Scream (1996)

Are you old enough to remember landline phones? Rewinding VHS tapes before taking them back to the video store? Teen heartthrob Skeet Ulrich? Then you probably remember what a sensation SCREAM caused when it first came out in 1996.

Heavily influenced by slashers of the late '70s/'80s, SCREAM single-handedly ushered in the return of the popular horror subgenre, which many considered dead and buried. By taking a meta approach to the standard "rules" (the virginal final girl, the bait and switch with the killer's identity, etc.), screamwriter Kevin Williamson and master director Wes Craven (A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET) upended everything we thought we knew about horror films, honoring and discarding time-worn formulas and terrifying audiences in the process.