Scream began the resurgence of love for the horror genre when it was released back in December of 1996. It had a stellar cast, including Drew Barrymore, Courteney Cox, and Neve Campbell, and it spawned multiple sequels with the fifth installment currently in development. This horror-comedy shocked audiences everywhere, and people realized that the horror genre may not be dead after all.
Due to the movie's success, horror became popular again, and studios wanted to have their own successful scary movies filled with popular actors and actresses placed alongside fun pop culture references, appealing to those that enjoyed Wes Craven's horror classic. Here are 10 horror movies similar to Scream that cashed in on the film's success.
Urban Legends: Final Cut (2000)
This sequel to the 1998 hit slasher movie involves a serial killer once again murdering people using familiar urban legends as his theme. The main cast in this movie is different than the first, but there are a couple of special appearances by actors from the original film. Like Scream, this movie is a murder-mystery filled with kills and suspense in order to satisfy audiences. It may not be of the same quality as the first film, but there are enough fun moments in this movie to keep audiences entertained.
Cherry Falls (2000)
Brittany Murphy stars in this murder-mystery slasher involving a killer targeting virgins. Similar to Scream, the film uses horror movie cliches and changes them in order to deliver a fun satire of the genre. Throughout the history of the horror genre, and slasher movies, in particular, it was typical for sweet, innocent virgins to live and promiscuous teens to be killed. This film delivers a fun twist on this cliche, and it makes this film unique. It adds to the comedy of the film, which does not take itself too seriously.
I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998)
Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr., the survivors of the original film, return in this fun sequel. The film has an interesting setting, the Bahamas, and the killer fisherman is back, delivering a film that feels much more like a typical slasher than the previous movie.
Like Scream, there is an entertaining plot twist at the end that's worth seeing. Besides, Jack Black's small role in the film is worth the watch itself. With the addition of Brandy and Mekhi Phifer in the cast, this film was meant to be just a fun roller coaster ride.
Valentine (2001)
This murder-mystery slasher film involves a group of women being preyed upon by someone out for revenge because of how they treated the antagonist when they were kids. It has a quality cast, including performances by Denise Richards and David Boreanaz, and it keeps you guessing on the identity of the killer until the very end. This film is in keeping with other films capitalizing on Scream's success, but it feels like an old school throwback to early 1980s slasher movies, at the same time.
Bride of Chucky (1998)
This film introduced Tiffany, played by Jennifer Tilly, into the Child's Play franchise. It is also the first in the franchise without Andy Barkley as the main protagonist. Unlike the first three Child's Play movies, this film decided to lean towards comedy more than horror, and it actually worked.
Filled with funny one-liners and pop culture references, this film took dialogue similar to Scream's and made a whole Chucky movie around it, making it a fun entry in the popular horror franchise. The same cannot necessarily be said for the next installment, but this film was successful as a fun dark-comedy and satire of the genre.
The Faculty (1998)
This movie is, in fact, not a slasher movie, but a sci-fi horror film involving the teachers in a high school being controlled by aliens. It feels like a fun combination of Invasion of the Body Snatchers and the 1980's teen classic, The Breakfast Club. This fun flick is filled with popular cast members, including Elijah Wood and one of the first film appearances of Josh Hartnett.
Kevin Williamson, the writer of Scream, wrote this high school movie, so it is no wonder that the dialogue and character development bears a resemblance to the 1996 horror classic.
Final Destination (2000)
This unique film is sort of a slasher, but, at the same time, it's something much weirder. It involves a group of high school kids getting off a plane soon before it takes off and explodes. But, were they meant to die on the airplane? Death decides to fix its design and kills off the survivors one by one in a unique, over-the-top fashion.
Like many others on this list, this film has a great cast, including a brief appearance by Candyman himself, Tony Todd. The film has a great amount of respect for the horror genre. Some of the characters' names are even based off of famous legends in horror, including a character named Billy Hitchcock, a fun nod to the progenitor of slashers, Alfred Hitchcock himself.
Urban Legend (1998)
This slasher film bears many similarities to Scream. It is a fun murder-mystery involving a serial killer targeting victims on a college campus and basing the kills off of famous urban legends. It has a terrific cast, including a young Jared Leto and pre-Smallville Michael Rosenbaum, as well as appearances by horror movie legends Robert Englund and Brad Dourif.
I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)
This flick is one of the first movies to capitalize on the success of Scream. Scream's author Kevin Williamson himself wrote this script involving a group of teens who run over a man, get rid of the body, and decide to keep the events of that night a secret. The following summer, someone dressed in a fisherman's slicker is out for revenge and begins stalking them.
This premise is very similar to slasher movies of the early 1980s. However, it has a very popular 1990s cast. Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Freddie Prinze Jr., and Ryan Phillippe lead the film and give great performances, and it is fun to see Neve Campbell's Party of Five co-star, Hewitt, as the lead in her own Kevin Williamson horror movie.
Halloween: H2O (1998)
After Scream's success and the horror genre's renaissance, Jamie Lee Curtis returned to her iconic role of Laurie Strode in order to once again battle Michael Myers. It ignored the plots of the Halloween films that came out after the second one, and Kevin Williamson helped craft one of the best horror movie sequels ever.
Jamie Lee Curtis is joined by a great cast, including LL Cool J, in order to create a satisfying sequel for audiences who were fans of the 1978 original. Filled with pop culture references, and even music taken from Scream, this film shows that sequels can be good even many years after the original film's release. The ending itself is incredible, even if ret-cons were made for 2002's Halloween: Resurrection. It all seemed to come full circle in this moment. Scream was inspired by Halloween, and Scream's success, in return, helped to relaunch the iconic franchise.