What do you think?
Rate this book
Scream Deconstructed: An Unauthorized Analysis
Someone's taken their love of Scream one step too far... and written a book about it! Having earned the respect and accolades of critics and audiences, generated more than half a billion dollars in revenue, and inspired a gaggle of imitators, it's safe to say Scream is millions of people's favorite scary movie. While the Scream films have scared and entertained moviegoers worldwide, they've also invited us to closer examine the movies we to deconstruct them. This book aims to do just that. Scream An Unauthorized Analysis puts all four Scream movies under the knife to examine the meaning, themes and philosophy of the movie series that brought horror back from the dead by breaking all the rules. Take a close look into the heart of this pop culture phenomenon and what its characters - including Sidney, Gale, Dewey, and each film's killer - represent. Find out what reality, film, fantasy, and sex have to do with it all. Scream Deconstructed is sure to please any fan of Scream , horror, or film in general.
- GenresNonfictionHorrorFilm
160 pages, Paperback
First published September 25, 2011
7 people are currently reading
46 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
June 27, 2018
The title is miss leading as it is nothing to do with Derrida's Deconstruction and I am not sure where they got their definition from of deconstruction from. Not terribly well written, but probably fun and informative for fans of the films.
October 28, 2018
Do you like SCREAM? I mean really-really like Scream? Well, then this is a book you'll enjoy. It doesn't have any startling new insights into the four movies but it is entertaining. It discusses the psycho-sexual issues of the movies, their self-referential quality, and their effect as a recursive reality of movies about movies about reality inspired by movies. It's a very entertaining but rather short book. I definitely recommend it if you plan a binge watching of the films as I did with my wife recently. Sadly, it doesn't cover the series but the four movies get discussed in reasonable depth. Still, I could have read twice as many pages about this topic.
8.5/10
8.5/10
October 25, 2023
-There's nothing in this book that the average 90s teen wouldn't have seen when watching Scream for the first time in the theater in 1996 (ditto for the rehashes of Scream 2-4 in those respective years; this book stops with Scream 4). It's all surface discussion, no deconstruction, no real analysis.
-There are a lot of editing issues. Articles, auxiliary verbs, and irregular verbs are frequently left out of sentences (a, an, has, has been, etc.). For the most part, your brain will fill them in, but in many cases, it's jarring. Then again, this is self-published and the author probably assumed they didn't need an editor and didn't need to pay attention to all those red and blue squiggly lines in whatever word processing program they used - about par for the course for a first self-publish.
That said, as long as you're not looking for anything to break new ground, and you just want the nostalgia of rehashing Scream, complete with that 90s discussion post feel (and grammar), well, have at it. Glad this one was sent to me and glad I didn't spend money on it, but not sorry I read it. It's short, just long enough to give you that nostalgia twinge and then it is done.
-There are a lot of editing issues. Articles, auxiliary verbs, and irregular verbs are frequently left out of sentences (a, an, has, has been, etc.). For the most part, your brain will fill them in, but in many cases, it's jarring. Then again, this is self-published and the author probably assumed they didn't need an editor and didn't need to pay attention to all those red and blue squiggly lines in whatever word processing program they used - about par for the course for a first self-publish.
That said, as long as you're not looking for anything to break new ground, and you just want the nostalgia of rehashing Scream, complete with that 90s discussion post feel (and grammar), well, have at it. Glad this one was sent to me and glad I didn't spend money on it, but not sorry I read it. It's short, just long enough to give you that nostalgia twinge and then it is done.
August 28, 2022
There is nothing in this book that your average fan of this movie series couldn't have concluded on their own, and the writing is dry and uninspiring. There is no justification for this book having been written, and while I was initially curious what the author had to say and what he might even have reevaluated since the release of the fifth movie, I am less than impressed with this. Don't waste your money on it; anyone could have had the same conversation with fellow fans of the series and drawn all the same conclusions and brought up the same points and more than this author managed in this unnecessary, drawn-out "essay", if that word can even accurately reflect what this was. Originally I was going to be more ruthless and tear this to pieces bit-by-bit, but it doesn't deserve that much of my time.
December 28, 2022
A delightful dissection of dread
Scott Kissingers short but trenchant analysis of the Scream series was, for me, an unexpected delight. A late night Google for material that dove deeper on my favorite horror franchise led to a quick purchase and a quicker read.
In my opinion, Scream is the great horror series of our time, in no small part because of how much it is ABOUT something, and Scott’s analysis of the themes at play really helped to put a fine point in the blurry ideas I could feel the series playing with. I’ve seen each entry in the film series many times, and this piece really helped elevate my understanding of what’s going on behind the sinfully delicious scenes. Not to mention, Scott has a kitchen-knife sharp sense of humor.
I look forward to my next watch of the series with this book by my side.
Scott Kissingers short but trenchant analysis of the Scream series was, for me, an unexpected delight. A late night Google for material that dove deeper on my favorite horror franchise led to a quick purchase and a quicker read.
In my opinion, Scream is the great horror series of our time, in no small part because of how much it is ABOUT something, and Scott’s analysis of the themes at play really helped to put a fine point in the blurry ideas I could feel the series playing with. I’ve seen each entry in the film series many times, and this piece really helped elevate my understanding of what’s going on behind the sinfully delicious scenes. Not to mention, Scott has a kitchen-knife sharp sense of humor.
I look forward to my next watch of the series with this book by my side.
September 16, 2019
I had very low expectations for this book. I love the Scream movies and figured I might as well roll the dice on the book. Now, my complaint is that Keasinger could easily have written more and gone even further in-depth. The book is interesting and thoughtful enough to warrant it.
January 21, 2024
A short, snappy read for fans of the franchise. There is a lot of fun to be had and interesting thoughts to ponder from reading this book, but I feel like the essays could have been longer and more in-depth
April 17, 2021
A quick and fun analysis of the 4 Scream horror movies.
There is a lot of info that I didn't notice pre-reading this book. In some instances, however, the analysis becomes kinda over-complicated.
There is a lot of info that I didn't notice pre-reading this book. In some instances, however, the analysis becomes kinda over-complicated.
January 26, 2022
Anything about Is amazing.
February 10, 2013
Aren't we all sick of those classic cliches in horror movies? Take the annoying habit of grossly disproportional female victims to run upstairs or downstairs when they should be running out the door. It's a weakness that destroys the horror in far too many horror flicks. "Scream", directed by horror master Wes Craven, makes a refreshing twist by poking fun at the genre Craven's worked with so much in previous years. Unfortunately, while good ideas surface, the movie stumbles too much for a recommendation.
A series of high school murders have shocked a community. An attractive young high school student, Sidney (Neve Campbell) gets several threatening calls and later gets viscously attacked by the murderer. Does this mean "Scream"'s plot will follow right in line with all the other slasher movies? Heavens no. Instead, the movie concentrates on a mystery and makes the audience try to guess which one of the many teenage suspects is the murderer. While Scream is light years away from "The Maltese Falcon" material, Wes Craven amazingly makes the plot moderately interesting. I actually cared for Sidney's plight, and I thoroughly enjoyed the many jokes the actors and the movie makes toward previous horror movies. Released near the end of 2011, Scott Kessinger's book Scream Deconstructed: An Unauthorized analysis enlarged the media collection around the Scream cult. With Scream 4 coming out to home entertainment, the release of the first trilogy in Blu-Ray and two major documentaries reviewing the story of the movie that changed the metalanguage of horror (and maybe of the entire cinema back in the 90s), it was the perfect time for a film analysis book. This kind of literature is delicious to fans in general that like intelligent discussions about their favorite movies, TV shows and games. You may wonder if it would be better to head out to the next message board to talk with other fans for this kind of thing, instead of sit down for a lecture… But, let me inform you: Kessinger´s approach to the themes of Scream is very, very unprecedented. For instance, it takes on the battles of the sexes to explain the philosophy and the architecture of the quadrilogy, going through intelligent topics, always proposing thoughts while still allowing the reader the delicious "job" of coming to his or her own final conclusion. It is very unusual for an author to accomplish that mission.
Scream Deconstructed makes you think profoundly and profusely about something you may believe you know so well. I was mesmerized myself several times during the reading, saying out loud "how on earth have I never realized that?" This book is a mind-blowing lecture that goes very deep into the philosophy encapsulated in the movies. It is a must-have for fans of the franchise. Fans of horror and film can appreciate this book.
A series of high school murders have shocked a community. An attractive young high school student, Sidney (Neve Campbell) gets several threatening calls and later gets viscously attacked by the murderer. Does this mean "Scream"'s plot will follow right in line with all the other slasher movies? Heavens no. Instead, the movie concentrates on a mystery and makes the audience try to guess which one of the many teenage suspects is the murderer. While Scream is light years away from "The Maltese Falcon" material, Wes Craven amazingly makes the plot moderately interesting. I actually cared for Sidney's plight, and I thoroughly enjoyed the many jokes the actors and the movie makes toward previous horror movies. Released near the end of 2011, Scott Kessinger's book Scream Deconstructed: An Unauthorized analysis enlarged the media collection around the Scream cult. With Scream 4 coming out to home entertainment, the release of the first trilogy in Blu-Ray and two major documentaries reviewing the story of the movie that changed the metalanguage of horror (and maybe of the entire cinema back in the 90s), it was the perfect time for a film analysis book. This kind of literature is delicious to fans in general that like intelligent discussions about their favorite movies, TV shows and games. You may wonder if it would be better to head out to the next message board to talk with other fans for this kind of thing, instead of sit down for a lecture… But, let me inform you: Kessinger´s approach to the themes of Scream is very, very unprecedented. For instance, it takes on the battles of the sexes to explain the philosophy and the architecture of the quadrilogy, going through intelligent topics, always proposing thoughts while still allowing the reader the delicious "job" of coming to his or her own final conclusion. It is very unusual for an author to accomplish that mission.
Scream Deconstructed makes you think profoundly and profusely about something you may believe you know so well. I was mesmerized myself several times during the reading, saying out loud "how on earth have I never realized that?" This book is a mind-blowing lecture that goes very deep into the philosophy encapsulated in the movies. It is a must-have for fans of the franchise. Fans of horror and film can appreciate this book.
March 4, 2012
There’s a lot I could say about this book but right now, I’m too damn lazy to do so and I can’t be bothered making a proper review at another time. But other than that, I loved this book!
Scott Kessinger is just like me. He’s a huge Scream fan! Except, he’s went to the lengths of writing a 151 page analysis on the entire series. Reading this has turned my perspective on a few things right around. The writer has went deep into the core of the franchise and tells us of what things symbolize and what the killer’s motives and personalities really were. I knew most things and had thought about things a smiliar way that Kessinger did, but there were some things that have changed my look on them.
To any Scream fans out there reading this, order a copy of this book from Amazon or read it on your Kindle (if you have one). The writing is fantastic, it keeps you hooked and it’s a lot of fun to read. I recommend that every Scream fan gets this. It’s a nice thing to have and you won’t be disappointed when you’re done. :)
Scott Kessinger is just like me. He’s a huge Scream fan! Except, he’s went to the lengths of writing a 151 page analysis on the entire series. Reading this has turned my perspective on a few things right around. The writer has went deep into the core of the franchise and tells us of what things symbolize and what the killer’s motives and personalities really were. I knew most things and had thought about things a smiliar way that Kessinger did, but there were some things that have changed my look on them.
To any Scream fans out there reading this, order a copy of this book from Amazon or read it on your Kindle (if you have one). The writing is fantastic, it keeps you hooked and it’s a lot of fun to read. I recommend that every Scream fan gets this. It’s a nice thing to have and you won’t be disappointed when you’re done. :)
February 12, 2014
Scream Deconstructed is a fairly brief (100 pages I would guess - I read the e-book) analysis of the Scream film series, covering all four movies released to date. What the book lacks in depth, however, it makes up for with a refreshingly easy-to-read discussion of various thematic elements of the films covered, and whether you agree with the author's opinions or not, the author expresses himself quite well without belaboring the point too heavily or relying unduly on the specialized vocabulary of the film studies intelligentsia. I would recommend this book to fans of Scream series, as well as those simply interested in movies generally or horror films specifically.
November 3, 2012
A very pleasant and not-too-scarey introduction to film studies and deconstruction suitable for undergraduates and general readers. The book also contains many intriguing descriptions and ideas; I would have given it four stars, but I would have liked more depth and development in exploring the many ideas. Still, if you are searching for a user-friendly introduction to horror films through the lens of film studies, this book and the "Scream" films in general would make a very solid starting point.
May 20, 2013
I love Scream. I've watched the movies more times than is healthy. And I really enjoyed this book. The author pointed out lots of things that I didn't notice on my own. I highly recommend this book to Scream fans or anyone who just loves horror movies.
July 21, 2013
a bit basic and i don't agree with everything kessinger presupposes but there's some good kernels in there. would read again. in fact, i already am. but that's probably because i'm obsessed with scream
December 19, 2012
Succinct and well thought out arguments. Great for fans of the genre.
February 4, 2013
I loved this book
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews