CBB Presents The Bear Cave of Terror - Ep. 23 - Scream (1996)

In this week's episode, Steve is joined int he Bear Cave by first-time guest host, Ben Raifsnider of the upcoming X-Files podcast, Little Dead Aliens. His horror movie of choice to talk about today is one of his absolute favorites, Wes Craven's Scream from 1996, the first of the long-running (30 years!) franchise, soon to welcome its seventh installment! Since this is the film that got him into horror in the first place, he shares his love of the original by detailing what makes it such an important film to him. Coming along in the mid-90s, Scream hit a nerve with the movie-going public who had become bored with big-screen horror, proving a hit with audiences across multiple demographics, kicking off a revival of sorts for the slasher/teens-in-the-crosshairs genre, as well as inspiring an era of more meta and self-aware horror. Spawning several of its own sequels, and tons of copycats that spilled into cinemas through the early 2000s, it's easy to see why Scream is well-loved. We talk some fun trivia, favorites scenes, Kevin Williamson's contribution to the genre, and why Scream is arguably unique, homaging and using classic slashers, like Psycho and Halloween, as direct inspiration (sometimes down to the characters' names)!

Additional resources for this episode:

"The Making of Scream: Rose McGowan looks back at filming the horror classic" by Tim Stack, 4/14/11, Entertainment Weekly

"The Making of Scream: Jamie Kennedy looks back on filming the horror classic" by Tim Stack, 4/12/11, Entertainment Weekly

"Faster, Better, and More Blood: A Scream Oral History" by Ashley Cullins, 10/29/21, TheHollywoodReporter.com

Your Favorite Scary Movie: How the Scream Films Rewrote the Rules of Horror by Ashley Cullins, Plume (Penguin Random House), 2025