At over 25 years, why Scream is still ripe for a reboot: Sardonic self-awareness but not at the expense of chilling scares

A striking blond college student sprawls nude across a dormitory bed, a white silk sheet barely covering her body. The prevailing attitude about horror at the time was perhaps best articulated by the heroine of Scream, Sidney Prescott, when a mysterious caller asks if she has a favourite scary movie: “They’re all the same. The teenage characters frequently discuss and criticise the kinds of slasher movies Scream resembles, outlining their “rules,” and ridiculing their conventions, often moments before being killed in the manner mentioned. Although not entirely effective, New Nightmare makes plain Craven’s dissatisfaction with the homogeneity of contemporary horror, and clearly anticipates the full-scale genre deconstruction he would try two years later with Scream. Scream 4, Craven’s last film, is about a killer trying to “remake” the original Scream murders, and is itself a deconstruction of the conventions of horror remakes.