Movies A Nightmare on Elm Street VS Scream

[GoodBadHBK]

Tonight I saw Scream (96) at the theater and it was excellent. Is it scary? No but it has some good suspenseful chases, a great cast and some really good comedy. Scream pays a homage to the horror movie genre, most notably to Halloween but also to Cravens first big hit, A nightmare on elm street.

I saw both Craven films in theater this year and here's how I break it down:

Best Villian - Easily Freddy/Nightmare but Ghostface is still one of the best imo

Best cast - Easily Scream. Campbell, Cox, Arquette, Ulrich, Lillard, McGowan, Kennedy, Barrymore & Winkler. Theres also small cameos from Linda Blair, Nick Castle, and Wes Craven as the Janitor/Freddy look alike.

Better movie - Scream. Nightmare is the more "scarier" of the 2 but scream is a well written love letter to the horror film genre that is great from opening scene to closing scene. Scream was a lot of fun!

Best lead actress - Neve Campbell and its not even close. Heather is too green at times and she is terrible at reacting to the deaths of her loved ones lol

Final Verdict: Freddy is the better icon but Scream is the better movie. These 2 films are Cravens best so you cant go wrong picking either but im choosing Scream.

Scream - Great/Excellent

Nightmare - Good/Great

Winner:

 

[ufcfan4]

Glad you got to see it. Thoroughly enjoyed watching it in a theater two weeks ago.

I agree with pretty much everything you said. Neve goes without saying. Right up there with Jamie Lee as one of the best lead performances in the genre. Scream cast is tough to beat in the slasher genre too. You have a good blend of very earnest and grounded performances like Neve’s and McGowan’s, then Lillard, Kennedy, and Arquette delivering hilarity.

ANOES is very good, too, though. Two iconic horror films and two of the best slasher films ever.

There were a couple of scenes in Scream that I had either forgotten or just appreciated much more this time around. That scene after Campbell gets off the phone with McGowan, who is going to pick her up after stopping at the video store, was particularly impressive to me, just the entire way it was executed.

There’s an ominous quality to that scene from Sidney dozing off on the couch while waiting, then waking up to see that Tatum is late, only to get a call from the killer. It’s just really well done and ramps up in intensity.

 

[Mujeriego]

Not really into horror movies.
You know what was a good movie?
The Negotiator.

 

[Kal-El]

Scream has a strong anthology too, 2 and 4 are particularly good, and none of them are terrible.

But I prefer NOES 1 to Scream 1.

 

[GoodBadHBK]

Glad you got to see it. Thoroughly enjoyed watching it in a theater two weeks ago.

I agree with pretty much everything you said. Neve goes without saying. Right up there with Jamie Lee as one of the best lead performances in the genre. Scream cast is tough to beat in the slasher genre too. You have a good blend of very earnest and grounded performances like Neve’s and McGowan’s, then Lillard, Kennedy, and Arquette delivering hilarity.

ANOES is very good, too, though. Two iconic horror films and two of the best slasher films ever.

There were a couple of scenes in Scream that I had either forgotten or just appreciated much more this time around. That scene after Campbell gets off the phone with McGowan, who is going to pick her up after stopping at the video store, was particularly impressive to me, just the entire way it was executed.

There’s an ominous quality to that scene from Sidney dozing off on the couch while waiting, then waking up to see that Tatum is late, only to get a call from the killer. It’s just really well done and ramps up in intensity.

I honestly think Sidney is on the same level as Jamie. This made me want to watch more of the Scream movies. I've only seen the first 3 but I know Craven did the first 4 which to me shows he really loved this franchise more than Nightmare.

 

[ufcfan4]

I honestly think Sidney is on the same level as Jamie. This made me want to watch more of the Scream movies. I've only seen the first 3 but I know Craven did the first 4 which to me shows he really loved this franchise more than Nightmare.

Good call. I think you'll like 4. There are some tonal things and moments that really bother me but Campbell is great as always, Cox and Arquette are great and the new cast, including and specifically Emma Roberts and Hayden Panettiere, does a really good job.

I read trivia that Wes objected to Williamson's line in the script when Drew says, "the first was good but the rest sucked," regarding the Nightmare films. He wanted it out because he felt like it would come across like he was an egomaniac (only the one he directed, aside from New Nightmare, was good lol). But Williamson convinced him otherwise. It's just one character's opinion lol but I guess it could be interpreted as kind of petty.

Plus Dream Warriors is arguably just as good as ANOES.

 

[GoodBadHBK]

I read trivia that Wes objected to Williamson's line in the script when Drew says, "the first was good but the rest sucked,"

Plus Dream Warriors is arguably just as good as ANOES.

Yeah as soon as she said that I thought immediately 3 is the best to me. I think the only one that truly sucks was Freddy's Dead. I would say 3 and 4 has the best version of Freddy. 1 and 2 hes more serious than comedic, 3 and 4 hes a mix of serious and funny, and then 5 & 6 hes mostly comedy.

 

[Adamant]

The original SCREAM is great. I wish they would finally release the unrated cut on 4K.

Original ANOES is super fun.

 

[GoodBadHBK]

The original SCREAM is great. I wish they would finally release the unrated cut on 4K.

Original ANOES is super fun.

I never knew there was an uncut version.

 

[TCE]

ANOES by KO.

 

[Adamant]

I never knew there was an uncut version.

It's like an additional minute of gore that was cut for the R rating. The full unrated cut (technically the NC-17 cut) was released on VHS but never on DVD or bluray or 4K. I grew up with the VHS so that's the cut I prefer. And now watching the movie on disc always bothers me because I always notice the cuts.

What's really insulting is that by today's standards the NC-17 cut would be a relatively mellow R.

 

[Ezekiel 25:17]

We are comparing a comedy/horror to a pure horror classic?

Nightmare by 1st round KO.


To add just for some context:

Scream was good theatre fun. Can't knock it for that. It was a nice kickstart to a genre that was in a severe decline.

Nightmare was a purely original and brilliant concept that worked masterfully in a genre that was at the time, full of Halloween or Friday the 13th wannabe movies. Wes both wrote and directed it so its his own masterwork.

Legacy wise, its not close. Freddy is an iconic villain and that movie scared the shit out of a generation. The concept alone of a guy terrorizing you in your dreams was genius.

Like I said, two different films. Scream did nothing for me as far as scares go. Nightmare was an entirely different beast. It was just a superior film all things considering.

 

[UberHere]

As a franchise, NOES shits all over scream, but comparing the first of each, Scream is the superior film.

 

[HHJ]

Never been into Scream.

NOES movies are in varying quality, but the first one is def tits, and I got alot of enjoyment as a kid from most of the other ones. I got fond memories of Dream Warriors, but Scream never really connected with me. I had a crush on Neve Campbell though.

 

[I Fusion I]

Scream by a hair. Nightmare is still a classic and it’s very iconic at the same time

 

[BB in Crazy!!!!]

I agree with the OP. Love both movies.

 

[Elvis.]

The original Scream is probably my favourite film from either franchise, but after the original the rest of the series is pretty lame , so as a franchise ANOES wins this with little resistance

 

[Thai Domi]

The first Scream was a terrific slasher movie, but that's all it was, a slasher movie. ANOES was a wildly innovative new take on the genre and Freddie was far more charismatic than whoever the killers in Scream were (can't remember their names).

 

[Texan6533]

Of course ANOES is a classic and fundamental to horror, but I personally enjoyed scream more.

 

[SwamiLeoni]

Nightmare on Elm Street will always be my favorite horror series. Freddy has haunted me since I was a kid and it was the first cerebral type or horror I've ever seen. Every year around Halloween I petition A24 and Neon to reboot the classic. Obviously England is the GOAT but I know there is someone out there who can match his charm and whit.

Scream as cool, but it's not on the same level.