Miss Flicks

Scream (2022): Film Review

I enjoy the Scream films; I think they’re really entertaining slashers, but I must admit my expectations were low for the new Scream – or Scream 5 as I’m gonna call it – because the fifth instalment in a horror franchise is never usually any good. Does this one buck the trend? Find out more below.

Set 25 years after the original Woodsboro murders, Ghostface is back in town for more slicin’ and dicin’. He targets a group of teenagers who have connections to the characters of the original film, with Sam (Melissa Barrera) and her sister Tara (Jenna Ortega) at the centre of the horror. As per usual, original survivors Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), Dewey Riley (David Arquette), and Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) return to help save the day.

Horror fans will not be disappointed with what directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett have done with Wes Craven‘s legacy. They clearly understand the DNA of a Scream movie. This film honours the four Craven made before he died and brings this one bang up to date for modern audiences, who are smarter, sick of the overused horror tropes and like a bit more bloodshed.

The kills were relatively tame before; the film always cut away before you saw very much. It was always left to the imagination – but that is certainly not the case here. There are some shockingly brutal, violent and bloody kills and we see much more injury detail than ever before. It’s still not super scary – I jumped a couple of times – but the films have never been like that. I think increasing the gore but keeping the traditional level of scares will please both fans of the franchise and horror fans in general.

The film also stays true to the franchise’s comedy roots. I laughed out loud a bunch of times, particularly when it pokes fun at itself, something the previous movies have always done. This edition is definitely more meta than ever before – it even takes the piss out of itself for using the Scream title again and being a reboot/sequel hybrid, or “requel”. A lot of the criticism of the Stab franchise – which is now on Stab 8 – can be used against Scream 5 and there’s a new “movie rules” person – Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown) – a substitute for Randy.

The films have always pointed out the “rules” of horrors and sequels and this continues to be a theme here. Given that modern audiences are fed up with classic ’90s horror tropes and stupid character decisions, Scream 5 had to be much smarter and it is. It abides by some of the rules, totally breaks others and subverts and pokes fun at certain tropes. You just can’t predict what’s going to happen! This is clear from the get-go with the amazing opening sequence; there’s a clever use of modern technology and the victim isn’t some dumb damsel in distress.

Scream franchise fans might be slightly disappointed with Campbell – she’s not in it as much as I’d expected and doesn’t have as much to do as fans might have hoped. Cox is in it the most and Gale has a great backstory with Dewey. The female legacy characters aren’t too different from who they were 10 years ago but Dewey has significantly changed. He has this weary “I’m too old for this s**t” attitude and he hasn’t been doing so well. I liked him most out of the four returnees (Marley Shelton is also back as Sheriff Hicks) because his character arc was interesting. It felt like he’d been on a big journey between Scream 4 and 5 and I wanted to know about it whereas Sidney and Gale felt a bit same old, same old.

But the new characters easily make up for this. Barrera is a strong lead but my favourites were Ortega and Savoy Brown. Ortega’s Tara is a tough cookie with balls of steel and the actress delivers an impressive, emotional performance that made you care for her. I was a huge fan of movie nerd Randy in the first two films so I like that a new female version has been created in Mindy, who has an awesome attitude. There are tons of other new cast members too including Jack Quaid, Dylan Minnette, Mason Gooding, Mikey Madison and Sonia Ammar.

Scream is far better than I expected it to be and I think fans of the franchise will come away satisfied. It’s superior to Scream 3 & 4, without a doubt. If you’re a newcomer, I would advise watching the previous four to get all the references or at least the original for the basics.

In cinemas Friday 14th January