Jordan is back and, once again, he’s right on the money. He asked me to take a look at Scream, the 1996 film that turned the entire horror genre on its head. Sure enough, this film proved to follow a chiastic structure, the first half being repeated over its second half in reverse order. This Cinematic Chiasmus is so intricate, it’s downright scary. So let’s cut to the chase and take a stab at this film analysis.

The Chiasmus

Here is how Scream’s chiasmus works:

A. On a dark night, Casey Becker receives strange calls from an unknown man
 B. Ghostface asks Casey, “Do you like scary movies?”
  C. Casey touches a knife as she says Halloween is her favorite scary movie
   D. Casey gets scared when Ghostface says he’s looking at her
    E. Casey locks all of her doors and threatens to call the police
     F. Ghostface reveals Casey’s beat-up boyfriend Steve
      G. Ghostface plays a game with Casey
       H. Ghostface kills Casey’s boyfriend Steve
        I. Ghostface asks Casey to guess which door he’s at
         J. Ghostface breaks into Casey’s house
          K. Casey exits her house to elude Ghostface
           L. Ghostface attacks Casey, and she fights him off
            M. Casey sees her parents arriving home, but she’s unable to reach them
             N. Ghostface jumps out of a window and prevents Casey from calling out to her parents for help
              O. Ghostface stabs Casey with her parents nearby
               P. Casey’s parents can’t find her in their house
                Q. Casey’s parents are shocked when they find Casey’s dead body
                 R. Sidney Prescott’s boyfriend Billy Loomis comes into her bedroom and mentions The Exorcist
                  S. Sidney’s dad says he’s leaving on a trip and won’t be back for a few days
                   T. After Neil Prescott leaves, Billy pops out to talk to Sidney
                    U. Billy and Sidney make out, and she exposes one of her breasts to him
                     V. Gale Weathers makes her debut reporting on Casey and Steve’s murders
                      W. Sidney’s best friend Tatum Riley surprises her at school with news about Casey and Steve’s murders
                       X. Sidney is interviewed by the police
                        Y. Billy, Stu, and Randy speculate on who the killer might be
                         Z. Sidney goes home and ponders her mother’s murder
                         AA. Tatum calls Sidney to say she’s on her way to pick Sidney up from her house
                          BB. Ghostface calls Sidney and discusses scary-movie clichés
                           CC. Ghostface attacks Sidney inside her front door
                            DD. Sidney starts to suspect Billy is the killer
                             EE. Sidney runs outside and gets surprised by Dewey holding a Ghostface mask
                              FF. Gale fails to get a story from Sidney
                               GG. Sidney is unable to get in touch with her father
                                HH. Billy is questioned and can’t leave the police station
                                 II. Sidney punches Gale
                                  JJ. Ghostface calls Sidney at Tatum’s house
                                   KK. Sidney approaches Gale to talk about her mother’s killer Cotton Weary
                                    LL. A student in a Ghostface costume scares Sidney at school
                                     MM. Running away from Tatum, Sidney smacks into Billy, and she apologizes for thinking that he was the killer
                                     MM. Billy thinks Sidney needs to get over her mother’s murder, so she angrily apologizes again and runs away
                                    LL. The principal expels two students for dressing as Ghostface
                                   KK. Sidney overhears two girls talking about her mother
                                  JJ. Ghostface attacks Sidney in a school bathroom
                                 II. Dewey receives Gale warmly
                                HH. School is canceled, and students are released
                               GG. Dewey says they haven’t been able to contact Sidney’s father
                              FF. Stu invites Sidney and Tatum to a party at his house
                             EE. The principal gets surprised and killed by Ghostface
                            DD. Sidney and Tatum wonder if Cotton didn’t kill Sidney’s mother
                           CC. Ghostface stalks Sidney outside her front door
                          BB. Randy discusses scary-movie clichés with Stu and Billy
                         AA. People in town close their shops and encourage everyone to obey a curfew
                         Z. Sidney admits having intimacy issues since her mother’s death
                        Y. The police chief reveals that Mr. Prescott’s phone has been making the calls, so he must be the killer
                       X. Dewey brings Sidney and Tatum to Stu’s party in his police car
                      W. Dewey surprises Gale outside Stu’s house, hoping more murders won’t occur there
                     V. Gale makes a grand entrance at Stu’s party
                    U. Wearing a revealing shirt, Tatum gets confronted by Ghostface and dies
                   T. As guests leave Stu’s party, Billy suddenly appears
                  S. Gale arrives at the news van and discovers there’s a delay in the video feed
                 R. Billy and Sidney have sex as Randy explains the scary-movie rules
                Q. Randy is shocked when he hears that the principal was found dead just like Casey
               P. Dewey and Gale find Mr. Prescott’s car, but he’s not there
              O. Ghostface stabs Billy in front of Sidney
             N. Ghostface prevents Sidney from going downstairs, and he drops her out of a window
            M. Randy doesn’t see Ghostface behind him, and Sidney reaches the news van for help
           L. Ghostface attacks Sidney, and she escapes out of the news van
          K. Dewey goes into Stu’s house to find Mr. Prescott
         J. Gale tries to escape in the news van and crashes
        I. Ghostface appears at Stu’s front door and tries to get to Sidney
       H. Sidney’s boyfriend Billy reappears and reveals that he’s one of the killers
      G. Billy and Stu explain the rules of the game to Sidney
     F. Billy and Stu stab each other
    E. Gale enables Sidney to escape and call 911
   D. Billy gets enraged when he can’t find where Sidney is hiding
  C. Sidney kills Stu with a TV containing the image of Michael Myers, then Gale shoots Billy with a gun
 B. Sidney kills Billy after he gives her one last horror-movie scare
A. As morning dawns, Gale sums up the film’s events, beginning with a 911 call

What a Scream

To quote Sidney, “It’s like déjà vu all over again.” Not only because Scream is a chiasmus, but because Jordan continues to have a perfect record of recommending films for this type of treatment. So far, he’s been right about Tron, Escape from New York, Dreamscape, Akira, and Conan the Barbarian. And I’ve got another one of his suggestions that I’ll publish next week.

Scary movies aren’t usually my jam. But Scream and Alien are two notable exceptions because they took the genre in new directions that others tried to copy over the years. You could say they’re the scream of the crop. Especially knowing that they share the common trait of having chiastic structures either within themselves or with other films in their series.

This is the Deja Reviewer bidding you farewell until we meet again.

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