"Scream" (2022) review — a witty, scary revitalization of the beloved series
“Ghostface is back. Don’t come to Woodsboro. Hope all is well.”
Cast your memory back to 1996. You are a Hollywood filmmaker working on a new horror movie. Despite their collapse in popularity and quality over the past ten years, you have decided to create a slasher film. But this one is not just another Halloween (1978) or Friday the 13th (1980). This one is smart and funny. Your movie is self-aware and makes jokes about the tired tropes and conventions of the horror genre. Your movie is a massive success and has struck a chord with exhausted horror fans everywhere. You make a sequel, then a second sequel. Ten years after the third movie, you make a fourth entry. Now, your originally ground-breaking horror movie is a part of the canon you sought to satirize and you are greeted with a long line of bad knockoffs and wannabes. The Edvard Munch-inspired Ghostface mask is just as recognizable as Freddy and Jason. If you want to continue your story, you have to meet your worst enemy: your own movie.
The problem with long-standing franchises built on meta-commentary and self-awareness is that, eventually, they have to reconcile with their own existence.
This is where we find the Scream series at the start of Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett’s fifth entry in the beloved slasher franchise. This new entry into the series, sharing the same title as the 1996 original, identifies itself as a “requel” — one part sequel, one part reboot — through a tongue-in-cheek scene that almost looks the audience dead in the eye to explain its ethos. Scream stars a new, younger cast with convenient familial ties to characters from the original films. It tells a story similar in scale and style to the original with a healthy amount of iconography thrown in to keep the fans happy. Of course, a trio of returning “legacy characters” are here to remind us that, yes, we are still very much in the same world. It is new, but not too new. It is the Force Awakens (2015) of the Scream saga. Thankfully, with the blend of comedy, scares, and filmic literacy that made the ‘96 original such an excellent film, Scream ‘22 handles its role quite well.
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| Tara (Jenna Ortega) is attacked by Ghostface in Scream (2022). © Paramount Pictures. |
The story begins with an eerie similarity to the original film. There is a girl alone in her large suburban house, but this is not the same girl from the original. She gets a call on her landline. She is greeted by the familiar voice of Roger L. Jackson, the actor behind the voice of Ghostface since the original. The girl talks idly with the anonymous caller for some time, bantering about scary movies. The fluttery pleasantry of Drew Barrymore’s Casey is replaced by the snippy, deadpan sarcasm of Tara, played by Jenna Ortega. Casey talks about her favourite slashers, naming A Nightmare on Elm Street in particular. Tara speaks eloquently about “elevated horror,” a distinctly contemporary movement in horror, with references to Hereditary and The Babadook scattered in the scene. Just like he did twenty-six years ago, wants to play a game with life-and-death consequences. Within minutes, as the tension slowly burns, the brilliantly simple and ever-terrifying visage of Ghostface is chasing Tara through the house.
Scream — AKA 5cream, AKA Scream 5 — is a fascinating filmic work. In an age where nostalgia seems to permeate all of our prominent and popular blockbusters, Scream takes it all on with a film that is just as interested in being a commentary about current filmmaking trends and its own place in all of it as it is in telling an engaging, twist-filled story. Despite a few plot hiccups and some elements of less-than-stellar execution, Scream manages to be a compelling and wildly entertaining slasher.
The attack on Tara by the latest psycho in a Ghostface mask brings Samantha Carpenter (Melissa Barrera), Tara’s estranged sister and daughter of original killer Billy Loomis, back to the sleepy town of Woodsboro. Barrera leads a wonderful cast of new characters which include stand-out performances from castmembers Mason Gooding and Jasmin Savoy Brown as the Meeks-Martin siblings, Mikey Madison as Tara’s friend Amber who really gets to shine in the latter half of the movie, and Jack Quaid who plays Sam’s boyfriend who inadvertently gets caught up in the Ghostface murder spree. It is these new elements that prove to be the most exciting. They bring the same dynamic, youthful energy that made the original such a strong film. The performance by the film’s main killer (or perhaps killers, whose identity I will not spoil here) is quite engaging as well including a shocking, explosive reveal. Unfortunately, the weakest characters are the trio of returning faces.
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| Melissa Barrera in Scream (2022). © Paramount Pictures. |
However, the film left me feeling much more positive than it did negative. There are some fantastic scares and moments of tension throughout, rewarding twists, excellent one-liners, and the film, thankfully, never shies away from the blood. The mystery is compelling and engaging and the third act is particularly strong. The cinematography by Brett Jutkiewicz is stellar with its rough, grainy look and an obsession with Dutch angles that would make Brian De Palma blush.
Scream ends with the words “For Wes” written in the aggressively 90s typography of the original’s closing credits. Scream basks in the legacy of the late, great Wes Craven, the director of the first four Scream films and whose final directorial credit was Scream 4. While I do not wish to pronounce judgment on Craven’s part, I will say that Scream (2022) is very much of his ilk. The film is charming, clever, and quick-witted. Perhaps it feels a little too on the nose for its own good, Scream balances its responsibility has the self-aware legacy sequel to the original films quite well. If it is destiny that the Scream series must eventually rationalize its place in the horror canon, then this film certainly lives up to it. It is a wonderful satire of fandom, obsession, and nostalgia updated with 2022 sensibilities. Scream is full of love for its predecessors and makes for a terrifying, although messy, film.
Scream is now playing in theatres everywhere.
Score: 3.5
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