It All Began With A Scream

by Padraic Maroney

In 1996, a movie came along that changed the face of horror films forever. Initial signs indicated Scream being a flop upon its release in theaters, but it quickly became a word-of-mouth phenomenon spawning multiple sequels, a television series, and countless imitators.

Twenty-five years later, the impact of Scream is still being felt in films and pop culture. For the first time, get a behind-the-scenes glimpse of what it took to make the beloved films–from the people who were there.

With 30 interviews from cast and crew members, It All Began with a Scream provides readers with an unauthorized look at the franchise. From a bidding war for the original script and studio meddling to on-set romances, script leaks, lawsuits, and a beloved director who created a family atmosphere for everyone on his set, find out the story behind Scream.

It All Began with a Scream is a must-read for horror aficionados, film buffs, and anyone fascinated by Hollywood.

Genres: Nonfiction, Horror, Pop Culture, Media Tie In, History, Ebooks

250 pages, Paperback

First published August 24, 2021

Reviews

[Mark Baker · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book covers the history and production of all four movies released to date in the franchise. With new interviews and research into previously released articles, Padraic dives into what went into the creation of each movie in the franchise. He starts with the origins behind Kevin Williamson writing the first script and covers casting, production, releases, and everything in between for all of the films.

Despite my normal cozy mystery reads, I am obsessed with the Scream franchise, so as soon as I learned about this book, I knew I had to get it. I appreciated the interviews and research that went into this book. There were fewer bits of trivia I didn’t know about the original movie, but the sections on Screams 3 and 4 made me understand some of my issues with those films better. I did feel that the writing lacked a bit of passion that kept me out, and many of the quotes could have been cleaned up for clarity to make the reading better. I would have really appreciated it if the author had included a person’s full name and their position in the crew more than the first time he mentioned them. There are a handful of typos throughout the book, and that wouldn’t bother me, except that each time my alma mater was mentioned by name, it was listed as Santa Rosa high school instead of Santa Rosa High School. Yes, it’s silly, but it bugged me. I also take exception to the producer interviewed about that controversy saying not getting to film at the school was censorship. While there is much to be said on the subject (and both sides behaved poorly during the controversy), it was never censorship. Overall, the writing issues keep me from giving the book a full recommendation, but I am glad I read it.

Read my full review at Carstairs Considers.

[Matty · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really interesting behind the scenes look at a big film franchise, put together by a fan who clearly cares. It’s impressive the access he has to crew and cast members, however, some aspects of the writing frustrated me, like quoting those sources verbatim - it wasn’t always necessary as some would waffle and it was hard to understand what they were saying at times. The book also highlighted the fact that these were studio-led movies and worse, Weinstein-led movies! (Sometimes you don’t want to know EXACTLY how the sauce was made!!!)

[William Simmons · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a huge fan of the Scream series. The first Scream was also the first horror movie I ever saw and I was hooked!! I tried to see each new film in the series on opening night, and have read pretty much every article and interview that has to do with the series. This book was a FANTASTIC read, while some of the information I had already been aware of, there was still so much that I had never heard before. Fans of Scream definitely need to check this book out.

[Douglas Gibson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full disclosure- the first 3 Scream movies are a masterpiece and I will die on that hill. This book does a deep dive into the behind the scenes world of those 3 movies and scream 4.
I enjoyed this book and the insight it provides. It goes chronologically through each movie, but while discussing each film Maroney wanders a little over the place- if there’s a fact he has about that movie, he tosses it in, whether it fits or not. Sometimes the information dump will include several paragraphs on the camera lens used in a particular shot, or the difficulty of using a cherry picker on uneven ground to light a scene, but other times the author will only briefly mention a topic like the homoeroticism between Billy Loomis and Stu with only 2 sentences.
A lot of time is spent analyzing Scream 4 (my least favorite) without much discussion of why it didn’t work, other than detailing the continual script problems. Bonus- a chapter on Craven’s film, “Cursed,” another movie I like.
Highly recommend this one to fans of Scream and behind the scene books with 4 out of 5 stars.

[RL Bailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Informative and fun. Covers the four current films in the series.

[Moniek · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is your director, do you like scary movies? Come to my room.

W przygotowaniu na Krzyk 6...

Padraic Maroney był jedną z tych młodych osób, które zdawały się odmienione po wyjściu z seansu Krzyku (1996). W "It All Began With A Scream", wydanym na krótko przed wejściem do kin Krzyku (2022), autor podejmuje wyzwanie napisania własnej książki "o Woodsboro". Przygląda się kulisom powstawania legendarnej franczyzy, procesom twórczym, wypowiedziom obsady i ekipy filmowej oraz przedstawia znaczenie tej serii horroru dla przyszłości gatunku.

Książka jest napisana prostym, przyjemnym stylem, widać, że jest napisana przez znawcę tematu i pasjonata. Mimo ogromnej miłości do tej serii, autor potrafił wskazać jej blaski i cienie, zwłaszcza w związku z powiązaniami z firmą Miramax i Weinsteinami. Cieszy to, jak wiele wypowiedzi Rose McGowan tutaj umieszczono. Zakochałam się w historiach zza kulis, o przyjaźni i przyjęciach między obsadą (zazdrość mnie zżera), no aż się pragnie być częścią tych "letnich kolonii". Miałam swoje momenty śmiechu i żalu. Wzruszyłam się bardzo pod koniec, bo ta książka była jak subtelna list miłości i uznania dla Wesa Cravena.

Dziwi mnie tylko brak albo mała ilość wypowiedzi głównych aktorów franczyzy, takich jak Neve Campbell, Skeet Ulrich, Courtney Cox, David Arquette czy choćby Emma Roberts. Rozumiem to podejście, zauważalne również w serii Netflixowej "Filmy naszej młodości", gdzie uznajemy, że te glówne gwiazdy już się nagadały i dajemy więcej głosu aktorom drugoplanowym czy ekipie filmowej. Jednak myślę, że kilka własnych wywiadów byłoby wartościowym dodatkiem do tej książki.

Mimo tego jestem usatysfakcjonowana tą pracą, zrobiło mi się ciepło na sercu i czuję się jeszcze bardziej gotowa na przyszły weekend. Do zobaczenia w Nowym Yorku, Ghostface.

We might be dying, but we're your friends until then and hopefully you'll remember us. People do and that's amazing.

[Julie Yeroushalmie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such an interesting read!

[Francesc · Rating 5 out of 5]

Scream is my favorite horror franchise from all times.

I am really enjoying this book which lets the audience know what was behind Scream Movies set.

Congratulations Padraic! It feels I am inside the movie: writers, actors, producers and director.

It is a really good reading for SCREAM fans waiting for new SCREAM to be release on January next year.

As well, for non english speakers is a really good way to improve your english :)

[Alise · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book for fans of the series with a lot of background information about the production of the series, issues, etc. It also gives a peek into the future of the franchise. If you are a big fan, a lot of the information you may already know but I found it interesting regardless.

[sophie whittingham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant book for Scream fans

I've been a Scream fan for many years but learnt a lot reading this! It's funny, informative and eyeopening at times. I've now got more respect for the film than I had before.

[Michelle Hingston · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was great. Couldn’t put it down. It’s a super fun and informative read for fans of the Scream franchise.

[Jenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good overview of the franchise, some interesting anecdotes, Overall I thought it was pretty enjoyable. And I learned some new facts.

[Shannon Everyday · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have loved horror movies for ages, and Scream is one of of my all time favorites. It All Began With A Scream is a behind the scenes look at each film in the series. From perspectives from some cast members, to crew members, to a look back at different issues that cropped up while making the movies, It All Began With a Scream is an interesting, enjoyable look at what went on with each film.

[Madeleine · Rating 3 out of 5]

"... 'It could be anybody. Ghostface is really the darker aspects of everyone. You put on the mask, you're capable of doing things you wouldn't do normally. You feel protected and hidden.' "

I'm a big fan of the Scream franchise, it's one of my favorites, so I was really looking forward to read this book and learn more about how the films were made.
I did learn a lot about the process of the first four films and all the obstacles that the cast and crew went through during each project, but there was one thing that really bothered me while reading: the writing style.

A big chunk of this book consists of interviews with the cast and crew of the franchise, which is great, but the author would mostly leave their quotes word-for-word; this resulted in a lot of repetitions and sentences that made no sense in a written form.
At some point, it started to really hinder my enjoyment of the book, because the sentences were confusing and I realized that I would have enjoyed it a lot more if it had been edited better.

I still appreciate this book and will definitely have a new perspective on the films the next time I watch them!

[Brooklyn Nash · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved all the details

[Michael Sowinski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun behind the scenes look into my favorite franchise.

[Trish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scream is one of my favorite movies, as you’re all prob ably aware by now. 😂 Naturally, I had to have this book. I really enjoyed learning about behind the scenes stuff with the franchise. There were bits of trivia that were certainly new to me. I would’ve liked a little bit more interviews from the main cast, but the interviews were still good. It was definitely a fun and informative read! I’m glad I read it. Fans of Scream should definitely check this one out.

[Maxwell Minka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great interviews for secondary cast members and the production teams across all 4 Scream movies. It was a lot of information I'd never heard of from other documentaries. If you're a Scream fan, definitely worth the read.

The writing was good, but there was something that bothered me. I can't put my finger on it. It didn't fully detract from my reading though.

[Zach Fleming · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had high hopes.
I was disappointed.

[Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really great to go behind the scenes of a franchise I’ve loved so much. Would have loved to hear from Campbell, Cox, and Arquette though.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good run down of the first 4 movies. Would have liked more interviews with the main cast members though

[Joel Straw · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5🌟
SCREAM be hella goAted who would of thought 🔪

[Becs McMorrow · Rating 4 out of 5]

i love this franchise so much wes craven you're an eternal legend

[Andrea A · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent history on how the Scream films came about and behind the scenes stories.

[Rob · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read, but it was pretty much just the production section of all the wikipedia pages.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a must-read for anyone who loves getting the inside scoop on Scream! I absolutely devoured the behind-the-scenes information and the on-set stories. The author clearly did their research and provides a fascinating look at the production process.

However, I did have one minor issue that slightly hampered my enjoyment. Throughout the book, the author would frequently refer back to actors and producers by name, which sometimes led to confusion. I often found myself struggling to recall exactly who they were or which role they played in the films being discussed. It would have been incredibly helpful if, upon reintroducing a name, the author had included a brief parenthetical reminder, such as "(the actor who played [character name])" or "(the producer in charge of [specific task])."

This small addition would have significantly improved the reading experience and kept me fully immersed in the narrative. Despite this, I still highly recommend the book for its wealth of fascinating details and captivating anecdotes.

Just be prepared to take notes or keep a running list of the key players to avoid getting lost!

[Heather Smith]

It All Began With A Scream Book.

A Non-Fiction book all about the Scream Franchise. This book is a fun read for any Scream fans, casual or die hard. You get behind the scenes information all about how the film came to be. Starting with the idea of the short story to the set up for Scream (2022). You get first hand access to how they picked the director, actors, setting, and all the bumps along the way. The author took a deep dive into the world and did his homework with finding out all the facts of how this beloved franchise was made. Would recommend.

[Shant · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good oral history of the fisrt four Scream movies. Originally, I thought it was just going to be the first movie, and I thought the book would stretch thin, but thankfully, that wasn't the case. I've only watched the first two movies, but I was still interested in reading about the production issues for Sceeam 3/its mixed reception, and Scream 4.

[B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well written. Covers the first four movies and provides an overview of the changing horror landscape prior to and following each release. This was a fun book. As someone who saw all but the last two in theaters, this was a great trip down memory lane.

[Warbotter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think the biggest compliment I can give this book is that I hope it's expanded as more movie are released. It's just a ball to read. You can feel the fandom busting through with every insider story or technical info.