Scream

The game in Wes Craven’s 1996 film is that a character announces the rules out loud and then the film obeys them. The pleasure is verification rather than surprise, so a viewer who came to be blindsided is expecting a different game. The other structural decision is an opening that kills the most recognisable member of the cast within minutes. Drew Barrymore had been signed for the lead role of Sidney and asked for the smaller part of Casey Becker instead; the filmmakers embraced it: losing the best known face first proved nobody was safe. It also makes solving the killer from the billing impossible. Roger Jackson, who voices Ghostface, was kept away from the cast and never met them in person; on the phone scenes he stood outside the house so he could see Barrymore while she could not see him. The mask was not designed for the film either, but a store-bought novelty item found by producer Marianne Maddalena while scouting locations. When the Santa Rosa school board refused permission to shoot at the high school, rewrites and relocation cost roughly 350,000 dollars, and the credits pointedly withhold thanks from it. A good fit if a final forty-two minutes spent at one party in one house suits you. Less so if you want to solve the killer yourself.