Scream /

Scream is a 1996 American slasher film written by Kevin Williamson and directed by Wes Craven. The film stars Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Drew Barrymore, and David Arquette. Released on December 20, 1996, Scream follows the character of Sidney Prescott (Campbell), a high school student in the fictional town of Woodsboro, who becomes the target of a mysterious killer known as Ghostface. Other main characters include Sidney's boyfriend Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich), film geek Randy Meeks (Jamie Kennedy), deputy sheriff Dewey Riley (Arquette), and news reporter Gale Weathers (Cox). The film's combination of elements of comedy and "whodunit" mystery with the violence of the slasher genre, while satirizing the cliché of the horror genre popularized in films such as Halloween and Friday the 13th, was unique at the time of its release. Based partly on the real-life case of the Gainesville Ripper, Scream was written by Williamson, and was inspired by his passion for horror films, especially Halloween (1978). The script, originally entitled Scary Movie, was bought by Dimension Films and was retitled by the Weinstein Brothers just before filming was complete. The production faced censorship