I cannot believe that after eighteen and a half years of existence, that this was my very first time watching Scream. It’s defined as one of the most influential horror movies of all-time, and so I thought I would finally watch it for the very first time this Halloween season. I unfortunately knew all the revelations about Ghostface and stuff, but other than that, I didn’t know much else about this movie other than it was a horror movie with a slice of comedy in it here and there. The big spoiler at the end of the movie that I already knew didn’t really impact my viewing experience all that much, so I was happy about that.

Scream definitely wasn’t “greatest horror movie of all-time” material for me personally, but I very much thoroughly enjoyed it. What I loved the most about it was that it was unpredictable pretty much all the way through, and yes, that’s even true for me, who already knew what the big revelation was at the end. I could tell it did a great job of getting you to think it was one person, only to then proceed to do something that would make you think that it definitely couldn’t be that person. I never once felt that any of the shocking moments were redundant or, well, not shocking, and all of the jump-scares were big moments that came out of nowhere and definitely did a good job at startling me, which is definitely saying a lot for a horror movie. Jump-scares usually don’t do very much for me most of the time.

What I also loved about Scream was how, while it was definitely a horror film at its core, it balanced that with just a hint of comedy incredibly well. There were plenty of jokes and laughable moments, but they never once took away from the suspense or took me out of the movie. Every single one of them was put at just the right time, and had just the right amount of humor that was still funny, but didn’t provide too much of a comedic relief. I’m usually not a big fan of comedic relief most of the time by the way (I’m looking at you, MCU).

The mystery itself, while, again, I knew the final answer to, was also very intriguing. Sidney Prescott, whose mother passed away a year prior added dread to the story because I never really knew if it was Ghostface or not until the movie answered that question explicitly. For someone who didn’t already know the big spoilers to the movie, I could also see this being a complete surprise to them as well. Again, Scream does a fantastic job of throwing you off and getting you to constantly jumble between who you think the actual killer is and isn’t. It really was insanely impressive, and I totally see why this film was such a big deal when it came out.

Another thing I thought was really good that I wasn’t exactly expecting much from going in was the acting. Mainly I’m talking about all of the characters’ reactions to what was going on both in the town, and when the killer was nearby. You can tell they are all trying to cover up their fear, but it’s obvious that they were insecure about what was happening. Also, whenever the killer targets any of them, they react in a totally believable way, and their demonstration of fear was honestly, pretty amazing to say the least. I think that Drew Barrymore was the standout when it came to this.

All of this led to a pretty suspenseful and effective horror film. I wouldn’t say that it was scary in the sense that it would really stick with you in that aspect, but I was on the edge of my seat for most of the movie. I might actually see this as more of a thriller movie than a horror movie just because of that, though I definitely see why it’s a horror movie just because of the iconic character of Ghostface, and the fact that there were definitely some “horrific” scenes.

Really the only thing I have to say about this film that isn’t positive isn’t even a negative, but more of something I felt a little more mixed on. This was the fact that Ghostface himself could be a pretty terrible horror movie killer at times. A lot of the characters are easily able to fend him off and get away from him at times, which definitely made him less scary I would say. The reason I say this is more of a mixed thing than a negative thing though, is because I could see the people who made this movie writing him this way just because it went against traditional horror tropes, where the killer often excels at what he (or sometimes she) is doing. While this was more of a mixed thing for me, it never took away from the suspense because I still never knew when he was going to pop out of nowhere or not.

So at the end of the day, while I wouldn’t say this is one of my favorite horror films of all-time, it was definitely a pretty effective one, and one I very much thoroughly enjoyed all throughout.