A quick users guide to Scream’s killer reveals:
Scream – Woah, that’s amazing!
Scream 2 – Alright, I like it.
Scream 3 – Well, that’s just silly.
Scream 4 – Wicked. Cool.
Instead of rewatching the Scream movies in anticipation for this movie, I rewatched Ready or Not, the other big movie directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, who will be taking over here, from Wes Craven. We know, Scream 3 was a rushed production, and the weakest of the Scream movies, but Scream 4 was pretty good; a competent return to form after a decade had passed between films. I think any pessimism I had about Scream was used up and disproven back then. And I actually think that the incoming directing duo may bring a fresh punchy approach to this beloved franchise; loved by me, and hopefully adored by them.
As Tara (Jenna Ortega) prepares for her friend to come over, the phone rings – the landline, of all things. The voice on the other end of the line sounds gentle enough, until he wants to play a game about scary movies. The attack on Tara forces her sister Sam (Melissa Barrera) to come home; back to Woodsboro, before the Ghostface killings start up again, for a fifth time. Samantha and her boyfriend Richie (Jack Quaid), bring Ghostface veteran Dewey (David Arquette) into the fray, who warns them there’s usually a certain way these things go down – investigate Tara’s friend group, because more than likely, the killer is among them. Even the tagline on the first poster gets in on the action, reading ‘it’s always someone you know’.
Hallelujah! Scream doesn’t suck. And lucky, because as a massive fan of these movies, it may have sent me into a psychotic murderous rampage 😏 I cannot write about any movie without touching on massive spoilers, and it’s especially true with Scream, so I’m going to discuss the secret killers in three… two… one… I didn’t even guess who the pair of killers were before they were revealed, which should be a badge of honour for this movie within itself; something the two TV iterations don’t have over me. I was pretty convinced early on that the killers were Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown) and Richie, so I was half right, but Amber (Mikey Madison) was an absolute surprise, and I’m awfully glad for it. I thought for a second that there might be an added gimmick; a third killer, or a fourth! If there’s a sequel, I’m still not counting Mindy out; suspicious, and a potential mastermind of the whole thing? Because I’ve seen The Leftovers, I know how she do. But really, if I’d had a keen memory of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, maybe I would have known that Mikey Madison has been a psychopath before as well; her second time incinerated too – every actor’s dream.
Scream is always full of rules for horror movies, but I only had one rule going into this movie, and that was, don’t kill Sidney (Neve Campbell). Actually, don’t make any of our ‘legacy characters’ the bad guys either; that’s another rule. Honestly, after surviving Scream 4, I thought the likelihood of all our legacy characters surviving another scrape was pretty slim, so I was prepared for it. I didn’t realise until this movie started talking ‘requels’ how appropriately the Scream legacy characters fit into the moulds of Luke, Han, and Leia from Star Wars (without the same revelry, I might add); Sidney Prescott is obviously Luke Skywalker, Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox) is Leia, and Dewey is our scruffy-looking nerf herder, shepherding Rey (oh sorry, Sam) through the first act of her journey before he meets his grisly demise. RIP Dewey – I thought the death sequence was acceptably bloody, living up to the similar moment for Randy in Scream 2. I loved Ghostface’s respectful remarks – ‘it’s an honour’ – and Dewey, you will be missed. But on a real meta-level (appropriately), I kinda feel bad for Sidney Prescott/Neve Campbell in this movie, for can’t she just go quietly into the night? ‘I’ve heard this shit before…’, she says, and that was back in Scream 3. I’m sure Neve Campbell/Sidney Prescott would just like to rest, and I don’t want her/her dragged back to Woodsboro every few years because Hollywood/psychos have another idea. She doesn’t have to be killed, to be done. I was deeply satisfied to see her pushing a pram in a nice neighbourhood, knowing she married Mark – who we can only assume is Patrick Dempsey’s detective from Scream 3 – when we first see her here. Stay there Sid; that’s how I’d like to remember you.
Tara survives the opening sequence; a win for the opening victim, and I hope Drew Barrymore is proud. It was confronting seeing an opening girl live with her injuries, and speak of the horrors, when the convention is boom, she’s dead before the movie title denotes the movie has begun. I thought the attacks were more inventive in being morose, whether it be in snapping Tara’s leg, jabbing at Vince (Kyle Gallner) swiftly, or stabbing Wes (Dylan Minnette) slowly through the neck. I’m pretty sure this is the first time we’ve seen Ghostface activate his voice modulator whilst in costume too, and that was a terrific addition. I wasn’t so surprised to see Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich) make an appearance, after a COVID lockdown Scream Reunion Zoom call I watched revealed to me how the original cast are all pretty tight. Although, Sam’s visions were probably the weakest element of the story for me, and Scream has never toyed with other-worldly realms before; psychotic visions or not. At least it kept us guessing, I guess, that Sam could be the killer too, but just being related to Billy would have been enough (a hero with the inciting villain in her blood 🤔, like Rey again, to Palpatine). I’d had an idea for a dream sequence where Sidney could reflect on all the friend’s she’d lost across the four films, eating or drinking at a party that could never be, opening the door for cameo appearances from Skeet Ulrich, Matthew Lillard, Rose McGowan, Elise Neal, Hayden Panettiere and many more, with the in-story relevance of Sidney digesting that survivor’s guilt; how every ten years or so, another generation of kids have to die because she lives. Just a suggestion.
I love how this movie gets ultra-meta, reflecting on the rules of the Stab (Scream) movies, and I doubt there’s a Scream fan out there who would disagree. But I also think this movie gets muddled too, bringing in the ‘rules of a requel’ as well. Because the thing is, Scream 4 in 2011 was more a traditional requel than this; so this franchise already did that, before it was cool 😤 I know, Scream 4‘s meta-commentary gets a little muddled too, with the movie reflecting on the rules of tiresome shitty sequels, and reboots in one, when I’d say this Scream in 2022 is closer to a traditional reboot. It’s all so confusing, but this movie is highly satisfying when it’s reflecting on its own legacy, and I lapped it up like good soup. (I got Ghostface’s second question right, without IMDB. Heather Graham played the opening victim in the first Stab movie – I say, big-noting myself, as if my dick will get bigger). The movie’s commentary and slick dialogue were so on-point, stating how Stab has a loyal fanbase, and digging at the movies for being so ‘nineties’ and unelevated. And one of my favourite scenes comes when Chad (Mason Gooding) turning down Liv (Sonia Ben Ammar) who’s finally ready for sex, because isn’t it safer if we don’t go upstairs, and stay with the group? Scream also contains a few conventional jabs about how remakes and redo’s are gross, including the odd choice of taking out the number, pretending a movie is not a sequel (because shouldn’t this be Scream 5, or 5cream?), but the movie needn’t call itself out more than once, when Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett’s movie holds the goods; aptly witty, appropriately competent, and ripe.
I’m obviously bias, as I’m sure you can tell. Because I love this franchise, and since this movie is good, I think it’s very, very good. But I think I would be happy if this was the last Scream movie – the franchise has come full-circle; killer’s born out of a love of horror movies, have become killer’s out of hatred of movies getting stale. (Sidenote; I wish Amber had made more of a deal out of how Stab’s decline has affected Woodsboro, and how she resents her peers for not caring about the legacy of their town anymore. I might suggest why Mindy survives, in Randy’s place; not because she’s a virgin, but because she’s a fan of the Stab movies, the only one that Amber respects. Maybe Amber or Ritchie did communicate this; it just all happened so fast). Gale clearly stated that she won’t be writing a book about this one, so the Stab movies won’t have new content, and therefore, neither should Scream. Plus, Sidney and Gale can finally rest; they’ve paid their dues, and how many times can they go back to Woodsboro, or Stu’s house (even if it was just a movie set in Scream 3). Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett have expressed interest in sequels, and if the money is there… you know how it goes. But after just indulging on Scream (2022), I’m content in thinking that the franchise has run out of juice, even though I’m totally grateful for today. The 25th anniversary sequel to Scream is wonderful, and I tip my hat to the occasion.
4.0
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