Original ‘Scream’ cast to celebrate its 30th anniversary

“Hello, Sidney,” says the raspy voice of “Scream” antagonist Ghostface as he speaks to the franchise’s final girl, Sidney Prescott, for the very first time on the phone. That moment in cinematic history and that voice continue to haunt horror fans three decades later. On Dec. 20, 1996, “Scream” took over movie theaters. It was the passion project of writer Kevin Williamson and a nightmare brought to life with legendary horror director Wes Craven at the helm.

This was a film the major movie studios nearly abandoned. Yet, “Scream” was a box office smash despite the decline in interest from moviegoers in the slasher films of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s.

“By the early ‘90s slashers were really cliché and not exciting,” David Markland, Executive Director and Co-Founder of Midsummer Scream, said during a recent interview. “Then came ‘Scream.’ It really upended what a horror movie could be and made fun of itself as a genre. It just allowed things to be reinvented in a new way an was an exciting and refreshing approach. It made horror smart suddenly.”

Though Midsummer Scream takes place Aug. 7-9 at the Long Beach Convention Center, smack in the middle of what is now dubbed Summerween, Markland said there was no better time or place to commemorate the 30th anniversary of such a landmark film than during the annual Halloween and horror convention in Long Beach.

“We went big this year,” he said, noting that in the past Midsummer Scream has hosted several actors from across the “Scream” franchises’ seven films and three seasons of the “Scream” TV series.

Original “Scream” actors Matthew Lillard (Stu Macher); Skeet Ulrich (Billy Loomis); Jamie Kennedy (Randy Meeks); Joseph Whipp (Sheriff Burke); Lee Waddell (The Original Ghostface in “Scream”) and Roger L. Jackson (The Voice of Ghostface) will all be a part of this three-day weekend celebration.

On Saturday, Aug. 8, Lillard will host the “Scream 30th Anniversary” panel with special guests. On Sunday, Aug. 9, Midsummer Scream is bringing in some of the more behind-the-scenes “Scream” players, including composer Marco Beltrami, Ice Nine Kills front man Spencer Charnas, Roger L. Jackson, film producer Marianne Maddalena and “Scream” music supervisor Ed Gerrard for “The Sound of Scream” panel as they dissect the music of the franchise.

There’s also a special Midsummer Scream edition of Fangoria magazine available at the show with Ghostface on the cover and a recreation of the Bradley Video store from the “Scream” film filled with memorable props and social media-worthy photo ops.

Three decades on and “Scream” remains a part of the cultural conversation. It had an original, yet familiar killer: Ghostface, who donned a white mask with blacked out eyes and a creepy contorted mouth. He wore a black hooded robe with tattered, draping arms and they wielded a large hunting knife as he taunted and terrified a group of teenagers in the fictional town of Woodsboro.

Ghostface went on to spawn one of the most popular Halloween costumes of the ‘90s and became as iconic as Michael Myers (“Halloween”), Freddy Krueger (“A Nightmare on Elm Street”) and Jason Voorhees (“Friday the 13th”). According to Markland, various versions of the Ghostface costume are still a big hit at Midsummer Scream.

And unlike those other horror staples, Ghostface could be anyone underneath that mask — boyfriend/girlfriend, best friend, trusted person of authority — truly everyone in these films is a suspect. Even with some of them perishing early on in the franchise, the original characters are kept around in spirit in the subsequent films as they’re often referenced in flashbacks or their legacy carries on through family members and new emerging characters. Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) and Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) are the only two original characters “officially” alive in the franchise.

“Scream” continues to captivate horror aficionados and casual viewers alike. The latest installment, “Scream 7,” released Feb. 27, earned $213.8 million worldwide.

But what makes “Scream” stand out from the rest?

“It’s so scary, and then suddenly you’re right into the movie, and there’s this fun group of teenagers who make you forget how scared you were just a few moments ago.

Tribune News Service