Press Play: A Guest Post by Ashley Cullins
Balancing frights with humor, Scream movies have been a game-changer in the realm of horror cinema for close to thirty years. Now fans of the franchise can get behind-the-scenes scoop on the beloved scary films in this riveting history. Read on for an exclusive essay from author Ashley Cullins on writing Your Favorite Scary Movie.
Paperback $22.00
Your Favorite Scary Movie: How the Scream Films Rewrote the Rules of Horror
Your Favorite Scary Movie: How the Scream Films Rewrote the Rules of Horror
In Stock Online
Paperback $22.00
The ultimate story of the Scream movie franchise, featuring interviews from more than eighty key players and an in-depth exploration of the creation and legacy of the films that revived a dying genre
The ultimate story of the Scream movie franchise, featuring interviews from more than eighty key players and an in-depth exploration of the creation and legacy of the films that revived a dying genre
As a pre-teen in the mid-90s — back when landlines were the default, phone books still listed names, numbers and addresses, and caller ID was just coming into popularity — getting a creepy call while home alone wasn’t especially novel or unsettling.
Until Scream changed everything.
With a single phone call, writer Kevin Williamson and director Wes Craven brought slashers into the real world. The characters have seen scary movies and talk like actual teenagers, and the killers aren’t mythical beings. They’re people — people you know and thought you could trust — who are out for blood. The story itself is grounded and plausible, even now, when Ghostface has become an omnipresent character and force outside of the films. By weaving a slasher story with a whodunit and infusing comedy to diffuse tension and disarm the audience, Scream elevated the experience of watching a horror movie.
I was captivated, and almost 30 years later found myself in the fortunate, surreal, and daunting position of writing a book about how this franchise revived and redefined an entire genre. (No pressure!)
When you’re dealing with that much history it’s impossible to include absolutely every detail. As someone who’s just ever so slightly wired for perfectionism, getting comfortable with that reality was essential because I knew deep down that losing the forest for the trees wasn’t the right approach. Instead, I focused on what people felt while walking through the woods, so to speak, and honed in on the memories that come back to them most often.
The very first thing I put on paper was a 496-word mess of freewriting that I didn’t actually think I’d use, but it wound up being the heart of the introduction. For the rest of the book, my words came last because this isn’t my story. It’s theirs.
Through almost a hundred conversations, supplemented with hours of watching directors’ commentaries and reading dozens of archived newspaper articles, I collected those stories from the cast, crew, and horror experts outside the franchise. I pulled together my favorite quotes — no small feat when I was dealing with almost 750,000 words of original interview transcripts — and organized them in a way that crafted a narrative to walk readers through what it was like to make these movies and why they matter. Then I wrote the connective tissue, the analysis and context and detail, that brought it all together. To be nauseatingly earnest, it felt like sculpting: chipping away at something raw and beautiful until the story revealed itself.
There are anecdotes from actors about filming iconic scenes, meditations on fear and what makes a truly effective villain, insight on how writers and directors walk the fine line of making a killer reveal feel inevitable without giving too much away, and some unexpected stories as well, like a prank on the set of Craven’s film Music of the Heart that Meryl Streep was in on.
Scream took something that felt familiar, examined why it resonated with audiences, subverted expectations, and in doing so changed how people thought about the entire genre. In writing Your Favorite Scary Movie, I tried to do the same.
Parts of this story are dark, many are hilarious, and some are more emotional than I had anticipated. Whether you’re newer to the franchise or a lifelong fan, I hope this book inspires you to grab your popcorn, press ‘play’, and fall in love all over again.
