One of the best horror films of all time was not great because of the murders; it was great because of the hero. It flipped the genre on its head because the victim broke the rules and fought back.
To be honest, I am not a fan of horror movies. They are as cliché as they are gory. To top it off, they often portray the same tired scenes, or stereotypes, about women—movie after movie. There is a common theme present in these horror movies: the helpless girl who runs up and down stairs, screaming for her boyfriend and falling. Some of the newer films actually show the boyfriend as the killer. After seeing it pop up on my Netflix queue, I was expecting something more along the lines of "Scary Move". "Scream", however, deserves its own genre.
When the female protagonist, Sidney Prescott, begins to receive scary and threatening phone calls after a neighborhood girl is murdered, I chalked it up to just another horror movie. I was not expecting for this demure, virgin to challenge the killer and actually have him on the run. This was a huge twist from the “girl drops phone on kitchen floor, looks around, screams and gets killed with the knife by the masked murderer” plot. I was hooked, and judging by the amount of people that flocked to see the movie, I was not the only one.
Throughout the movie, Sidney gains courage against the unknown killer. Although it could be anyone, she tests him or her by talking back and taunting the killer. She went face to face with her tormentor and tormented him! She did not cry or whine for her creepy boyfriend to rescue her. She confronted the killer over and over again.
As the series progresses, Sidney takes on every killer who challenges her. She never wavers in her determination to not become another victim. Movie after movie, we watch her get stronger and develop more resolve and stamina until we cannot wait to see who is foolish enough to try to scare her.
"Scream" not only revolutionized horror films, but it revolutionized how women were perceived in movies. She proved that it was possible for a woman to outsmart a man and fight for herself. Women today are still facing unknown demons and evils in the face of stereotypes. Sidney’s retaliation against her tormentor is really our voice, as women, in cinema. Her struggles, physical, mental and spiritual, are all relatable because at one time or another, we have been in her shoes. Her fight is our fight and her win is our win.