“Terror Tram: Scream 4 Your Life,” Universal Studios Hollywood, 2011
On this date in 1996, Wes Craven reinvigorated the horror genre with the widespread release of his new film, “Scream.” The plot was your basic run-of-the-mill horror tripe: on the anniversary of a brutal murder, a small town is terrorized by similar crimes. Are they copycat crimes, or is the original murderer still at-large?
What set “Scream” apart from other horror films was its genre awareness: directed by longtime horror director Wes Craven (the man who created “A Nightmare on Elm Street” and “The Hills Have Eyes,” among others) “Scream” knew full-well that the audience was familiar with, and expecting, the litany of horror movie tropes, and used these expectations to keep the audience guessing.
While initially viewed as a disappointment at the box office, positive word-of-mouth soon pushed “Scream” higher and higher up the charts. It ended up grossing over $100 million in the United States alone (source) and was followed by “Scream 2” (1997), “Scream 3” (2000) and eventually “Scream 4” (2011).
“Scream” and its iconic ‘Ghostface’ mask and costume have made several appearances at Halloween Horror Nights. The initial film’s iconic “garage door” scene was featured in HHN 16’s “All-Nite Die-In: Take 2,” and “Scream 4” became the overall theme of Hollywood’s 2011 event (aka “Scream 4 Your Life”). Seen above, that event’s Terror Tram attraction was crawling with Ghostface killers.
Photo by Dan Angona and Albert Lam, courtesy of Westcoaster.net.