The desired affect of a horror is to make their audience feel a particular emotion and that emotion is fright. The opening sequence of ‘Scream’ does exactly this by following the basic paradigms that we, as horror watchers know to be included in such a film.
The sequence begins with the title of ‘Scream’, shown in and almost eerie way then shortly followed by a phone ringing, quite loud and as if being echoed like it in a lonesome place. This immediately makes us feel suspicious as we want to know where the ringing is coming from. We are then introduced to our first character, who is played by Drew Barrymore, we immediately know that she is alone as we know the basic codes and conventions of any horror and therefore know that a woman alone must mean trouble, we see her as the ‘damsel in distress’.
As the phone is answered we immediately start to feel intense as the voice on the other end sounds deep and almost dangerous, as the conversation progresses, Drew’s character makes her way to the kitchen for where the knives are then position in the 2/3rd’s of the camera at the front of the shot. From this we know this is like a hint to what is going to happen as we see her then play with the knives we know that is part of the code that this must mean danger to her and this will be the cause.
The isolation of the characters is one of the main feelings that horror movies like to present, it is very that you will be a killing in a group within horrors. In this instance the girl being in her house alone and her locking the doors causes an immediate fright within the audience as it makes us feel like there is nowhere for her to go. This is then shown again when she escapes and we see that her house is located in a secluded area and therefore has no one to help her.
As well as isolation in these films they promote the idea of being the ‘last one’. After we see that her boyfriend has been killed the fright begins to grow, as we know that ‘the killer’ has no qualms about what he is doing and therefore there is no point appealing to their morals.
The lightening changes drastically from the beginning to the middle of the sequence, the fire that is started from the popcorn makes the room seem smoking, once again making the audience feel a sense of mystery and worry for what is about to happen, the feel good feeling we start with has totally disappeared by this stage.
When the ‘victim’ (the lonesome girl)hurt and is trying to call out for her parents we feel a sense of despair, like we, along with her, have this final chance we almost want to shout out for her. This gives this feeling of still being alone despite someone being there. Any morals that we thought the killer may have had are verified to not be there at all as we see him still continue to kill despite her parents being there.
The structure of the sequence itself has everything that is expected in a horror. From the dark setting to the alone scared girl. The thing that effects the audience most is the fact of ‘it could be you’ and the post modernism features of ‘Scream’ reiterate this even more.
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