Days of Scream

Watching Scream was one of my first openly rebellious act against my mother. I remember I was eleven years old when the first Scream came out. I begged my mom to let me see it, but of course she said no. Being as clever as I am, I decided I simply had to bide my time. Once it was on video I asked my dad if we could see it while I was at his house for the weekend. He said yes, and the rest is history!

I fell in love with Scream immediately. I’m not sure why exactly…maybe it was partly because of the small thrill I got out of doing something bad or maybe it was because of the excitement of seeing my first real scary movie, but Scream has led to a life long love of the horror genre. Yes, there are lots of horrible scary movies, I’m the first to admit, but it’s for that very reason that finding a good one gives me a real feeling of accomplishment, like I’ve found a diamond in the rough.

But back to Scream! It’s influence on my life has been somewhat extensive. Pretty much anyone who knows me well knows that I love the series. I own all three movies on both VHS and DVD, as well as owning all three soundtracks. I started writing a horror screenplay at age 12, with the original intent of trying to write what might be a first scene for the next Scream movie and then seeing how close I was to the actual opening. My mom and sister convinced me to turn that scene into it’s own story and, to date, it is the only writing project of length that I’ve ever completed…although completed might be the wrong word, since it still needs some major revision. My first (and current) email address is woodsborogirl, after to fictional town of Woodsboro that Scream is set in. I dressed up as Sidney Prescott for Halloween a few times. I even used to have the goal of watching Scream 100 times before I turned 16; I kept a little tally paper inside the VHS sleeve so I could track it. I never reached that lofty goal, but I do still remember sitting in my bedroom, the little TV flickering those familiar images, while I ate Jiffy Pop and drank root beer in an homage to the movie.

Scream connected with me in a way no other movie has, so as you can imagine, my excitement for a new installment in my beloved series is very high. I remember taking the afternoon off of school my senior year to see Scream 3. Now, 10 years later, I will be taking the afternoon off of work to be one of the first to see Scream 4. I don’t really expect the same kind of magic I experienced 15 years ago when I saw the first, but something that reminds me of it would be nice.