stabbed, hung from a tree, and disemboweled; and it looked horrific. It’s a damn bloody death scene and one of the very finest of the entire franchise, no two ways about it.
Tatum’s Failed Garage Escape (Scream 1): Tatum, played by then relatively unknown Rose McGowan, was a damn compelling character. She was smart and sassy – sharp-tongued but very lovable. She was cute, she was loyal to her BFF Sidney, and make no mistake… she was tough as nails. She had the makings of a survivor written all over her. But it was not to be. Instead of living to see the final credits, Tatum got herself crushed in a doggy door in the garage door in what turned out to be a cast and fan favorite death scene. The unrated footage is a little bit more gruesome than that displayed in the theatrical cut, but it was a damn unforgiving exit all the same. The lone saving grace for fans? That cold weather did wonders for Tatum’s puppies!
A Bloodbath for the Ages (Scream 1): Scream was such a graphic film that we all knew the final reel would be drenched in copious amounts of plasma. The majority of the sticky stuff is spilled when killers Billy and Stu go about stabbing the living shit out of each other… you know, to make it look like they were actually victims when the police inevitably showed up to find everyone but the two evil masterminds without a pulse. That backfired of course, and all the excess blood loss certainly played a big part in that. How the hell can you think or physically respond well to a chaotic sequence of events when you’ve lost a gallon or so of blood? An amazing finale that still makes the stomach turn a bit.
