Scream (2022)

 

Directed by: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett

Starring: Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Marley Shelton, Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega, Dylan Minnette, Jack Quaid, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Sonia Ammar, Mikey Madison, Mason Gooding, and Kyle Gallner

Genre: Horror / Slasher, Thriller

Rated: R

The fifth entry in the Scream franchise takes place twenty-five years after the events of the original film. Someone has once again donned the signature Ghostface ensemble and started yet another string of attacks and murders in Woodsboro. This time, however, the focus is not on Sidney Prescott, but Samantha Carpenter, a young woman with a secret connection to the events of the original. A new group of young people are on the chopping block, forcing Sidney Prescott, Gale Weathers and Dewey Riley to once again face down another masked killer and hopefully put an official end to Ghostface’s legacy.

When I heard a fifth Scream film was in the works I was initially very hesitant – like Neve Campbell had said in many past interviews, I didn’t think it could be done well without Wes Craven. I was worried the series would be ruined. However, when I learned Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, the men behind Ready or Not (2019), would be heading the project, I grew far more optimistic – these two know how to combine horror and humor, badass final girls and brutal gore effects into very fun stories. When Neve signed on to return as Sidney (something she was reluctant to do without a good script) I knew I could get excited, and I was not disappointed.

Scream (2022) is a true love letter to the original film and gives friendly nods to the three previous sequels. There are tributes to several fallen characters of the past – beloved characters memorialized rather than forgotten. There are also a couple surprise appearances from past characters which I was ecstatic about. I would highly recommend watching / rewatching the four previous films prior to catching this one in order to pick up on all of the references.

Our legacy actors, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox and David Arquette, are amazing as always in their return to the respective roles of Sidney, Gale and Dewey. Despite not being written by Kevin Williamson, the characters still feel true to their roots and have developed naturally over the past twenty-five years. I’m so proud of how far Sidney has come and cannot wait to add her entry to my character study blog (I had been holding off until I could see this film). She has finally stopped running and found her peace, and she will do anything to prevent the destruction of her happiness. Gale has calmed down and become a lot more caring. She has found her success and is willing to put others before a major story; however, she is still not someone you want to mess with. Dewey is still lovable and goofy, but he’s been through a lot, and it’s finally starting to show. These three characters have been through hell, and developed accordingly. The only other major returning character is Judy Hicks from part 4, and I was pleased to see she is treated with a lot more respect in this film. Rather than being the suck-up deputy with a crush on Dewey and a penchant for baking and cheesy quips, she has become the sheriff of Woodsboro. She’s a single mom who adores her teenage son and sushi. She is far more likable this time around, and it was nice to see Marley Shelton flex her more dramatic acting skills.

I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about the new young cast members. I was excited to see Kyle Gallner in the cast (surprise, surprise to anyone who has followed this blog for a while … it’s no secret I love this actor), and saddened that he was criminally underutilized. The only member of the new group of teens I’ve seen before is Jenna Ortega. I really enjoyed her as Phoebe in The Babysitter: Killer Queen, and her turn as Tara Carpenter, Samantha’s younger sister, in this film, is equally fun but definitely more badass. Tara takes hit after hit and gives back as much, if not harder than she receives. She’s tiny, but she’s feisty and very underestimated. She also has excellent taste in the ‘elevated horror’ side of the genre.

I am always reluctant to embrace a new “final girl” when it comes to this franchise as Sidney will always and forever hold that title. However, Melissa Barrera’s Samantha is a quality next generation lead. She has the heart, she has the brains, and she has the strength to face these circumstances head-on. Given more space to develop, she has the makings of becoming Sidney Prescott 2.0, and could possibly carry any further entries in the series. While this entry does feel like a solid, definitive end, we know Hollywood can never leave well enough alone, and there could and probably will be more.

The rest of the new characters aren’t really fleshed out well enough for me to form much of an opinion. Having two of Tara’s closest friends be the twin niece and nephew of Randy Meeks was great. Mindy takes right after her uncle, though she has far better luck with the ladies. Her brother, Chad, is more of a doofus jock, but he seems sweet. Liv is rather forgettable, unfortunately being exactly as Mindy describes her, “too boring.” Amber seems like a nod to Tatum in her having the “super protective best friend” role, but lacks the charm of Rose McGowan, and almost comes off as possessive of Tara. I thought it was cute that they named a character Wes as a tribute to Wes Craven, and Dylan Minnette is adorable, but I would have liked more time with his character. Lastly, we have Ritchie, Samantha’s supportive, somewhat naïve and hapless boyfriend of six months that accompanies her back to Woodsboro when her sister is attacked.

This version of Ghostface is particularly brutal and far less restrained than previous renditions. The deaths are cringe-inducing and one specific kill will rip the heart out of any Scream fan. (I legitimately cried in the theater. No, I am not ashamed.) This Ghostface does not hold back and no one is off limits to them. The deaths are bloodier than in some of the previous entries. Ghostface opts for more vicious attacks with multiple rapid-fire stabs and I love the lack of obvious CGI gore effects. Ghostface also plays heavily with the heads of the victims in this entry which amps up the tension far more than the run-of-the-mill “hey, I’m going to kill you,” calls in earlier sequels. This killer really enjoys toying with good-hearted people and knows how to hit them where it counts, but also severely underestimates the lengths good people will go to to take down evil. The reveal of who is behind the mask is a bit underwhelming, but the commentary on the toxic side of fandom and the lust for infamy that mass murderers have is the true unmasking.

Overall, this is a solid, well-done entry to the franchise that has me questioning my original ranking of the previous films. (It may be time to revisit and revise my prior ratings.) The original will always be untouchable to me, however, this sequel is superior to most, if not all of the preceding ones. It is a love letter to the source material rather than a cash grab, holding true to the roots of the franchise and what made it so great in the first place. Assuming Hollywood doesn’t push to continue the series, this feels like a satisfying ending for the characters and the story.

8/10

Scream 4 (2011)

Directed by: Wes Craven

Starring: Neve Campbell, David Arquette, Courteney Cox, Hayden Panettiere, Emma Roberts, Rory Culkin, Erik Knudson, Marley Shelton, with Anna Paquin and Kristen Bell

Genre: Horror / Slasher

Rated: R

It’s been a long time coming, but Scream 4 has finally hit theaters. For fans of the originals, there hadn’t even been a thought that there would be a fourth installment until it was announced last year. With the three original cast members (Campbell, Cox, and Arquette) returning to their roles, the original writer and Wes Craven holding his spot as the director of the franchise, I had high hopes for this film. It did not disappoint.

The story follows Sidney Prescott (Campbell) as she returns to Woodsboro, California. It’s her last stop on her tour for the self-help book she has written. The day she returns to Woodsboro, two girls are found brutally murdered in their home, and it’s clear that the murders have started again. The new killers are trying to “remake” the original events/ Stab (the fictionalized movie based on Sidney’s real life experiences in horror).  Now it’s up to Sidney to protect her loved ones from the killer.

I was pleasantly surprised by this film. I went into it expecting something of Scream 2 caliber (the last sequel writer Kevin Williamson and Craven collaborated on) but I think it surpassed both of the previous sequels. It still takes on genre clichés and lists new rules, but more commentary is added to this one. They poke fun at the Iphone/smartphone craze for applications by having an app for talking like Ghostface, which I thought was pretty clever. They also had characters pointing out their bad situations and saying, “If this were a movie, I’d be dead,” making the film even more self-referential than the first.  Lastly, they tackled the fact that the news media is always the last to know important updates – it will be all over the web before a journalist can print the story. This is referenced a couple times throughout the movie – and is completely relevant to today’s society, where newspapers and cable news are falling behind blogs and internet updates.

The acting was very well done. The original cast was as good as ever, fitting back into their canonized roles with ease. I was most worried about the new cast of up-and-comers. I’d only ever seen Panettiere and Culkin’s work before so I really didn’t know what to expect. The young cast did very well, which made me happy. The characters were also likable, and I actually cared what happened to them, which is something I haven’t felt since the first film. Hayden Panettiere plays Kirby, a cross between Tatum and Randy from the first film, and probably my favorite of the new girls. She’s a loyal friend and a movie nerd, mixed with a bit of a party girl. Emma Roberts was pretty good as Sidney’s cousin Jill, but sometimes her voice got a little too high pitched when she was yelling towards the end and that got a little irritating. Culkin was another Randy-like figure, a self-proclaimed geek who runs the Cinema Club at Woodsboro High with his friend Robbie (Knudson). Robbie, another self-proclaimed nerd, walks around school filming everything for his live blog posts on the internet. Lastly we have Trevor and Olivia – the least likable characters in the film, but still well-acted for the little screen-time they had.  They probably could have been developed a little more, but they were fairly secondary characters to the rest.

The writing is great – on par with the original film. The dialogue was fitting to each of the characters. Ghostface’s dialogue during the phone sequences was a bit more brutal than any of the previous films, but it worked. Also, there were a lot of nice twists within the film, which I really cannot discuss without spoiling the viewing experience. I didn’t see many of them coming which was a nice change as normally I can predict what is going to happen quite easily in horror films. The humor is more pronounced than the first two films, but much less obvious than in part three, which was also nice. The audience was given a decent mix of horror and humor without either one overtaking the other.

The gore is good old-fashioned 90s-style gore. There was no CGI, just prosthetic work and lots of fake blood. It is a little more intense than any of the previous films – there is a scene were a victim’s intestines are lying on the floor next to the body. Graphic, but awesome. Still, after what that victim went through, it really wasn’t surprising. All the gore matched the severity of the deaths. That was a great change of pace since most modern horror flicks go overboard with it.  

I will say that I should not have read the Entertainment Weekly article on this before watching it. It got my hopes up for the beginning, saying it’s the scariest first kill sequence since the first film. It wasn’t. I didn’t know these characters enough to care what happened to them. There was a lot of build up, and while the kill was still good, it in no way matches up to the iconic opening scene in the original. If I hadn’t read that, I probably would be less disappointed in this scene, so that bothers me a bit.

Two other things I liked about this movie: 1.Kristen Bell and Anna Paquin’s cameo scene and 2. The cop being named Anthony Perkins (the actor who played Norman Bates in the original Psycho.) I found Anna and Kristen’s sequence shocking and funny. I also just love little references made in the script to previous horror classics. It shows the writer is still first and foremost a horror fan.

Overall: A worthy sequel to a long dormant series. Horror and comedy were blended successfully without either one being more prominent than the other. The new characters were likable, the acting good, and the gore CGI free. Definitely worth a check if you’re a fan of the original trilogy.

7/10

Last Word: “You’re forgetting one rule about remakes … Don’t FUCK with the original!” – Sydney Prescott

The Original Scream Trilogy (1996 - 2000)

In honor of Scream 4 coming out this Friday, I figured I’d review the original three Scream films.

Scream (1996)

Directed by: Wes Craven

Starring: Neve Campbell, Drew Barrymore, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Rose McGowen, Jamie Kennedy, Matthew Lillard and Skeet Ulrich

Genre: Horror / Slasher

Rated: R

The small town of Woodsboro California has been rocked by the shocking double murder of a teenage couple. Seventeen-year-old Sydney Prescott (Neve Campbell) finds herself caught up in this who-done-it slasher/mystery when the killer makes it clear he/she has her in their sights. As the body count continues to rise, Sydney and her friends must rely on their knowledge of slasher films if they want to get out alive.

I have to say, I do not understand all the flack this film receives from horror fans. I understand that it spawned a bunch of imitators and started the trend of placing well-known actors into horror films, but neither of these things actually have to do with the film itself. I personally don’t like many of the clones or the addition of well-known actors into the horror genre either, but it worked for Scream.

The cast did a great job in this. Yes, many of them were popular at the time, but that doesn’t change the fact that they are talented. Drew Barrymore’s performance in the opening scene is incredibly believable. She appears truly terrified and the audience feels for her. Neve Campbell’s heroine, Sydney, is likable and strong, despite the chaos surrounding her. Rose McGowen plays Tatum, Sydney’s best friend, who is loyal, sharp, and witty. David Arquette is Tatum’s brother, Dewey, the Deputy Sheriff investigating the murders. He’s crushing on Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox), a reporter who has come to town to get the story. Jamie Kennedy brings Randy, the horror movie geek, to life, and Matthew Lillard gives a fun, slightly over-the-top performance as Stu, Tatum’s frat-boyish boyfriend. Skeet Ulrich wraps it up with his turn as Billy, the dark and brooding bad boy dating Sydney. All the characters are likable and relatable, making the story entertaining and the viewers actually feel for the victims.

The plot of the film is well thought out and fun. It pays homage to several classic horror films such as Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, and Prom Night. Several films are mentioned throughout and it’s clear from one viewing that writer, Kevin Williamson, really knows his horror movies. It brings something new to the table with the use of cell phones – newer technology that hadn’t been used in previous slasher films. Also the teens in this film knew the horror clichés to watch out for and the rules that “one must abide by in order to survive a horror movie.” 

The film was well shot and directed. The sets were beautiful and fairly realistic for depicting an upper-middle class California town. The special effects were also done very well. The film has a nice amount of gore (not too much, but probably a little more than necessary), and fake blood and prosthetics were used, rather than the CGI that is so popular today. These types of effects feel more real to me than those that are computer generated.  There was also a good amount of suspense within the film with great tension building moments.

Overall: I really enjoy this film. It is one of the first that really inspired me to get into the horror genre. (I’m a youngin’ – I saw this and worked backwards.) The performances are great, the dialogue witty, the film suspenseful, and we have characters we actually care about. There are also creative kills and just the right amount of gore for my liking. I thoroughly enjoy this film and can watch it over and over again.

8/10

Scream 2 (1997)

Directed by: Wes Craven

Starring: Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Jamie Kennedy, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jada Pinkett –Smith, Liev Schreiber, Timothy Olyphant, Jerry O’Connell and Laurie Metcalf

Genre: Horror / Slasher

Rated: R

Two years have passed since the murders in Woodsboro. Sydney (Campbell) and Randy (Kennedy) are off at Windsor College trying to get on with their lives. However, a new movie, Stab – based on the book Gale Weathers (Cox) wrote about their ordeal in Woodsboro, seems to have inspired a copycat killer. When two students are killed at a viewing of this film, Sydney is sure it’s starting again, and begins to wonder who she can trust.

I didn’t like this film as well as the first. It doesn’t seem as well organized and thought out as the original film. Some of the things the characters do just seem stupid and out of place when murders are being committed. Also, I really couldn’t get into the new characters added to the story. It was almost as if the writer was just writing them to be killed off. They were fairly flat and boring. The only new character I enjoyed was CiCi, played by Sarah Michelle Gellar, but I think that is more because I’m a huge Buffy the Vampire Slayer nerd than her character actually being that memorable. It was nice that she didn’t come off as the typical airhead sorority girl, though. The rest of the characters were bland to me. I really didn’t care what happened to them. Our four surviving characters from the original are the only ones I care about, and they are still played to perfection by Campbell, Cox, Arquette, and Kennedy respectively.

The suspense and tension wasn’t there to me as much as it was in the first, but I think that relates back to the characters not being very likable. If you don’t like the characters that much then you aren’t going to worry about what is going to happen to them. The first half hour to forty-five minutes of the movie are strong, and midway through it begins to fizzle out. The first kill in the movie theater is intense, and they slowly go downhill from there. There was also an idea that the killer(s) is taking out people with the same names as the victims in Woodsboro, in the order that they died, but that storyline gets dropped fairly quickly, so it seems rather pointless. Also, while the big reveal was shocking, I was kind of disappointed with who the killer(s) turned out to be.

Overall: a decent sequel but doesn’t stand on par with the original. The new characters were bland and it felt like the script and story weren’t as well thought out as the previous film. It does have its great moments, but never really impressed me.

6/10

Scream 3 (2000)

Directed by: Wes Craven

Starring: Neve Campbell, David Arquette, Courteney Cox, Liev Schreiber, Scott Foley, Lance Henrikson, Parker Posey, Jenny McCarthy and Patrick Dempsey

Genre: Horror / Slasher

Rated: R

Three years have passed since the events at Windsor College. Sydney Prescott (Neve Campbell) has gone into hiding and only her father and Dewey (David Arquette) know where she is. She works for a women’s crisis line from home. Hollywood has begun production on Stab 3, the final film about the murders in Woodsboro. Once again, the murders are starting up. It appears someone doesn’t want Stab 3 to be produced, but wants to create their own, real-life version instead. One by one, cast members begin to die as the killer tries to lure Sydney out of hiding for their final showdown.

This film is the lesser liked of the Scream sequels, but I actually like it better than part two. It introduces a lot more comedy into the mix, which makes up for the cast of barely likable newbies. Still, the beginning sequence is reminiscent of the first film with the suspense aspect. It’s drawn out and the viewer actually cares about what happens to these characters. After that, humor is what keeps the audience watching the Stab 3 cast members as they are dispatched one by one.

The sets were nifty. I really liked the scene where Sydney was being chased through the Hollywood version of her old house. Just being in a building that resembled her old home brings back a flood of memories for her, and to be chased again through this building only adds to her anxiety. The mansion where the last quarter of the movie takes place is also a great set because it has so many secret passage ways for the killer to use to sneak around. You never know where he/she is going to pop up.

Sydney’s character is probably the strongest and the smartest she’s ever been. In the first film she was just figuring out what she needed to do to survive, the second she was trying to prove she was a fighter, by part three she proves she’s a fighter with a good head on her shoulders.

Overall: this film relies more on the humor aspect than the previous films did. It seems to acknowledge that the audience isn’t going to really care much about the new characters so it amps up the humor factor. The original characters are better developed and still enjoyable to watch on screen.  The sets were cool and the ending has a twist most will not see coming. 

6.5 / 10