SCREAM (1996)

There's a mysterious killer gettin' crunk up in here, slashing up the students of Woodsboro High School. After the first few victims are killed, it appears that the main target is Neve Campbell, who's mother was herself raped and murdered just a year earlier. The students take the killings light-heartedly enough and when school is cancelled they decide to throw a bitchin' party. Everybody shows up: a ton of students, the police, a news crew and even the murderer!  Eek!

Watching SCREAM again for the first time in nearly a decade, I enjoyed the nostalgia of it (I saw it opening weekend in a crowded theater), but it's honestly not the greatest Slasher ever. The script is fun, the characters likeable and the pace quick, but the violence is lightweight, zero tits, very little blood and why outside help (state police, FBI) isn't called in is a complete mystery. What you have to remember though is in 1996 mainstream horror was an absolute wasteland. The biggest horror releases in the months leading up to SCREAM were FROM DUSK TILL DAWN (yawn), THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU (double yawn), THE FRIGHTENERS (awesome movie, but not really horror), THINNER (mmmmm...Kari Wuhrer), HELLRAISER: BLOODLINE (well, I liked it) and THE CRAFT (I've popped multiple boners to Fairuza Balk as a Goth, but it's not really horror either). The only Slasher I can even think of from 1996 is THE DENTIST! So add to that Slasher vacuum some popular teenage actors and a smart, cliche conscious script written in a "whodoneit" style and you've got yourself a hit.

SCREAM is dated, but a good intro film into the Slasher genre. Recommended for a good time.

Part 2 - Scream 2 (1997)
Part 3 - Scream 3 (2000)
Part 4 - Scream 4 (2011)
Part 5 - Scream (2022)
Part 6 - Scream VI (2023)

EIGHT LEGGED FREAKS (2002)

I like this movie. It wasn't as good as say TREMORS, but it's a nice lighthearted comedy/giant spider movie that probably the entire family could enjoy. I say that because even though there's a bunch of very large spiders killing people, they also make weird cartoonish noises that add a bit of comedy that I would imagine children would find amusing.

The residents of a small desert mining town are dirt poor and the town is drying up.  An evil land developer has been secretly dumping nuclear waste down an unused mine shaft. Next thing you know, giant computer generated spiders are crawling all over the place killing the shit out of people. That sounds gruesome, but like I said, most of the violence is done in a cartoonish way.

Kari Wuhrer in tight jeans and tight t-shirt for the majority of the movie, quick pace, zero nudity, mild violence, zero gore, green spider blood, funny spiders, likeable characters, Sean Penn's mom, ol' boy from MANHUNTER, Scarlett Johansson in a towel.

EIGHT LEGGED FREAKS is a fun movie that should keep you mildly entertained...and sometimes that's all you want out of a movie.