Scream | Do You Like Scary Movies?

Revisiting Scream (1996) | Forgotten Cinema Lead Up

We’re kicking off a brand-new Lead Up series on Forgotten Cinema, and this time we’re heading back to Woodsboro. With Scream 7 on the horizon, we're revisiting each film in the Scream saga, starting where it all began: Wes Craven’s iconic 1996 slasher, Scream.

For Field, this one is about as close to perfect as horror gets. He loves Scream and the franchise as a whole, and there’s very little, if anything, he’d change about Craven’s original film. The blend of slasher thrills, sharp writing, and self-aware humor hits exactly the right tone for him.

Butler had a very different experience growing up with the movie. When he first saw Scream, it didn’t quite land. The film was too meta, and he didn’t have enough horror knowledge under his belt to fully appreciate what it was doing with genre tropes. Now that he “gets it,” he enjoys the film much more, but he still has one big sticking point:

The Billy Loomis Problem

Even with a new appreciation for Scream, Butler still can’t get past the character of Billy Loomis, played by Skeet Ulrich. In this episode, we dig into:

• Whether Billy feels like a believable character or a heightened, almost soap-opera-style villain

• How his performance and motivation affect the movie’s tone

• Whether the Ghostface reveal still works on rewatch, especially for newer audiences familiar with the “rules” Scream helped popularize

  
  

Field may not share Butler’s issues with Billy, but their differing perspectives make for a fun back-and-forth that digs deeper into why Scream hits so hard for some viewers and slightly misses for others.

Why Scream Still Matters

In this episode, we break down why Scream remains one of the most important horror films of all time, and a turning point for the slasher genre:

• Playing with horror tropes: The film doesn’t just reference horror clichés, it weaponizes them. From the “rules” of surviving a horror movie to the self-aware characters who know those rules, Scream celebrates and critiques the genre at the same time.

• Ghostface as a killer: We talk about why Ghostface works so well as an onscreen villain: the clumsy-but-relentless physicality, the menacing voice on the phone, and the idea that Ghostface isn’t just one person, but a mask anyone can wear. That flexibility helps keep the franchise fresh across multiple sequels.

• Production details and behind-the-scenes facts: We also touch on key production facts, from how the film came together to the choices that helped define its tone, balancing genuine terror with dark comedy.

• Why Scream became a seminal horror film: Between Kevin Williamson’s script, Wes Craven’s direction, and a cast that leans fully into the material, Scream helped revive mainstream horror in the late ’90s and paved the way for countless meta and self-referential genre films that followed.

  
  

Kicking Off the Scream Lead Up to Scream 7

This episode is only the beginning. We're working through each entry in the franchise leading up to the release of Scream 7, we'll be looking at how:

• The meta-commentary evolves with each decade

• Ghostface changes while still feeling familiar

• The series handles legacy characters versus new blood

  
  

Watch the full YouTube episode on Scream (1996) below:

Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Amazon Music | More Links