The knife-wielding mad men from the original Scream movie were pretty darn terrifying, but one of the most frightening things about the film is that in a month's time it'll be seventeen years old. SEVENTEEN!
When it first came out in 1996, Hong Kong was still British, eBay was just a few weeks old and nobody outside Japan new what a DVD was.
But the best thing about the movie is that it's still brilliant. As the mask-clad killers took the breath away from their victims, the movie itself single-handedly revived the entire horror genre, thought long since dead.
Here we explore what the cast have been doing since they played their part in movie-making history.
Matthew Lillard (Stuart)
In 1991, right after high school, Lillard was hired as an extra for Ghoulies 3: Ghoulies Go to College (for our money the best Ghoulies instalment), and his acting career began. Bit parts came and went until his breakthrough in Scream, in which of course he wound up dead after Sidney dropped a substantial TV on his head. Cool, then, that he actually played the uncredited part of a guy at a party in Scream 2. Check it out here.
Despite what we all expected, he didn't go on to play 'Howling Mad' Murdock in the A-Team movie, but he did, of course, play Shaggy in 2002's Scooby Doo movie, a role he's reprised for no fewer than 15 video games or videos, as well as currently doing the voice of Shaggy for the cartoon TV series reboot. It's not all been child's play though - he also cropped up opposite George Clooney in Oscar-winning drama The Descendants.
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Neve Campbell (Sidney)
Factbomb: The name 'Neve' came from Neve Campbell's mum's maiden name. Double factbomb: She appeared in this 1991 Coca-Cola commercial that also featured Bryan Adams.
Campbell rose to fame after being cast as Julia Salinger in the drama series Party of Five (1994 to 2000) and her first widely released film was 1996's The Craft, before playing Sidney in Scream.
Post-Wild Things she provided the voice of Simba and Nala's daughter, Kiara in The Lion King II: Simba's Pride. Betwixt reprising the role of Sidney for Scream 2, 3 and 4 she appeared in Panic and Last Call before co-writing, producing, and starring in the 2003 film The Company. Neve spent a number of years living in London (she married Brit actor John Light and lived in Islington for 5 years) where she starred in numerous theatre productions.
In 2009 she had two guest voice roles on The Simpsons in "Rednecks and Broomsticks" and "O Brother, Where Bart Thou?".
But perhaps most interestingly, these days, is a movie that she probably isn't appearing in. Seduced And Abandoned is a documentary that's just been released in which Alec Baldwin and director James Toback travel to the Cannes Film Festival in the hope of raising funds for a ‘political, romantic adventure’ inspired by Last Tango In Paris. Set in war-torn Iraq, and titled Last Tango In Tikrit, Baldwin pitches the movie as starring Neve, as the Maria Schneider to his Marlon Brando. Neve's in the documentary, but it's never made clear if Baldwin actually wants to make the movie, or just the documentary about making the movie. You follow?
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Courtney Cox (Gale Weathers)
Everyone knows Cox appeared in the 1984 music video for Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark", but what you might not know is that she was in Murder She Wrote in 1986, Masters of the Universe in 1987 and Cocoon: The Return in 1988. In 1994, and interestingly before the debut of Friends, Cox appeared with Jim Carrey in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.
She famously auditioned for the role of Rachel before being handed the role of Monica and, well, the next decade went rather well. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Cox (along with her female costars) became the highest paid TV actress of all time with her $1 million-per-episode paycheck for the final two seasons of Friends.
She met David Arquette on the set of Scream and eventually married him, before divorcing in 2012. Post-Friends, Cox was producer Marc Cherry's choice as Susan Mayer on Desperate Housewives, but Cox was unavailable due to pregnancy and the role went to Teri Hatcher.
In 2009, Cox began her roles as the star of TV comedy Cougar Town. Having appeared on Friends co-star Matthew Perry's now cancelled NBC comedy Go On, he is repaying the favour and will appear in Cougar Town in January.
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David Arquette (Deputy Dewey)
Arquette appeared in a number of movies in the 1990s, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992), Airheads (1994), and Never Been Kissed (1999). He had guest spots on television shows like Blossom (1992), Beverly Hills, 90210 (1992), and Friends (1996).
He married Courtenay Cox and has continued to make movies since Scream, but it's his non-acting escapades that really intrigue. Arquette took a brief foray into WCW wrestling in 2000, (mainly as a plug for his movie Ready to Rumble), and he even "won" the World Heavyweight Championship, an angle that has been cited by wrestling commentators as the moment WCW 'jumped the shark'. All the money he made during his WCW days was donated to the families of Owen Hart (a wrestler who died in a freak accident), Brian Pillman (a wrestler who died from an undiagnosed heart condition), and Darren Drozdov (a wrestler who became a quadriplegic after an in-ring accident).
In 2006 he directed slasher flick The Tripper which was adapted into a comic for which Arquette shares writing responsibility. He has also set up Propr Collection, a clothing line and was briefly in a band by the name of Ear2000, who contributed a song to the Scream 3 soundtrack.
His production company called Coquette, which he shares with his former wife, has produced a number of films and television series, including Dirt, and Cougar Town.
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Skeet Ulrich (Billy)
Ulrich's nickname "Skeet" originated from the nickname "Skeeter" that he was given by his Little League coach because of his diminutive stature.
In his early acting days he was an uncredited extra in Weekend at Bernie's and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but his first notable role came in 1996 as the deeply unpleasant boyfriend of Winona Ryder in Boys. That same year he appeared in the massively underrated The Craft opposite Neve Campbell, before landing his role in Scream. He and Jamie Kennedy went on to appear in As Good As It Gets. Other movies came and went, the biggest of which was probably Ride with the Devil, an American Civil War drama directed by Ang Lee before, in 2006, landing the role of Jake Green on the CBS post-apocalyptic drama Jericho. He played the role for 18 months before a three episode arc on CSI: NY.
Ulrich is a recurring voice on the Adult Swim animated stop-motion sketch comedy series Robot Chicken.
He signed on to star in Law & Order: LA but his character was killed in a drive-by in the ninth episode.
Things are looking up in 2014, however. In March he'll play Chip Woolley in 50 To 1, a movie about Mine That Bird, the underdog racehorse that won the 2009 Kentucky Derby. Dances With Wolves producer Jim Wilson directs, produces and co-writes.
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Drew Barrymore (Casey)
Did you know Drew Barrymore appeared in a dog food advert when she was 11 months old? Us neither. We also didn't know that at 4 years old she appeared in this cookie dough ad. We were, however, aware that she appeared in E.T. when she was seven. A troubled childhood took hold which saw her in rehab at 14.
In the early 90s she became godmother to Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love's only child, Frances Bean Cobain.
A cameo in Batman Forever preceded her Scream cameo, before she appeared in The Wedding Singer in 1998. She starred in Charlie's Angels which was produced by her company, Flower Films and when the production of Donnie Darko was threatened, Flower Films came forward with the finances to get the film made. Barrymore took the small role of Donnie's English teacher.
In 2005, she began a recurring role in Family Guy as Brian Griffin's simple-minded girlfriend, Jillian. She has since appeared 11 times. On February 3, 2004, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
In 2006 Barrymore's films had a worldwide box office gross of over US$2.3 billion and she placed eighth in The Hollywood Reporter's annual actress Star Salary Top 10, commanding $10 to 12 million per film. In 2009 she became the only female to host Saturday Night Live 6 times. The first time she hosted it she was 7 - the youngest ever.
In 2007, Barrymore was named Ambassador Against Hunger for the United Nations World Food Programme and later donated $1 million to the cause.
Her directorial debut film Whip It came in 2009 and starred Ellen Page and in 2011 Barrymore directed the music video for the song "Our Deal," for the band Best Coast, which features Chloë Grace Moretz.
Barrymore and Adam Sandler, stars of 50 First Dates, reunite in May next year for another rom-com, Blended. She is currently expecting her second baby.
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Jamie Kennedy (Randy)
Always a good salesman and never landing movie roles due to bad agents, Jamie Kennedy created a false persona, screen agent "Marty Power," to attract the attention of managers and movie makers.
It worked. Randy Meeks (Scream) was his first big role, but he followed it up appearing in Son of the Mask earning himself a Golden Raspberry Award nomination for Worst Actor.
Next, Kennedy formed a production company called Wannabe Producers, through which he has produced the The Jamie Kennedy Experiment which canvassed his skills as a stand up comic. While working on his film Malibu's Most Wanted, Kennedy wrote an autobiography Wannabe: A Hollywood Experiment which chronicles his life in Hollywood.
Since 2008, Kennedy has played psychology professor Eli James in the CBS drama Ghost Whisperer. Since 2009, he has been in the TV series, The Cleveland Show, playing Roberta Tubbs' boyfriend.
IMDb lists him as having no fewer than 12 films either complete or in production, one of which is The Hungover Games. If this article is to be believed it's a comedy mash up of The Hunger Games and The Hangover. Here's a pic of Kennedy on set, from which you will learn absolutely nothing about the film.
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Rose McGowan (Tatum)
Lovely, lovely Rose McGowan. Her first appearance in a Hollywood film was a bit role in the 1992 Pauly Shore comedy Encino Man. Her role in the 1995 dark comedy The Doom Generation brought her to the attention of film critics, and she received a nomination for "Best Debut Performance" at the 1996 Independent Spirit Awards, before appearing in Scream.
She was the cover model for the Henry Mancini tribute album Shots in the Dark and became the face of clothing company Bebe from 1998 to 1999.
She played opposite Peter O'Toole in the 1998 film adaptation of the Dean Koontz novel Phantoms and, in 2001, was cast as Paige Matthews in television series Charmed. She starred until the series ended in 2006.
While dating Marilyn Manson, McGowan appeared in a music video for the song "Coma White", and also performed backing vocals on the song "Posthuman".
Rose appeared in Brian De Palma's The Black Dahlia and the Quentin Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez double-feature Grindhouse (she sings 3 of the songs on the soundtrack), before landing a recurring role as a con artist in Nip/Tuck.
McGowan had period of bad luck being linked to a host of movies that never got made, one of which was a reboot of Red Sonja, having starred in the 2011 Conan The Barbarian remake.
She has lent her voice to video game versions of Darkwatch and Terminator Salvation and will appear in two movies next year, The Tell-Tale Heart and The Last Duane, the latter of which also stars Danny Trejo and Jason Patric, and tells the tale of Buck Duane, the Lone Star Ranger.
(Images: Rex, All Star)
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