The Scream franchise is one of the most fascinating and unique horror franchises, even beyond the other horror franchises that are out there and to look at it more in depth you have to look at it in several different lenses. First, before the first Scream hit theaters in the winter of 1996, the slasher genre was, for all intents and purposes, dead or was running out of steam. The slasher genre, at that point, had seen numerous Halloween sequels, follow ups to Friday the 13th or more A Nightmare on Elm Street movies (also made by Wes Craven). So, the idea of doing another slasher flick with Scream was deemed to another dud in the genre, when in actuality the brilliance of the first Scream was that it was poking fun at itself and deconstructing the genre, while still being tense and scary. It’s what made the franchise so special and so fresh. The second lens we need to keep in mind is the director himself, Wes Craven. Before the release of Scream, Craven hadn’t had a mega hit in sometime and when he pitched Scream to the studio he had to pitch it almost as a comedy. Not to say that Scream is a straight up comedy, but part of it’s charm is that it’s self aware of the type of horror movie its going for. But it is the only way the studio would ever push forward with the movie, and low and behold what we got was something historic.
Now we’re over 20 years since the first film, and the Scream franchise is a celebrated and beloved series, particularly in the horror fan community. The Scream movies have never been immensely popular in the grand scheme of the mainstream audience, but the diehard fans of the franchise are equivalent to the diehard fandom of Star Wars or even the MCU. Box office has never determined quality, but the box office results for Scream would challenge the desire for another one because despite the budgets being small, the results are not big numbers. Be that as it may, each Scream movie is helmed as a fun, clever and tense horror movie and when a fifth one was announced without the return of the late and great Wes Craven, it was a question on if they could carry on the work he created, let alone with a fifth installment. It’s safe to say that the new Scream (or Scream 5) would put a smile on his face. Scream is a gruesome, emotional, meta and poetic tribute to the legacy of Wes Craven’s work but still creates new characters that attributes to the movies before it. The balance of the legacy character with the new characters was handled so perfectly that it beautifully reminisces the first installment of this franchise but still has the new faces carry the torch. With Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett telling this chapter of Woodsboro, this continuation sticks with the modern deconstruction of horror, while still simultaneously poking at itself and getting at what makes this series so unique, and that’s the point.
Twenty-five years after the brutal murders in the town of Woodsboro, California, Ghostface is back on another murderous killing streak with targeting a specific group of teenagers to revive some dark secrets that still lie within these teenager’s past and the town itself.
If you’re not a Star Wars movie, Harry Potter or some other fantasy flick, a franchise that’s milking on a fifth installment is very worrisome. In some cases, a third part of a trilogy can worry people because there’s a track record of third installments of movies that don’t deliver. Not every third installment can be a Return of the King or a Toy Story 3, but sometimes the magic won’t be there anymore, especially with a fifth installment in a horror franchise. Doing a fifth Scream movie, in principle, seems like a risk, even if the budget is tiny (to which it is). However, with directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett attached to this project and seeing their work on their previous film with the black comedy Ready or Not, it was genius move to bring those guys on to do a Scream movie. Sure enough, not only do they elevate the material and offer some reinvention with modernizations of society, they understand what makes Scream so sharp. They deliver on a stellar opening sequence that’s beautifully reminiscent to the opening of the first Scream, they focus just enough on the legacy characters while still having the main focus being the newer generation of characters.By far, the most heart pounding and stellar sequence in this movie is the sequence in the hospital. From a directing, tension and cinematography perspective, its horror at an expertise level. Both of these guys do such a commendable job of honoring the work that came before by continuing this story and not something that feels like a waste-less copy cat with no heart or passion. These guys care so much about Woodsboro and each character and their direction shows.
With the new faces, the two that stand out the most were Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega. Serving almost as two the main pieces of the puzzle, these two steal almost every scene they’re in. It might be tough for some Scream fans to get on board, but with the amount of heart and focus they have they really are terrific additions in this movie. The rest of the new comers, from Jack Quaid, Dylan Minnette or Jasmin Savoy Brown, all do a serviceable job by being the new faces of this chapter.
With the legacy characters, the one that gets the most to do is David Arquette. Instead of being a dopier and goofy Deputy Dewey in the other films, David Arquette brings a lot more rust and brokenness to his character that made it more appropriate with the amount of time that’s passed between Scream 4 and now Scream 5. With Neve Campbell and Courtney Cox, they both are featured prominently (more towards the end of the film), but what’s so special seeing these two characters interact for one might be one last go with Sidney Prescott and Gale Weathers. Of course it’s up for debate, by Neve Campbell’s Sidney Prescott is the real deal. With all due respect to Jamie-Lee Curtis’ Laurie Strode, there’s something about Neve Campbell’s Prescott that feels more likable and resonating as a character. There’s a stronger emotional belt with the legacy characters and it never takes away from the new generation having the spotlight.
In this Scream, Ghostface completely dominates every single second that’s he’s on screen. He’s sadistic, ruthless and even more terrifying over the phone than he’s ever been. Having Roger L. Jackson back to do the voice was something that this movie couldn’t avoid that’s almost in the same vein of doing a Darth Vader movie and not having James Earl Jones to come back and do the voice. Its crucially necessary and Jackson’s voice work is terrific. His kills are brutal, his presence is alarming and it’s nice to see Ghostface be more intimidating and more physically imposing.
One final shout out is the terrific score from composer Brian Tyler. His music serves as an embellishment of Beltrami’s music from the other four Scream movies, but still has his spin to make it sound like new Scream music and can carry the beats of a terrifying slasher flick.
Scream is really special because it goes back to the original roots, and can still offer inventive and refreshing tactics to keep the slasher genre a float. It’s full of great call backs and twists and turns that fans will loose their minds over. It’s fun, beautifully shot, super violent and heartfelt with picking up where Wes Craven left off. Boy, would he be proud.
My grade for Scream: A
Zane's take at the Cinema's 