This has to be THE movie I was most excited to see this year. I am a die-hard “Halloween” (1978) fan and of course I’m looking forward to watching that, but “Scream” (1996) just hits different.
The Scream franchise hasn’t released a movie since 2011, the fourth film in the series. I wonder why they decided now was the time to make another one 11 years later? I think doing this makes the film more exciting. But, on the negative side it could lead the film to be absolutely terrible. So I admit, I was a bit nervous it would crash and burn.
But it didn’t. I avoided spoilers at all costs so I could enjoy the movie theatre experience with my friend and I’m glad I did.
Warning, spoilers ahead! So if you don’t want spoilers, stop reading and finish this after you watch the film.
This film’s skeleton was spot on. From start to finish it felt like the original “Scream” movie only with a modern twist. It mirrored the places, characters, and it even had some of the same exact quotes baked into the film from the original. I really enjoyed these elements.
They started the film with the classic phone call from Ghostface calling a young girl alone in a house making conversation (which seemed too long to be honest). Of course when he asked her what her favorite scary movie was — I was a little disappointed she said “The Babadook” (2014). It is a modern horror film, but not one of my favorites. Although I suppose that’s a story for another time.
Instead of calling the “Scream” movies by their real name — he called the movie Stab and asked for trivia. That was her test and I really enjoyed this because it felt like a game I could play and get involved in. It was nice to refresh my “Scream” movie trivia. This beginning sequence was great, the only strange thing was the landline phone. I love how they are throwing this back to early horror in the 90s but most people don’t have those phones in their home anymore. And if they did, they usually don’t answer them. So my one critique with this was I wish they utilized cell phones more to make it feel more modern. But also — why did she answer the film in the first place? I truly do not know.
The twist of having the main character, Sam, be the daughter of Billy Loomis was an interesting twist but it seemed predictable. And I wonder why they decided to go that route. I feel like the film would have made more sense if it followed Sidney’s daughter — not Sam. Mostly because why would a killer go after the original killer’s offspring? It doesn’t make a ton of sense to me. Especially because throughout the film we never find out the mother’s identity. I wonder if they kept her identity a secret to add this into the premise of a potential next film.
This movie did great in giving me a sense of nostalgia especially when they introduced Dewey. They used the same music in the original film around the legacy characters, and David Arquette did a spectacular job provoking those same feelings of love towards Gail Weathers. This has always been one of my favorite aspects of the franchise. He fell back into the roll of Dewey again, and it just felt natural. Once he was introduced in the film I just couldn’t wait until him and Gail would reunite and get back together.
But that never happens.
Now they do interact, but they only have one scene together. Their interaction reveals why they broke up but that’s it. It wasn’t too fulfilling for me.
And then they decide to make a bold decision in the film. To kill off Dewey.
What the actual heck?!
I literally wanted to scream at the movie screen in the theatre because I was NOT okay. I would have felt differently if he at least was rescuing Gail or Sidney but he was rescuing Sam and Sara who I didn’t really care much for. And the way they killed him off was stupid.
Sure the killer is down — but you don’t stay there by yourself and make sure he’s dead. You leave! And Sam just leaves him there. After all he did for these characters, they just leave and let him die.
This left me not okay.
After that, the main characters just seem ungrateful and don’t want Sidney or Gail’s help. This just pissed me off. Like don’t you feel responsible for Dewey’s death? It just seems like they simply did not care.
The final climax of being in the original house, Stu ‘s house, was a cool throwback but I kind of wish the killers weren’t in the friend group. It just seemed too predictable. And when they mention the rules in the beginning they say ‘oh its usually the love interest,’ but they don’t talk about the original rules of surviving a horror movie from Randy. I wish they honed in on this more because that was my favorite part of the original “Scream” movie.
I did enjoy how they revealed the motive of the killers though because it felt like they were poking fun of fans who are obsessed with the franchise (aka me) and how it isn’t healthy. They wanted to be the killers to have the franchise live on which is hilarious.
It kind of made me feel like I was the killer in a uncomfortable strange way.
Overall, this movie did have its moments. It’s high up on my list of top “Scream” movies but I do kind of wish it gave us a little bit more. I mostly wish it gave us more from the original characters. (Although I might be saying that because I’m still pissed off they killed off Dewey) “Scream” (2022) was a fantastic tribute to Wes Craven. I absolutely LOVED how it had references to “Halloween” (1978), “Nightmare on Elm Street” (1984), and “Psycho” (1960). These are all classic slasher films that will forever be some of my favorites.
In addition, throughout the film I liked the angled sarcasm kind of making fun of past films. They kept saying “Scream 4” (2011) was bad, and to be honest, it isn’t one of my favorites from the franchise. How the characters in the new film had to relearn the premise of “Scream” and the rules was a really fun addition in the film.
I feel like I have a love/hate relationship with this movie. I really did love it but some parts didn’t feel believable, parts just felt disjointed. Like characters moving from point A to B at an extremely fast rate, or even how there is literally no one at the hospital when all of this stuff with Ghostface is happening.
I will say, this movie did give me that sense of 90s horror nostalgia from the original film, so I think it did its job correctly.
What were your thoughts on the new “Scream” film? Did you enjoy it? Were you upset when they killed off Dewey like I was? Did you enjoy the new character additions? And what did you think of the twist of having Sam be Billy Loomis’s daughter?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
Spooky Reviews 