Scream (2022)

 Year of Release:  2022

Director:    Matt Bettinelli-Oplin and Tyler Gillett

Screenplay:  James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick, based on characters created by Kevin Williamson

Starring:    David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega, Jack Quaid, Dylan Minnette, Mason Gooding, Jasmin Savoy Brown,  Mikey Madison, Sonia Ben Ammar, Marley Shelton

Running Time:  114 minutes

Genre:  Horror

In the small town of Woodsboro teenager Tara (Ortega) is brutally attacked in her home, by a knife-wielding assailant dressed in a Ghostface mask.  The mask and manner of the attack harkens back to a series of murders committed in Woodsboro twenty five years earlier, which were quickly immortalised in the popular Stab horror films.  Tara's sister Sam (Barrera) and her boyfriend Richie (Quaid) return to Woodsboro to help her, but it soon becomes apparent that the attacker hasn't finished yet , and as the body count rises, Sam begins to believe that she is the one the killer is most interested in targeting.

The original Wes Craven directed Scream was released in 1996 to massive critical and popular acclaim.  At a pretty bleak time for horror films Scream managed to work as a horror film while also commenting on and poking fun at them,  the characters were aware of horror films and the "rules" that they work by.  Just as Scream commented on horror films, Scream 2 (1997) dealt with the rules of sequels, Scream 3 (2000) dealt with the rules of trilogies, Scream 4 (2011) examined the rules of franchises and now Scream (2022), or Scream 5 if you prefer, examines what the film terms  "re-quels", which are those films that work partly as sequels and partly as reboots, they acknowledge the existence of previous instalments, and bring back fan favourite characters, while focusing on new characters (think Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) for a textbook example),  Another element that set the Scream franchise apart from other slasher films was that the survivors, rather than the killers, were who would return for each film.  While the killer, or killers, would wear the same Ghostface costume in each film, their identities were different each time around.  However the tormented Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), ambitious tabled TV reporter Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) and small-town cop Dewey Riley (David Arquette) would return for every film.  While the new Scream follows many of the same key plot beats as the original, it is different enough to feel fresh.   It is fun and nostalgic to see the familiar faces reprise the same roles again, even if the reminder of the passage of time is a little less welcome, but the new characters are engaging.  While you may be able to guess some of the revelations before the end, there is still enough surprises to keep it intriguing.  The films does target such contemporary issues as reboots and toxic fandom, as well as the so-called "elevated horror", but even if it isn't as funny as the original, it is fun, and there are enough gruesome slayings to satisfy fans.

Ghostface return in Scream