Screams back. Thank God. Now personally it’s been a tough year for me as a fan of certain horror series, after for me the great success of David Gordon Green’s Halloween, Halloween Kills was such a terrible mess that I was left quite disheartened and in many ways led me to head into this film with quite low expectations. However those expectations were only boosted by an intense return to the original four films that some better and some worse I greatly love everyone of. Although I still may prefer some of the earlier sequels, this is a film that almost joyously and with brutal reality returns us to the original two films iconic and almost inconceivable mastery at balancing intense horror and meta comedy.

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My biggest hope was that the nature of the Scream films would allow for all the foibles of these recent requels and reboots and legacy sequels to be leant into and dissected, and although I do feel that the film did slightly pull its punches when it came to the Halloween reboot specifically and the general horror landscape, enough lip service was given and the script came out as a fun and fresh return to the majesty of the original. Also however knowing the nature of the Scream films on a first watch the first half hour was a bizarre one. Certain choices were made (specifically around mirrors) and certain periods of dialogue where I genuinely thought that the film was making intentionally bad choices and we were in for a half hour mark twist revealing us to be watching a Stab movie. However the legacy characters started appearing (along with their joyously re-incorporated musical themes) and I realised that in actuality the film just had an unfortunately rocky opening. However following a second watch I can find great credit in how certain legacy characters and links between these new characters and their familiar ties to the first film were presented, chiefly the fact that they were all relatively early in the film and were not placed near the end for cheap twist effects (like a certain third entry). Here these familial ties are integral to character arcs and inform the narrative as much as anything else. When it comes in fact to the incorporation of fresh material and legacy elements one really must commend the work of writers James Vanderbilt and Gary Busick, along with the direction Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillet. This is a film that rides a wonderfully fine line of not re-inventing the Scream wheel, but also having enough fresh modern elements. This feels incredibly as much a Craven movie as it does a fresh new take. It’s a level of craft based honouring that makes the film the success that it is. Again, once it’s found its footing around the third and fourth kill (one of the most shocking slasher sequences I’ve seen in some time).

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Although every time we see her in one of these films kind of negates the incredible power of the ending of the third film, Neve Campbell can’t help but not being incredible as Sidney, and here gives us another angle to the character with a nuanced and empowered depiction of a woman dealing and long since dealt with the many facets of her tragic life. Courtney Cox here does have moments of the fun Gale we will always love, but spends more time here in a more dramatic tone that she of course too pulls off stunningly. David Arquette is by the far the standout of the original trio, with an aged and startling still Dewey performance, balancing the inherent goofiness that still has residues and the powerful ‘old cowboy’ aesthetic that his narrative in this film features. Roger Jackson of course delivers another incredible voice performance and really is the fourth legacy character for me and one of the biggest lynchpins to the whole series. Our new lead protagonist for me was unfortunately the weakest link by far, Melissa Barrera as Sam Carpenter time after time felt so terrible flat in her emotions, and although she was given some seriously exposition dump heavy monologues everything felt painfully dull, again she eventually found a footing, but overall felt like a weak link especially in comparison to everybody else who was really giving us great work and perfectly pitching themselves for this franchise. That is those that survive of course! Standouts included Jenna Ortega, as a seriously brutalised early victim of this films Ghostface, aswell as Jasmin Savoy Brown and Mason Gooding, as a delightful pair of twins in the Randy bloodline. Jack Quaid, Dylan Minnette and Mikey Madison also were also excellent with three of the more over-the-top turns in the film, shall we say. Overall the film really did build and build to an absolute rocker of a climax, following a glorious ramping of kills, tension and delightful comedy. A very solid entry.  

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Despite a rocky start following an exciting opening, this 8/10 Scream marks itself as by far and above one of the best fifth entries in a horror series and marks a very solid entry into this particular iconic franchise. Our legacy characters are back and brilliant as always, with Arquette giving his best performance in any of the movies. However this film succeeds in a way in which the fourth didn’t exactly (outside of Kirby), by introducing a new series of fresh characters that just like the first film we like all of and desperately don’t want to see die or be the killer. A film that eventually finds its footing as a very solid Scream sequel and fundamentally a very fun meta slasher whodunit, more than worthy of a place in Craven’s franchise, with some real fun, some real meta wit, some real scares and some real whodunit twists. A great entry and one that I will indeed return to over and over again.

P.S.  What started off as a cheap name reference with the character of Wes quickly turned into an entirely narrativley justified and very touching honouring of one of our finest creative minds. This film really is in so many ways #forWes and the feeling of legacy and honouring can be felt so clearly that it does make this passing of the torch feel like a genuine one, and one that I do really hope leads to a whole new series of films. They finally have a very solid foundation to go forward from. But then again I said that about HallowGreen, so who knows what to think anymore.

P.P.S Current not objective personal favourite rankings at the time of writing this review.

1. Scream 2

2. Scream (1996)

3. Scream (2022)

4. Scream 3

5. Scream 4

But that very well change very soon, that’s just how I feel at current.

-       -   Thomas Carruthers