So much has changed in the last two years. The COVID-19 pandemic has upended the world as we know it and reinforced so many problems in our society (namely ones related to wealth inequality and how we treat working-class jobs) that were always hiding in plain sight. Change is good, obviously, especially when it's related to altering systemically-ingrained problems that harm the proletariat. But the avalanche of uncertainty that greets each new day in the pandemic does make the idea of a new Scream movie, on paper, a cozy one. Who knows what new horrors this unending health crisis will bring, but I know what the beats of a Scream film are! That sounds like just the ticket!
Though intended to bring some of that comforting familiarity to slasher movie fans, Scream is very much rooted in the pop culture world of 2021. Everything's changed for scary movies since Scream 4 graced multiplexes in April 2011, let alone when the original Scream hit theaters in 1996. In the time between the fourth and fifth Scream installments, The Purge and Conjuring franchises were born while Jordan Peele has gone from being a sketch comedy pro to the face of the genre. The new status quo is made apparent right away, when just minutes into the runtime of 2022's Scream, Tara Carpenter (Janna Ortega) references her fondness for The Babadook and "elevated horror".
Carpenter won't have any time to soak in the finer details of the new Ti West or Brandon Cronenberg movies, though, since this Woodsboro teenager is promptly attacked by Ghostface. Her estranged older sister, Samantha (Melissa Barerra, good to see the In the Heights leads getting further major work), returns to Woodsboro with boyfriend Richie (Jack Quaid) in tow upon hearing this devastating news. Once she gets there, she realizes that somebody is picking off people in Tara's friend group one by one. To fight this new iteration of the Ghostface killer, Samantha calls upon the help of reclusive former sheriff Dewey (David Arquette). And if Dewey's tracking down masked killers, well, Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox) and Sydney Prescott (Neve Campbell) can't be far behind...
I mentioned at the outset of this review that the familiarity of a new Scream movie sounds, on paper, like a balm in these uncertain times. Imagine my surprise, then, to discover that the weakest parts of this installment come when it adheres too closely to both the original 1996 Scream as well as other legacy sequels (I'm not using the term "lequel"). While commenting on the hallmarks of films like Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Terminator: Dark Fate, Scream ends up indulging in these very same elements. In trying to have its cake and eat it too, Scream sometimes feeds moviegoers a juicy cake, but other times just spills everything on the floor. This also injects a bit too much familiarity into the production, which is just not what you want in horror filmmaking, a genre that's all about surprises.
Thankfully, for the most part, Scream does remain a fun horror movie, with much of this coming from screenwriters James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick making sure to focus primarily on new characters above all others. These newbies are given new personalities and interior struggles that ensure they're not just rehashes of old Scream personalities, save for one teenager who proves to be a smart modern equivalent to Randy Meeks. Samantha and Tara's estranged relationship is an especially smart dynamic to anchor the film on to immediately differentiate themselves from the internal horrors Sydney was navigating in the original Scream titles.
Meanwhile, directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, fresh from their work on the rousing 2019 horror/comedy Ready or Not, also leave a distinct mark in their filmmaking compared to the late great Wes Craven (who helmed all four preceding installments in this saga). The duo establishes this identity by defining many of the big scary set pieces through a sense of playfulness. They stretch out big scary sequences, including the obligatory cold opening, nearly to their breaking point as you wait for something to pop out of nowhere, but in a way that charms and gives you some shivers rather than frustrates. I also enjoyed the fun recurring visual motif where something in the background of a mundane character exchange will resemble Ghostface (a black cloak with a pale white face) but it's just some mundane objects, like garden tools or a coat. The fact that the movie never comments on this makes it an extra fun touch that amplifies the devilishly devious nature of Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillet's approach to the scares of Scream.
Much like the 2018 Halloween movie, Scream feels torn between being something extra subversive and also delivering the requisite element of the franchise it belongs to. Luckily, there are enough fun scares, not to mention solid performances from cast members new and old (David Arquette is the MVP of the legacy performers) to keep you entertained despite the production's jagged nature. It can't hold a candle to the original in terms of scares or The Matrix Resurrections in terms of commentary on legacy sequels. However, unlike Scream 3 and Scream 4, this new Scream does feel like it has more to say than just asking fans of the franchise to give them some more money. I had a fun time watching it and I suspect die-hard devotees of this series will find it an especially rewarding experience.
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