Scream (1996)

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 and was released on December 20, 1996 as the first installment in the Scream film series. Scream follows the character of Sidney Prescott (Campbell), a high school student in the fictional town of Woodsboro, who becomes the target of the mysterious killer Ghostface. Sidney is accompanied by her boyfriend Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich), film geek Randy Meeks (Jamie Kennedy), deputy sheriff Dewey Riley (Arquette) and news reporter Gale Weathers (Cox). The film was unique at the time of its release, combining the violence of the slasher genre with elements of comedy and "whodunit" mystery, placing suspicion on many of the film's characters, while satirizing the cliché of the horror genre made common in films such as Halloween and Friday the 13th.