Scream – 2022

Dir: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillett

Starring: Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, David Arquette, & Melissa Barrera

The original Scream made its groundbreaking debut in 1996 with one of the most recognizable killers in horror history. Ghostface quickly joined the ranks of slasher icons like Jason Vorhees, Michael Myers, and Freddy Kruger. Scream launched a 4 movie franchise under the direction of Wes Craven, inspired the spin-off comedy movies Scary Movie, and a tv series starring Willa Fitzgerald. Scream had such a foothold in pop culture that even the horror avoidant came to know the mask and the ominous line What’s your favorite scary movie?. The 5th movie in the franchise released on January 14, 2022 to mostly positive reviews. It scored a 78% on the tomatometer with an impressive audience rating of 82% and a 7.1/10 on IMDB. 

Major plot spoilers under the cut

The new film starts with a recreation of the original opening scene featuring Drew Barrymore. Someone calls a teen girl home alone for the evening and asks her horror trivia, this time to save the life of her best friend. Instead of her favorite movie, the caller asks about the original Stab movie. Viewers of Scream 2 will recall that Stab is the movie adaptation of the book written by Gail Weathers about the events of Scream. This version is obviously updated for the times, the protagonist locks the door via a smartphone app connected with her home security system and Googles answers to the caller’s questions when she can’t recall an actress. This girl fights back and injures her attacker when they finally gain entrance to the home. She’s a survivor, rather than cannon fodder for the storyline. 

This movie was significantly better than I thought it would be. What I expected was another hokey slasher flick. What I got was a remarkably self aware movie that understood it’s cultural significance and impact on an entire generation. Ghostface was my generation’s Michael Myers. Myers created the unkillable slasher genre when he falls out a window and is gone when Laurie checks for his body. I remember being blown away when there was revealed to be, not just 1 but, 2 people donning the Ghostface mask. There is a several minute diatribe about what the “Stab” meant to people and how changing it in later Stab movies (read Scream 4) disrespected the heart of the original movie and the fans that have followed the franchise. 

This incarnation of Ghostface is targeting people that are related to previous victims. The bastard child of Ghostface killer Billy Loomis (Sam) , niece and nephew of original victim Randy Meeks, & Sheriff, then Deputy, Hicks and her son. The first person attacked is revealed to be the half sister of Billy Loomis’ child, an attempt at luring her back to town. She began having hallucinations of her dead, serial killer father and left with no warning in order to save her sister. Afraid she might turn out like her dad. Once back she reveals her secret and sets in motion the events of the “requel”. Mindy Meeks tells the group that a requel goes back to the beginning of a previous story but doesn’t quite retell or follow the storyline. Not quite a remake, not quite a sequel. A requel. Mindy speculates that the killer, or killers, are angry with the direction of the Stab franchise and are remaking it in their own vision. 

One thing this movie does really well is keep you guessing. I had several guesses about the identity of the killers throughout the movie. They all made sense and they all had motive and opportunity. Dewey initially points the finger at the main character’s boyfriend. The boyfriend is always responsible, but he’s attacked in the hospital. The pure, virginal girl’s boyfriend is under suspicion, an exact recreation of the first movie. The twins are movie buffs, Mindy especially is unhappy with the Stab franchise’s later movies. Each member of the friend group could possibly be the killer. Gail Weathers herself is even under suspicion when it is pointed out that she needs material for a new book. 

It came as no surprise when Dewey, Gail, and Sidney reunited to help the new group of victims. What I absolutely did not expect however,  was that a legacy character would die. I really didn’t think they had the balls, for lack of a better word, to kill off Dewey Riley. As a legacy, we expect those characters to be safe, that they’ll come swooping in to save the day again and again. Dewey has been through so much, both in terms of the physical violence he’s endured and his character development. Killing Dewey really cemented that this is a new story, someone else is in charge and the rules are changing. Dewey’s death scene was also very well shot. The camera panning out to show the hulking figure of Ghostface standing over Dewey’s bleeding corpse in the middle of a darkened hospital hallway was a morbidly beautiful scene. 

I feel like the movie changed at about the ⅔ mark. They spent so much time building this narrative of a rewrite and requel that I expected a real twist. Up to this point everything had been fairly innovative or, at the very least, creative and engaging.  The build ups were nice and subtle without being overly predictable, there were scenes, particularly in the hospital, that were generally creepy. However, the ending was exactly what it had to be. I wanted so badly for it to actually be Gail Weathers creating more content for a new novel. Or Sam’s sister Tara in an attempt to bring her sister back and take some sort of revenge for her perceived abandonment. Even the Meek’s twins. At least then it makes sense because they’re part of the original “cast”, their uncle was a Ghostface victim and if they felt disrespected by the Stab franchise then bringing it back to its roots made total sense.

The ending isn’t “bad”, per say. It’s just whelming. It wasn’t any sort of interesting twist like I was expecting.  It’s just 2 people that saw Stab 5 and were mad about it. They have no connection to the original victims or story, just super fans that met on the fictional version of Reddit. It all fits together but it’s just underwhelming. That’s the only way I can explain how I felt after the big reveal. The film spent SO LONG building up suspicion and creating all the different scenarios for each member of the group to be the potential killers that when it was the predictable answer, it left me feeling very deflated. 

The big question, is it worth watching? Absolutely. The mediocre ending aside, it’s a genuinely good movie. It’s self aware. It’s well shot and acted. And most importantly, it’s entertaining. It combines the old and new cast in a way that’s believable and enjoyable and has plenty to offer fans of both generations. I’m excited to see what they do next. Will they keep the new cast? Will the old cast be, once again, haunted by their past? Will Neve Campbell still look the exact same in another 20 years? (probably) No one knows, but I’ll be right there to find out. 

What’s your feelings on Scream? Have you seen the new one? I would love to hear your opinions. 

Suspensefully yours, 

Morticia Crypt