Scream (1996)

With hindsight, can you blame a film for the poor imitations that followed? Received wisdom among horror aficionados states that Scream, Wes Craven’s 1996 mega-hit, is where it all went wrong for the genre, ushering in a series of sub-par slashers and refocusing major-studio horror almost exclusively on teenagers: nearly all the big horror hits of recent years have been neutered, 15-certificate fare or under. All legitimate charges, of course, and when faced with the prospect of Scary Movie 5 next year, it’s hard not to feel some degree of antipathy towards the film that started the ball rolling. Read more