Scream

On a dark and chilly Halloween night, in any American neighborhood, there are some costumes that one is bound to see kids wearing. A vampire. A witch. And the immediately recognizable mask from Scream.

Created by Kevin Williamson and Wes Craven, Scream’s influence on horror movies and pop culture can not be denied. Its trademark main character, Ghostface, became one of the most popular and identifiable killers in horror movie history, and the movies led to numerous parodies as well, such as the Scary Movie franchise. The movie still has a lasting influence to this day; the Scream TV series made its debut on MTV in June of this year.

In the first movie, Scream, Ghostface terrorizes a group of high schoolers through killing and threatening phone calls, which were followed by surprise attacks. The whole community grows fearful as no one knows who is behind the Ghostface mask.

The franchise was especially different from other horror movies because it poked fun at itself and the horror movie genre. The characters in the film are aware of cliches that are in scary movies, and try to survive using their knowledge of the basic horror movie plot. The movie also makes fun of news anchors, with Courteney Cox playing a journalist who thrives off of finding a story that can boost ratings.

There are four films in the franchise, all directed by Wes Craven. None of the other films in the franchise have quite been able to match the first movie at the box office.

The first film has made over $170,000,000 worldwide since its 1996 release. The franchise as a whole has made over $600,000,000 around the world. According to Box Office Mojo, it is the highest grossing slasher film of all time.