Scream – Local police thought a real killer was on the loose
Scream may be more recent compared to a lot of the iconic horror movies we’ll be discussing today, but it quickly became a classic within the genre for its unique interpretation of a horror movie.
Scream is about Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), a teenage girl from California whose mother was murdered. A year later, Sidney and her friends become the target of a new masked killer, who keeps calling and threatening them. After this crazed psychopath kills their classmate Casey Becker (Drew Barrymore) and her boyfriend, the entire school is abuzz.
But what makes Scream so different from classic horror flicks like The Exorcist or The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, widely considered two of the scariest movies of all time, is that it was both based in reality, and was more of a comedy. In fact, when the movie was sent off to be rated before its release, the filmmakers struggled to get the film an R rating rather than NC-17.
It wasn’t until producer Bob Weinstein told them to view the film as a comedy instead of a horror film that they finally cut them some slack and gave them the R rating.
Even if Scream is a comedy-horror film, it’s still pretty terrifying even if you get some chuckles. The set of the movie apparently was no different. In fact, the police had to get involved because they thought a real crime was taking place!
On the set, Roger Jackson, who played the voice of the killer, made real phone calls with a cell phone for all the phone scenes. The crew got a call from the local police demanding to know what was going on — because they thought there was an actual killer making those calls! That wasn’t the only telephone mishap, either.
While filming the opening scene, Casey (Barrymore) tries to call the cops, but somebody didn’t unplug the phone. So Barrymore actually dialed 911 and proceeded to scream for help on the other end without realizing it. Naturally, the police were horrified.
Maybe it’s best to let the local authorities know when you’re filming a horror movie nearby, just in case.