The Craft (1996)

"The Craft" was purposely cast with attractive young actors in order to attract a large audience for the box office; luckily the actors were talented as well! "The Craft" is a fun fantasy/horror film that focuses on four young women who practice witchcraft. While none of the actors in the film were standout success stories when the film came out, they did manage to find a spotlight from this movie and others that shortly followed. Both Neve Campbell and Skeet Ulrich appeared in "Scream" which came out later that year, and of course Neve appeared in the sequels and other mainstream films. Fariuza Balk would soon be seen in the awkward "Island of Dr. Moreau" and "American History X". And star Robin Tunney would have moderate success in the years to follow, including a staring role with Arnold Schwarzenegger in the action/horror movie "End of Days".

Sarah is the new girl in school and is having the typical difficulties of trying to fit in. She ends up befriending the group that she was advised to stay away from, three semi-rebellious girls who have difficulties of their own; Bonnie,who is self conscious of massive burn scars on her back, Rochelle, who is bullied by a racist cheerleader type, and Nancy, their goth leader who lives in a trailer with her mom and abusive, drunk step-dad. They embrace Sarah when Bonnie catches her balancing a pencil on it's tip during class. They tell Sarah that they are witches and have been looking for their fourth member to complete their coven. Sarah has natural powers (inherited from her mom, who died during childbirth), and joins the three. They have a breakthrough one night and actually begin casting spells. Bonnie's scars heal, Rochelle extracts revenge when the cheerleader starts losing her hair, Nancy's step-father dies and leaves her and her mom a healthy insurance settlement, and Sarah enchants a cute boy to like her. But Sarah realizes that something is wrong when the three become power hungry and the cute boy becomes obsessed and dangerous. When Sarah tries to leave the coven, she's told that she can either stay or die. Finding her inner strength, she leaves and prepares for the worst....

Scream 2 (1997)

"Scream 2" is a delightful follow up to the hit that resurrected Wes Craven's career just at the right time. He's back with writing partner for the sequel, one that proves to be just as effective as the first. It has more scares and more victims but it also has too many faces with too little screen time to ever clearly suspect who the killer or killers are this time around. The opening scene is fantastic and sets up the mood perfectly for the rest of the film.


The film takes place two years after the Woodsboro Murders from the first film. After a gruesome double killing at a preview showing of the movie "Stab", which was based on the Woodsboro Murders, news reporters flock to Sidney Prescott once again to see what she thinks about the situation. She wants nothing to do with the media circus, preferring to focus on her college studies and her boyfriend Derek and her friends Randy (from the the first movie) and her best friend Hallie. It's not long before Dewey arrives on the scene as well as Gale Weathers, who attempts a one on one confrontation between Sidney and Cotton Weary, the man Sidney accused of being her mother's killer. After all of the stress and awkwardness of the day, Hallie convinces Sidney to come to a party with her. Of course the new Ghostface Killer/s shows up and kills one student before attacking Sidney. She escapes and the movie becomes a cat-and-mouse game as Sidney tries to figure out who the killer is while trying to stay alive.

Scream (1996)

By the 1990’s, stalker films had become a joke and the genre was filled with movies that only cared about killing people in more and more unusual ways and forcing a twist or concept that wasn’t very convincing. Somehow writer Kevin Williamson and director Wes Craven came up with the perfect formula that made the stalker/slasher film relevant and entertaining, introducing the sub-genre to a new generation. “Scream” is a smart movie, a movie willing to point out the formula of a horror movie in bullet points and follow each one exactly. “Scream” had an amazing cast filled with young actors that would go on and have impressive careers. “Scream” would also become its own franchise that for the most part remained somewhat clever.

“Scream” is about Sidney Prescott, a teen who has already dealt with tragedy when her mother was killed the year before. Now someone is killed off two of her classmates and comes after her the next evening. She escapes and her boyfriend Billy is arrested because he is caught at the scene of the attempted murder. When his cell phone history clears his guilt, Sidney is still unsure if she can trust him or not. She is attacked once again at the high school, prompting the principal to suspend classes until further notice; the principal is then killed in his office. One of Sidney’s friends throws a house party and there carnage escalates as more people are killed and the mystery of who the killer is becomes more blurred, because at this point anyone (except Sidney) could be the killer.

Favorite death scene – The best death scene in this film is easily the first one which involves Drew Barrymore. What makes this movie great is that the killer is human and sometimes a klutz, so when you hear each moan or see them fall or get hit, it gives a real sense of believability to it. And with Drew, your heart drops because she was so close to getting away but you knew that she woulnd’t….