Scream (2022) was directed by Matt Bettinell Olpin and Tyler Gillet and stars Melissa Barrera as Sam and Jenna Ortega as Tara.
This is the first Scream movie since Scream 4 back in 2011, so it's been a good long while... but after 11 years my favorite horror franchise came back!
The first Scream is one of the most influential horror movies ever made, and it just happens to be my favorite horror franchise of all time. I love the mesh between a self parody and commentary of the horror genre and the seriousness of a regular slasher all in one movie. This movie absolutely nails it here and really does have a good mesh between the two different sub-genres. It's easily the best since the original, and I highly recommend it.
Now getting into spoilers, I liked a lot of the characters, but I also didn't like a good few. Amber is a mixed bag for me. There's no real character development, no personal motive for being Ghostface; she is really just along for the ride. While that's absolutely the same case with Stu in the OG Scream, Matthew Lillard is just the right amount of insane in that movie and I love him for that. This lady was pretty obviously the killer, and I wish they had done a little more to confuse the audience. Maybe by giving her some character development or traits, that would have done the trick.
Vince is in the movie for like 5 seconds and is then killed off. Apparently, he is the nephew of Stu and I'm actually really mad that he didn't get more screen time. Stu is my absolute favorite character in any of the Scream movies, so seeing someone related to him getting absolutely no respect is disappointing.
Mindy Meeks is one of the twins that is related to Randy Meeks from the first 2 Scream movies. She was one of the better characters, but I just wish she had more screentime. She is definitely one of the highlights of the movie so more of her in there would not have been a bad thing.
The other Meeks twin Chad is my new favorite character in the Scream franchises since they killed off everyone else. He's not a stupid jock that most people would think he would be, he's actually really funny and smart. I'm really glad they didn't kill him off like I thought they did and I hope he comes back for the next one.
Chad's girlfriend Liv is not given a lot of screen time. She's a very "meh" character and I wish I liked her more.
Wes was my favorite new addition to the franchise until they killed him off. I'm still quite sour on that. I thought he had the potential to be this really funny and sweet character and they ruined it. I feel the same way with Judy Hicks. I'm so mad that they killed them both off. It's the one thing I genuinely hate this movie for doing. They had some much potential to expand upon her character from Scream 4 and didn't. It's a huge missed opportunity if you ask me.
Speaking of killing, they killed off the cowboy himself, Dewey Riley. Can't tell you how much that hurt to watch. Dewey has been my favorite character since the first movie and I think he went out like a chump. He deserved better. I'm not a sour as I am about Judy, Wes, and Vince, but I'm still upset that Dewey didn't get a proper send-off.
Onto the leads of the movie, Courtney Cox comes back... and doesn't really have anything to do. She kind of helps in the third act, but that's pretty much it, unfortunately.
Sidney is back and also doesn't really do anything until the third act. I kind of wish they had more of a presence in the story, but I understand that they seem to be passing out the legacy characters to make way for the new ones.
Tara is okay. I really thought her peak was in the opening. She isn't a very interesting character right now. I expected her to be one of the Ghostfaces that would be a second twist at the end of the movie, but I was wrong. I sincerely hope they give her something interesting in Scream 6.
Richie was actually a pretty good Ghostface. I liked his motivation for being Ghostface and thought it was unique and well thought out.
And finally, the star of the show, Sam Carpenter. I wish she wasn't the lead. They really tried to make her interesting with a wild tie-in to something in the first Scream film that did not work for me. I wish they made one of the more likable new characters they introduced to be the new lead for these movies. Her being the daughter of Billy Loomis is so dumb and seemed like an excuse to not give her any sort of other character traits or development. It's one of the weakest parts of the movie. The visions of Billy were just ridiculous. It's wonderful to see Skeet come back as Billy Loomis, but it was just really dumb.
Overall, I think it plays it too safe by being a by-the-books Scream movie instead of doing something new. I did enjoy most of it and felt this was something Wes Craven would have been proud of, but for Scream 6 they will absolutely need to spice it up with something new.
Scream (2022) gets a B.
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