A teenage girl home alone receives a call from a stranger. The seemingly innocent, albeit odd, conversation shifts to horror films, then takes a darker turn, and she finds herself answering high-stakes trivia questions from the legendary Ghostface. Sound familiar? The opening of the latest installment of the Scream movies, also called Scream, serves as an updated reimagining of that classic scene featuring Drew Barrymore from the original film. It sets the tone for what is not a reboot (as it continues the same timeline and builds upon the source material), but also not purely a sequel either (because while it features legacy characters, it’s primarily focused on its new cast and builds a fresh foundation for the franchise to grow from). Defined as a “requel”, it is a term now firmly entrenched as part of cinema vernacular.
The town of Woodsboro can’t seem to overcome its tragic history, when famous serial killers Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich) and Stu Macher (Matthew Lillard) began a murder spree that spawned books, 8 movies, and–worst of all–copy-cat killers donning the Ghostface mask. Following an attack on her younger sister Tara (Jenna Ortega), Sam (Melissa Barrera) returns home with her sarcastic boyfriend Richie (Jack Quaid), to look after her. She’s especially concerned after learning from Tara’s friend Wes (Dylan Minnette), the son of now Sheriff Judy Hicks (Marley Shelton), that the assault was done by Ghostface. Sam has been hiding a secret from her sister for quite some time—and now it’s coming back to haunt her.
While Sam is clearly positioned to be the lead of the story, and Barrera carries the weight of that just fine, the surprise standout is Ortega, who crushes the thrilling opening, and then continues to grimace, cry, scream, and deliver in some of the more emotional moments of the movie. On top of that, she manages to pull-off some dialogue that, if not handled correctly, could come off as horribly cheesy. She’s clearly a great addition, but the stakes are greater when coming back to the original.
Directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett had a daunting task in taking elm of the Scream franchise from the late Wes Craven. They smartly knew that attempting it without the participation of core survivors from the prior films, would be a death-sentence in and of itself. Sidney (Neve Campbell), Gale (Courtney Cox) and Dewey (David Arquette) are integral characters who have lived in the hearts of fans for over 25 years now. So, having each of the actors buy into the pair’s vision, as well as the script penned by James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick, was a necessary step to bringing this stylized slasher film to life.
As Dewey calls to warn Sidney to stay away from Woodsboro, he professes that this time feels different, and he’s right about that in a variety of ways. It’s most noticeably, and least spoiler-ly, evident in the brutality of the murders. Much like Halloween Kills, the violence has been taken up several notches. The camera never shies away from showing Ghostface get knife happy, so don’t expect too many reprieves in the form of cutaways. What isn’t different is Arquette being exceptional on screen as the lovable Dewey. He appropriately has some of the best lines, and while the character may have at one time, “oozed with inexperience”, he’s a part of Woodsboro, and has an earned level of grit to accompany his “fun little limp” at this point.
What’s set Scream apart from other traditional slashers is that, unlike with the superhuman Michael Myers or Jason Vorhees, the killer is just a person—usually someone everyone already knows. The whodunit aspect provides a layer of intrigue that supersedes just watching hapless victims get slaughtered. If you are paying attention to detail, you may have Ghostface pegged well before the chaotic third act, and while that could be a bit disappointing, maybe the misdirection will win out on some viewers. Does the motive always have to be especially strong? Hell, Stu blamed peer pressure.
Each movie needs a Randy Meeks (Jamie Kennedy) type character, someone who can explain the rules of successfully surviving, and bring everyone up to speed as to what kind of horror film they are in. After Dewey covered the basics–look at the love interest and the friend group–all the new kids come together, and who better to lay things out than Randy’s niece, Mindy Meeks (Jasmin Savoy Brown)?
All of the new cast members are solid, with most getting a chance to bring their own idiosyncrasies to their characters before facing their potential demise, but the Meeks twins are the most fun additions. Mindy lives up to filling Randy’s shoes, not just relying on trying to match his eccentric one-of-a-kind energy, but being able to hold the screen with a calm, coy demeanor as well. If you close your eyes at times, you would swear her brother Chad (Mason Gooding) is actually Ryan Phillippe playing Barry Cox from I Know What You Did Last Summer. It’s unreal how similar their voices are, down to the same cadence. That said, Gooding has his own charm as well and gets one of the more thrilling scenes of the movie.
The classic meta-aspect that this film’s Executive Producer, Kevin Williamson, introduced in his script for the original is directed at fandom here. Characters mentions that hardcore fans of the fictional Stab movies (based on the actual events of Woodsboro in Scream) were upset by the way the Rian Johnson-directed Stab 8 went against fan expectations, or that things went off the rails with number 5, and nobody cares about the inferior sequels. Rather than just serving as a commentary about the horror genre, the franchise uses its own history of films within the film as its reference material. The idea that they even got to a Stab 8 after the entire cast of Stab 3 was murdered in Scream 3 is an amusing commentary on the industry itself.
Outside of just the huge grin that’ll come across your face when you see Dewey and Gale engaging in their traditional back and forth banter, or the iconic Sidney appearing on screen again, there are more than enough Easter eggs to satisfy hardcore fans and keep them coming back for repeat viewings (look at the thumbnails on Richie’s laptop when he’s researching the Woodsboro murders). Nothing feels like empty fan-service, though, as a lot of it lends itself to exciting possibilities for the future of the franchise, as well as an answer to some critiques—like Dewey never talking about the death of his sister Tatum, or Gale’s bangs in Scream 3. While some elements of the film may divide audiences, both those who grew up with the original and those who are more excited about the young cast, all that does is feed into the general premise.
In order to live up to the Scream name and, most importantly, serve as a love-letter to legendary Director Wes Craven, this installment needed to continue to be cleverly self-referential, full of earned laughs, stylized violence, and above all, entertaining. It’s not a perfect movie, but these are fun slasher-flicks, and even the beloved original wasn’t entirely free of questionable moments. It falls in the middle of the pack in regards to the franchise as a whole, which is a resounding endorsement for what has continued to remain a quality series throughout.
