You knew this was coming, the reigning champion of meta-horror movies indeed. During the early 90s the horror genre was floundering: all the major franchises had pretty much run out of steam by this point, and a fresh, smart perspective was sorely needed. Enter Wes Craven, who following his successful Nightmare On Elm Street meta-comedy New Nightmare, created a new horror franchise (alongside screenwriter Kevin Williamson) that took to task the tired genre tropes everyone was thoroughly tired of watching. So what, exactly, made this slasher so different? It's simple: Scream caused a schism in the horror genre, its legacy being the creation of a distinct period of post-Scream horror movies. Unlike most smash hits, however, Scream didn't just inspire a fleeting rash of imitations; it created a ripple effect in both filmmakers and the film industry as a whole. Craven's seminal film about a slasher in Woodsboro who has a bone to pick with the friends and family of a young lass named Sidney Prescott, couldn't help but comment on the rules of the horror genre - only to turn around and turn the knife on each cast member. The method was simple: Have your characters expressly lay out the horror movie commandments, have them break said commandments, and then punish them for doing so. This pattern follows the franchise all the way to its latest addition, but the original will always be the most potent, as well as the most fun. What's your favorite self-reverential horror flick? Let us know in the comment section below.
Jesse Gumbarge is editor and chief blogger at JarvisCity.com - He loves old-school horror films and starting pointless debates. You can reach out at: JesseGumbarge@JarvisCity.com
