Scream, the popular meta-slasher franchise that blew the doors off the horror world in 1996 and lasted until 2011, has released the fifth installment. While horror legend Wes Craven directed the first four films, Ready or Not filmmakers Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillet took up the mantle to direct the fifth film after Craven passed away in 2015.
The new film, also titled Scream, is written by James Vanderbilt (Zodiac, The Amazing Spider-Man 2) and Guy Busick (Ready or Not). Original stars Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, and David Arquette return for the new sequel and are joined by newcomers Melissa Barrera (In the Heights), Jenna Ortega (The Babysitter: Killer Queen), Jasmin Savoy Brown (Yellowjackets), Jack Quaid (The Boys), and Mikey Madison (One Upon a Time…in Hollywood).
Scream (2022) takes place 25 years after the original Woodsboro murders. The serial killer(s) known as Ghostface has returned yet again to start picking off helpless teens related to the victims of original Ghostface killers Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich) and Stu Macher (Matthew Lillard) all those years ago. After her sister is attacked by Ghostface, Sam (Barrera) and her boyfriend Richie (Quaid) enlist the help of Ghostface stopper extraordinaire Sidney Prescott (Campbell), reporter Gale Weathers (Cox), and the now-ex-sheriff of Woodsboro Dewey Riley (Arquette) to help them solve the mystery and put a stop the killings.
I won’t get into spoilers for this film, so some of the story critiques may be vague. Overall, I think the initial premise was strong, particularly after the storylines of Scream 3 and Scream 4. The relative connections to past characters were a nice touch, setting up the film much like David Gordon Green’s Halloween trilogy goes. In this film, they describe that as a “re-quel” (reboot/sequel), because you can’t have a Scream film without the extremely meta self-description within the film itself.
Where I appreciate the callback and continuation of the franchise theming and style, the “requel” exposition was absolutely beaten into my head by the end of the new film. The two big memorable things about Scream films are the opening scene and the final reveal. I thought the opening scene was excellent. I wasn’t crazy about the final reveal. I won’t say predictability automatically means bad, but I was just looking for something different there.
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Where Scream really shines is its tonal shift to brutality in the kills. In the film, Dewey explains to Sidney that “Something just feels different this time,” and that’s not an understatement. There is a level of ferocity in Ghostface’s kills that hasn’t been seen before in the franchise. We get compound fractures, precise, calculated stabs, and the slow ripping sounds of characters being gutted on screen. There aren’t really any comical “garage-door” style deaths that horror fans loved to cheer about in this one. My reactions were more along the lines of silence and nervousness about what came next. That’s a pretty effective change in the franchise.
Speaking of the new characters, they were a bit of a mixed bag. Some supporting cast like Jack Quaid, Jasmin Savoy Brown, and Jenna Ortega stole the show with their witty banter and fun conversations. In contrast, others fell less into the likable/killable casts of Scream’s pasts and more into the teenage murder fodder of various other slasher films. I wasn’t sold on Barrera as the new “final girl,” especially when paired up with Neve Campbell. Comparisons aren’t always healthy when critiquing, but those are the risks when trying to make something new out of something old in the same film.
As a whole, I had fun with the new Scream. I wasn’t expecting anything amazing, so I was pleasantly surprised when the film delivered an enjoyable watch. Regarding where it belongs in the franchise ranks, Scream (2022) surpasses the last two entries and is maybe a little under Scream 2. Although, since this is technically a “requel,” Sidney Prescott said it best. “Don’t f*ck with the original!”
, which takes place 25 years after the events of the original Woodsboro murders.){kind=link}