It’s been 25 years since the original Scream hit theaters to both critical and box office success. It has spawned 4 sequels and a short-lived TV show. People didn’t know what to think of Scream when it came out. Was it a comedy or horror or some weird combination of both? In some ways to paved the road for terrific movies like Happy Death Day and Ready or Not, 2 of my favorites.

If you watch closely, it checks off all the boxes for whatever it’s doing. The police station has Dunkin Donuts on every desk. Courteney Cox is a caricature of a TV tabloid reporter. Everything is done just a little over the top. The movie itself has a solid story and even though you’re trying to figure out who the murderer is, it doesn’t need to be the sole focus to enjoy the movie.

It was also one of the first movies to kill off a main character early, to everyone’s initial surprise. It’s not a perfect movie but if you want to have a laugh along with your horror, it’s really pretty good.