**SPOILER WARNING**
Back in late 1996 my friends and I wandered up to our local cineplex to see Baz Luhrman’s Romeo & Juliet. Much to our disappointment (and joy retrospectively) the movie was no longer playing at the theater so we scanned over what else was available. “What about Scream?” a friend proposed to the group. “The Drew Barrymore movie? I guess…” I replied unenthusiastically. That decision would rock my teenage years as Scream would become a huge success and scare the shit out of my generation. At the time horror movies were not “in” and were generally ignored or regarded as campy. Scream reinvigorated the genre and paved the way for several sequels and a variety of other horror franchises looking for similar success. So here I am 26 years later reviewing a film of the same name starring familiar faces.
Scream has remained witty and incredibly meta always evolving with the times and incorporating current references and technology into the plot and dialogue. I’ve seen Scream and Scream 2 so many times I could probably recite them but ever since Scream 2 (my personal favorite though never taking away from the original) was released anytime another installment was announced I would eye-roll and ask “why?” but having an investment in the characters and this ongoing story months later when the film is released I’m always eager to check it out. Such is the case with this go around. Did we need another Scream movie? For me… eh, not really. Don’t get me wrong this isn’t a terrible movie but I just don’t think we actually needed it. The re-quel as it’s being called introduces a fresh cast of young faces and characters to Woodsboro for Ghostface to murder while bringing back legacy characters from the original films.
The opening kill, Tara (Jenny Ortega), actually surviving brings her sister Sam (Melissa Barrera) and accompanying boyfriend Ritchie (Jack Quaid) to Woodsboro to provide support while she recovers in the hospital and murder ensues! Sam trying to find out who attacked her sister, while others are being still being murdered, begins asking questions. This eventually leads her to Dewey (David Arquette) seeking help. She soon after finds that her sister and friends are all somehow tied to original victims of Woodsboro murders with Sam herself being the daughter of one of the original Scream killers, Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich). Sam also has creepy visions of her dead father urging her to kill. This seemed a little random but I rolled with it.
The murders, of course, bring the story seeking Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox) from her morning show to Woodsboro. Gale arrives with just enough time to have a moment with Dewey before he ultimately meets his end while protecting several others from Ghostface in the next scene. In fact Gale’s only purpose here seems to be to punctuate the loss of Dewey as she really isn’t given much to do afterwards. Dewey’s death did bum me out even though it was clearly coming. It’s also a moment I think could’ve been played out with a little more emotion considering he was always the heart of the group. Naturally, when you kill an important legacy character that always grounds for star of the franchise to return to where it all began. Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) returns to Woodsboro to help Gale resolve the mystery and put Ghostface(s) down again. The third act leading them right to the original third act house from Scream (1996). I always enjoy the more experienced and annoyed Sidney navigating a Ghostface encounter. She’s not scared and just wants to get it over with so she can get back to her life.
Easily my favorite part of the Scream franchise is the whodunnit aspect of each film. Shifting ideas and perspectives with seeds of distrust planted even amongst the closest of relationships that keeping you guessing until the end. The idea that you could’ve been sitting next to the killer the entire time. Thankfully this outing delivers on that aspect. The films are also quite formulaic in their structures. Opening kill scene (though this one actually survives) and dual killers (with the exception to 3) one who is a bit extra psycho than the other. While that structure is part of Scream’s identity it does begin to feel like a retread and something we’ve seen before just different cast members acting it out with the film often directly referencing the retread in its classic meta fashion. Such as the third act of this film taking place in the same house and the same kitchen with Sidney just like the original.
It does bother me when the killer is revealed and their weight/height/strength is clearly different than that of Ghostface when they were supposedly wearing the costume. Tara’s friend Amber (Mikey Madison) is revealed as one of the killers, along with Ritchie, and particularly the one who killed Dewey. Dewey’s death tweaked me from a technical nitpick/standpoint. It seems hard to believe a man of his size/weight wouldn’t be able to physically overpower a skinny young girl. A girl who has the strength to hop back up after just being shot point blank in the chest, with a vest, several times. I know, it’s just a horror movie but it annoys me. I, also, don’t feel these noobs are worthy of killing the legacy characters unless there’s a genuine tie to them but again that’s just me nitpicking.
The toxic fandom topic being addressed was humorous with some of the dialogue seemingly indirectly referencing the massive divide amongst Star Wars fans over The Last Jedi. Toxic fandom and loving an IP is the motive behind the two killers although both are forgettable with Amber being kind of dumb as one of them. Amber gets shot several times again this time by Gale and burned and like earlier still pops back up for the “they always come back” moment. Her eventual death was not only rewarding for Dewey’s retribution but she was just annoying in general. Sam eventually dispatches her boyfriend in a very serial killer psycho fashion even referencing she’s the daughter of one. Not sure if we’re supposed to back her as the new hero of the story when the girl has some serious mental issues.
I didn’t find this movie scary though I was entertained because of my investment in the legacy characters but as I’ve mentioned it just didn’t seem necessary. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should. Similar to Ghostbusters: Afterlife it seems a lot of studios don’t know how to continue their franchises without losing the original fan base so they just make a love letter to the original while injecting a couple new elements and hope that it suffices. This is even referenced in this version of Scream. Did I need to see the original Ghostbusters fight Gozer again? Nah, they did it perfectly back in the 80s. Did I need to see Sidney being threatened in Stu Macher’s kitchen again? Nah, they did it perfectly back in the 90s. Was it entertaining? Sure, but while I appreciated all the updated meta references there was nothing new to see here and the film was aggressively average. Create a new franchise with a new killer and put these stories into new creative ventures so there are fresh ideas flowing into theaters instead of retreads and re-quels that by their very prefix suggest we’ve done this already. I do worry that another outing will be one too many.
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