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Scream: a Screenplay by Kevin Williamson
Screenplay by Kevin Williamson with a foreword by Kevin WIlliamson and an introduction by Wes Craven.
- GenresHorrorMedia Tie InPlays
Paperback
First published January 1, 1997
6 people are currently reading
241 people want to read
About the author
Kevin Williamson
3 books64 followersLibrarian Note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Kevin Meade Williamson is an American screenwriter, best known for the horror films Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer and The Faculty, as well as the popular television series Dawson's Creek and, more recently, The Vampire Diaries.
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Kevin Meade Williamson is an American screenwriter, best known for the horror films Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer and The Faculty, as well as the popular television series Dawson's Creek and, more recently, The Vampire Diaries.
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
February 3, 2019
S.C.R.E.A.M....BLOODY MURDER....THEN RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!
S.C.R.E.A.M. begins with creepy, threatening phone calls from a mysterious male voice to a young teen girl who stupidly flirts with him a bit UNTIL........
He says...."You never told me your name."
"The girl says...."Why do you want to know my name?"
"The man replies...."Because I want to know who I'm looking at."
She FREAKS! She is surrounded by large glass windows and French doors; and well, all hell breaks loose from there with a shocking string of deaths in small town USA by a ghost-masked stalker with a big knife!
I did see the movie released in 1979, but did not remember the killer so reading the screenplay was definitely wicked fun! (BTW SCREAM 1&2 are now showing on STARZ)
Dark. Lots of slashing, bloody violence, but with an often funny script.
February 2, 2022
Sidney: "I was literally almost brutally murdered last night."
Billy: "Haha yeah I don't know anything about that that’s so weird 🤠 So anyways more importantly... what are we?"
Billy: "Haha yeah I don't know anything about that that’s so weird 🤠 So anyways more importantly... what are we?"
February 7, 2012
This book deserves way more than 5 stars! The movie also!
Scream was the movie that absolutely terrified me when I was young. I couldn't go out for Halloween without seeing someone dressed as Ghostface and freaking out. I can remember one year I dressed up as Ghostface, looked at myself in the mirror and nearly started crying because I looked too scary. But, boy, things have changed now. Scream is my favourite movie (not just horror movie) of all time. It's smart, witty, suspenseful and it never gets boring. It was interesting to be reading the script and thinking about those scenes as they are in the movie.
Not only do I love the movie, it's cast (especially Neve Campbell) and the director, but I also love the writer, Kevin Williamson. His dialogue is so sharp and witty and you can tell he's really put some thought into his characters and what they're saying. He's written many other movies such as I Know What You Did Last Summer and The Faculty, both of which are popular 90's teenage slasher movies. TV fans will know him for writing hit TV shows like Dawson's Creek, The Vampire Diaries and The Secret Circle.
If there are any Scream fans out there that are reading this review, GET THIS BOOK NOW! It's a great thing to have and it's a lot of fun to read. :)
Scream was the movie that absolutely terrified me when I was young. I couldn't go out for Halloween without seeing someone dressed as Ghostface and freaking out. I can remember one year I dressed up as Ghostface, looked at myself in the mirror and nearly started crying because I looked too scary. But, boy, things have changed now. Scream is my favourite movie (not just horror movie) of all time. It's smart, witty, suspenseful and it never gets boring. It was interesting to be reading the script and thinking about those scenes as they are in the movie.
Not only do I love the movie, it's cast (especially Neve Campbell) and the director, but I also love the writer, Kevin Williamson. His dialogue is so sharp and witty and you can tell he's really put some thought into his characters and what they're saying. He's written many other movies such as I Know What You Did Last Summer and The Faculty, both of which are popular 90's teenage slasher movies. TV fans will know him for writing hit TV shows like Dawson's Creek, The Vampire Diaries and The Secret Circle.
If there are any Scream fans out there that are reading this review, GET THIS BOOK NOW! It's a great thing to have and it's a lot of fun to read. :)
November 1, 2020
Still a brilliant, perfect screenplay, nearly a quarter-century later: excellent plotting, terrific pacing, sharp dialogue, and emotionally resonant characterization. Studied here, Kevin Williamson's screenwriting is masterfully economical and effective -- just suggestive enough to let a master like the late Wes Craven bring it to life. Great script, great movie -- it's only too bad everything Williamson wrote afterwards fell into the very genre-cliché traps he so cleverly and entertainingly subverts here.
April 12, 2021
My all time favorite horror movie. Can't wait for 5.
March 23, 2025
For my money, one of the three finest scripts of my lifetime alongside Back to the Future and Se7en.
It's a Scream, baby.
It's a Scream, baby.
July 9, 2025
Summerween 2025: Horror or Thriller
4.5 ⭐
Full review here: https://boxd.it/agHP1T
4.5 ⭐
Full review here: https://boxd.it/agHP1T
Read
November 9, 2025¿Sabían que el guion original termina con Sydney accediendo a una cita con Randy? Me acabo de enterar.
January 25, 2025
i watched the first Scream movie a few years back in my teens. unfortunately i never got to watch it in cinemas, that would've been an experience. watching it on netflix was cool, but obviously not it. i preface this review by saying while i do like fantasy and romance book, horror is always my go-to for movies, a nice switch off your brain and enjoy kind of hobby. horror books (or horror in words) have never quite did it for me. but i have to say, this did.
Ghostface doesn't scare me, let's get that clear. what i loved about Scream is the mystery of who is behind the mask, and how cleverly Williamson wrote the script, the way he plays so well into the cliches that we think he subverts them. sometimes he does, with having two killers (this was absolutely genius. i was so sure it was going to be just Billy), and other times by leaning into them so hard that we think he subverts them but he doesn't (when Billy drops the phone after Sidney gets attacked and i immediately thought he was a red herring at the start).
i also have to commend the way he wrote the characters into such strict horror movie archetypes — the virgin/final girl, the bestie, the boyfriend, the cop etc. maybe it's just the 1990s and the way slasher horror is written to be campy and tropey, but i liked it.
Ghostface doesn't scare me, let's get that clear. what i loved about Scream is the mystery of who is behind the mask, and how cleverly Williamson wrote the script, the way he plays so well into the cliches that we think he subverts them. sometimes he does, with having two killers (this was absolutely genius. i was so sure it was going to be just Billy), and other times by leaning into them so hard that we think he subverts them but he doesn't (when Billy drops the phone after Sidney gets attacked and i immediately thought he was a red herring at the start).
i also have to commend the way he wrote the characters into such strict horror movie archetypes — the virgin/final girl, the bestie, the boyfriend, the cop etc. maybe it's just the 1990s and the way slasher horror is written to be campy and tropey, but i liked it.
November 10, 2025
I’m a huge Scream fan, it’s my favorite slasher movie and one of my favorite movies in general. So I finally sat down and read both versions of the script, the original version where a lot of stuff is different. Then the rewrite from 1995 where there’s changes but most of them are minor minus a few things, mostly involving Randy. The “weenie” line and the Eight is Enough stuff from both scripts are odd, I mean clearly Kevin was passionate about the lines because they were in both scripts. But yeah I’m glad they’re gone, especially the weenie one, that would be such a lukewarm thing to say in that moment. It just goes to show as clever and interesting as this script was, without Wes craven’s direction, without the cast of up and comers willing to try stuff and improv, and without the music and cinematography this would have never been the lighting in a bottle film it is. I can’t wait to read the sequel scripts and compare those, well maybe besides 5 and 6.
May 21, 2023
The script that re-launched teen horror in the mid-90s, Scream is a fantastic read that grips you from the opening moments to the final reveal. Williamson does an excellent job creating characters and a mythology that have now extended to six films.
The original is still the best, and the script for Scream is a must-read for screenwriters or horror fans.
The original is still the best, and the script for Scream is a must-read for screenwriters or horror fans.
May 10, 2024
This film is SO amazing! It's one of my favorites! I definitely recommend reading this for fans of the franchise. I loved reading Kevin Williamson's foreword, and the script includes some deleted scenes that provide extra depth to the relationships between Tatum and Sidney and Billy and Stu. This was such a a fun read!
August 15, 2018
Sure, Scream is self-aware that it's built on clichés but... it's built on clichés. So many characters are needlessly cruel or vapid or dumb or some combination. And the ghost-masked villain was too ludicrous to incite genuine fear.
September 8, 2018
FIRST OFF- I LOVE THE MOVIE! Now my review-
Shame on me for picking this up, i just had no idea it was out there! Haha.
Watch the movie
Watch the movie
Watch the movie!
Enough said
Shame on me for picking this up, i just had no idea it was out there! Haha.
Watch the movie
Watch the movie
Watch the movie!
Enough said
October 31, 2019
The perfect script of what is essentially a perfect movie.
December 5, 2020
A classic. Kevin Williamson knows how to write great characters and suspenseful dialogue.
November 9, 2021
tatum and sidney's sisterhood playing out in text with some extra scenes and little details... yea that was a classic
December 30, 2022
I was so excited to get this screenplay and read it through 😭 fav movie ever
July 13, 2024
Movie ending was better but I throughly enjoyed reading things that I may not have picked up on in the movie.
August 26, 2022
"𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩'𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙛𝙖𝙫𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙨𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙮 𝙢𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙚?"
Scream (Screenplay) by @kevwilliamson | #amrireviews
genre: meta horror, slasher, murder mystery
rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟/5
𝐬𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬
A year after the murder of her mother, a teenage girl is terrorized by a new killer, who targets the girl and her friends by using horror films as part of a deadly game.
𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐞?
I fell in love with how brilliant this movie is in which the characters' pre-awareness of the existence of horror deepened the layers of tension and meaning in the story. It is so meta and I love every single of it that it becomes an unhealthy obsession 😭 Wes Craven re-invented and revitalized the slasher-horror genre with this modern horror classic, which manages to be funny, clever and scary, as a fright-masked knife maniac stalks high-school students in middle-class suburbia. Craven is happy to provide both tension and self-parody as the body count mounts. There are over 60+ horror movies were referenced in this masterpiece, can you imagine how astonishing is that for a horror genre junkie like me! 🥰
𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲
When I was 10 years old, my brother first introduced me to Scream in 2012. I didn’t even know what it was all about cause obviously I was still young and dumb, but I pretty much fell in love with the horror genre itself after watching the first two entries in the franchise. Some core memories that I could recall were when the moment when I bought a cheap plastic Ghost Face mask from a store, created a fake knife from flattened aluminum foils that I pasted on cardboard with doodles of bloodstains I drew using a red marker to make it looked legit and of course, jump scared my mom in the kitchen. I’m 19 today and I still watch all the Scream movies. It has become something sacred to me and now that I’ve grown up and can think properly, I now understand how meaningful Scream is, how enormous the contribution of the franchise to the horror genre is, revitalizing it to a whole new level. Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson together invented a masterpiece that is timeless with a set of casts that remains iconic, legendary, and always on my mind.
With the sacrifices and performances that Drew Barrymore made to fool and gag the audiences with the most iconic opening sequence in a movie. I could not wait to watch the next entry in the Scream franchise in January 2022, what’s to come, and serve all the fans from multiple generations and the next one!
Have you watch this movie, if so please let me know what do you think 👀 And if no, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! GO WATCH THE ENTIRE FRANCHISE OF SCREAM, YOU WON'T REGRET IT.
Scream (Screenplay) by @kevwilliamson | #amrireviews
genre: meta horror, slasher, murder mystery
rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟/5
𝐬𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬
A year after the murder of her mother, a teenage girl is terrorized by a new killer, who targets the girl and her friends by using horror films as part of a deadly game.
𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐞?
I fell in love with how brilliant this movie is in which the characters' pre-awareness of the existence of horror deepened the layers of tension and meaning in the story. It is so meta and I love every single of it that it becomes an unhealthy obsession 😭 Wes Craven re-invented and revitalized the slasher-horror genre with this modern horror classic, which manages to be funny, clever and scary, as a fright-masked knife maniac stalks high-school students in middle-class suburbia. Craven is happy to provide both tension and self-parody as the body count mounts. There are over 60+ horror movies were referenced in this masterpiece, can you imagine how astonishing is that for a horror genre junkie like me! 🥰
𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲
When I was 10 years old, my brother first introduced me to Scream in 2012. I didn’t even know what it was all about cause obviously I was still young and dumb, but I pretty much fell in love with the horror genre itself after watching the first two entries in the franchise. Some core memories that I could recall were when the moment when I bought a cheap plastic Ghost Face mask from a store, created a fake knife from flattened aluminum foils that I pasted on cardboard with doodles of bloodstains I drew using a red marker to make it looked legit and of course, jump scared my mom in the kitchen. I’m 19 today and I still watch all the Scream movies. It has become something sacred to me and now that I’ve grown up and can think properly, I now understand how meaningful Scream is, how enormous the contribution of the franchise to the horror genre is, revitalizing it to a whole new level. Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson together invented a masterpiece that is timeless with a set of casts that remains iconic, legendary, and always on my mind.
With the sacrifices and performances that Drew Barrymore made to fool and gag the audiences with the most iconic opening sequence in a movie. I could not wait to watch the next entry in the Scream franchise in January 2022, what’s to come, and serve all the fans from multiple generations and the next one!
Have you watch this movie, if so please let me know what do you think 👀 And if no, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! GO WATCH THE ENTIRE FRANCHISE OF SCREAM, YOU WON'T REGRET IT.
October 12, 2014
I read this once while at a bookstore. Kevin Williamson is one of the best modern movie writers of the modern day. With novel-like flair he sets up tension, characters, and events that anyone that is anyone would want to immerse themselves into in the ways of film.
This was great though I did not get the chance to read all of it as that store has now gone kaput. But his writing as well as other influences have not been lost on me as well as I am sure millions of others.
This was great though I did not get the chance to read all of it as that store has now gone kaput. But his writing as well as other influences have not been lost on me as well as I am sure millions of others.
April 14, 2011
Scream is a fantastic thrill-ride that, somehow, pulls you in further than beautifully-written Wes Craven classic! The novel/screenplay is fast-paced and very well-written (thanks to Kevin Williamson). The novel/screenplay is very interesting with an exceptional foreword by the master himself Wes Craven. I reccomend this book to all because it is my favorite novel of all time.
December 24, 2015
I've always wanted to read the screenplay while I watched the film. Finally my dream came true! It was fun to see how things differ from the screenplay and movie. Also, I was surprised that some scenes were reversed originally. But the biggest surprise and *SPOILER* is at the end of the screenplay when Randy asks Sid out to see a movie. Great companion to the film. 5 stars!
Read
April 3, 2021I absolutely adored reading this. Scream is my favorite horror movie and this gave me a chance to read altered/deleted scenes and gave insight to certain scenes that only a screenplay can do.
February 27, 2013
Just as good as the movie. Now I need to watch all 4 movies again haha
August 5, 2013
How a scary movie!!
Really freak me but I like the unexpected end .
Really freak me but I like the unexpected end .
January 25, 2018
Scream single handedly revived the dying horror genre, it’s a modern classic that will still be loved in 50 years. Wes Craven seems to get all the credit but people forget that this story came from the mind of Kevin Williamson, his Screenplay is scary, funny, tongue in cheek and iconic. A must read for horror fans!
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews