The version of “Scream” you know isn’t the one director Wes Craven had in mind. The editing of the feature film has indeed gone through many twists and turns, with no less than nine approaches submitted to the classification committee.
Warning spoilers! This article reveals key elements and the ending of “Scream” (1996).
Scarier than a horror movie monster is the Motion Picture Association (or MPA), the American censorship board which gives films the dreaded NC-17 classification. This means that people under the age of 18 are not allowed to see the film in theaters. This is the highest rating in the MPA system for films distributed in the United States.
Ghostface rated “R” or “NC-17”?
It is against this classification that Wes Craven had to face when he made the famous first part of his legendary saga. By the time he finished production on Scream (1996), it had been 24 years since he had made the brutal The Last House on the Left, which he also had to re-edit to gain MPA approval and classification R expected, which means that minors under 17 must be accompanied by an adult to see a film.
In the 1990s, as in the 1970s, the depiction of violence in the horror genre came under intense scrutiny. Although Scream has since become the benchmark slasher, it initially faced a battle with the MPA. And even before filming began, criticism had already been raised about the violence of its iconic killer, Ghostface, so much so that the high school chosen for filming, Santa Rosa High School, had concerns about the murder of teenagers in the scenario.
A demonized shoot
According to the documentary Scream: The Inside Story (2011), the school board’s refusal was explained by a real crime that occurred in the region in 1993, during which a young girl was kidnapped and then found dead. In the next few years, the pain and fear from the tragedy continued. The adults of the community then opposed the production of Scream with the help of the high school during a lively public meeting.
In The Inside Story, Wes Craven spoke about how the community and media demonized the production. This is why, in the end credits of Screamhe made sure to add the words: “No thanks to the Santa Rosa City School District Board of Trustees.” But unfortunately this is not the only problem he encountered.
MPA assessment
Once filming and editing were completed, there was talk of sending the film for evaluation to the MPA: this is where Wes Craven learned that it would receive the dreaded NC-17, significantly limiting the audience who could see the film in theaters. Ghostface’s murders then had to be downplayed to reduce their grisliness, something Craven hated to do, but he had no other choice. The opening scene is one of the most powerful scenes in the franchise – and the horror genre in general – when Casey (Drew Barrymore) receives a phone call that turns his movie night into a bloody farewell.
Dimension Films
This iconic sequence, however, had to be considerably re-edited. In the scene, Casey’s boyfriend Steve (Kevin Patrick Walls) is tied to a chair in front of Casey’s house and is Ghostface’s first on-screen victim – as well as MPA’s first victim. In The Inside StoryMatthew Lillard explained how the scene of a dying Steve had to be cut: according to the commission, the vision of the character’s insides emerging from a deep knife wound was too graphic.
The MPA then moved on to murder Casey herself. Screenwriter Kevin Williamson told The Hollywood Reporter that “the Drew Barrymore slow motion sequence at the beginning was a big no-no. They hated it. They didn’t want her to run in slow motion and get stabbed.”
The slow-motion scene where Casey is unable to outrun Ghostface was rightly designed to be a devastating moment of realization. In the film’s DVD commentary, Wes Craven revealed how he decided to lie to the MPA by telling them that this shot was the only take they filmed, thus allowing him to keep the scene: a small victory followed by another defeat when Casey’s preview dead had to be changed.
Editor Patrick Lussier talked about it in the documentary Still Screaming: The Ultimate Scary Movie Retrospective (2011): The last time Casey is seen, her corpse is hanging from a tree and he had to speed up the footage to get it approved. This is why the camera suddenly seems to rush forward. At this point, Wes Craven was frustrated, especially when he understood that the MPA also intended to clean up its third act…
Two deaths at the end of the film retouched
Tatum’s (Rose McGowan) death was one of those that had to be shortened by order of the MPA. Indeed, while the young woman tries to escape through a cat flap, her plan quickly collapses when she is unable to get the rest of her body through… and Ghostface activates the garage door. His crushing death had to be cut short – although only a second or two of scene was lost. Another major death that was much more affected was that of cameraman Kenny (W. Earl Brown) having his throat slit with a hunting knife.
W. Earl Brown mentioned the problem the MPA had with this scene in The Inside Story : “I remember when Wes had to go back and remove some footage of Kenny’s death scene because they said the look on my face was too disturbing, and it had to be cut, and the Wes’ argument was: ‘It’s murder, it should be disturbing.’” Those few seconds indeed lingered on Kenny’s look of disbelief on his face as the countdown to his final moments began. If it wasn’t already obvious, Wes Craven wanted to make his horror film scary, and Scream Taking place in the “real world,” these deaths were meant to be disturbing and heartbreaking.
Dimension Films
And the battle the director had to wage in the editing room later spilled over into the kitchen scene. After Billy (Skeet Ulrich) and Stu (Matthew Lillard) turns out to be Ghostface, they stab each other in hopes of fooling the police. These shots of the killer duo also had to be shortened to avoid seeing the knife penetrate their flesh. This is why Sidney’s reaction frequently occurs in the scene.
Finally, in addition to the violence, a key phrase was also part of the MPA’s censorship, that of Billy shouting with pride: “Movies don’t create psychopaths, movies make psychopaths more creative!” Patrick Lussier spoke about this to The Hollywood Reporter: “This is certainly the line of dialogue that the MPA looked for and wanted to remove from the film. It was as if they were saying, ‘You can’t tell that kind of truth.’” Wes Craven however managed to keep the phrase, but these few victories did not matter, because even with all this editing, Scream still wasn’t able to get an R rating…
The phone call that saved the film
In Still Screaming: The Ultimate Scary Movie Retrospective, Wes Craven spoke about his frustrations with this whole process: “You never get a name, you never know who saw your film, and often it’s a different group each time. So it’s quite horrible to deal with.” The production of Scream ultimately submitted 9 versions to the MPA with little success to get close to the rating it needed. In Scream: The Inside Storythe director also explained how every department involved in editing would have to be called back to work to accommodate the new guidelines, thereby increasing the budget, and it didn’t seem like the film would be ready for its release date.
It was finally producer Bob Weinstein who intervened, explaining to the MPA that Scream was “a comedy is a satire”. This gave the film its R rating, much to the surprise of Wes Craven, but for his greatest pleasure. Ultimately, for a franchise focused on phone calls, it needed one so that Scream gets the necessary approval… Although the film did not become an overnight box office success upon its release, the result was slowly explosive. The feature film remained in theaters for months, reviving the horror genre, particularly that of the slasher that was thought to be dead. You know the rest: it is history.
Scream (1996) can be seen streaming on Paramount+.