Starring - Melissa Barrera (Acting for a Cause, Vida), Jack Quaid (The Boys, Star Trek: Lower Decks), and Mikey Madison (Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood, The Addams Family)
Release Date - 2022
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "It's always someone you know"
Format - UHD (Personal Collection) (Screener)
Rating (out of 5):
The 90s was the decade that I grew up in. I'm a product of the video store, Sega Genesis, Nickelodeon, and Goosebumps. I caught the horror bug from my grandmother who let me watch Savini's remake of Night of the Living Dead when I was a kid and soon after I was renting horror movies from my local ma and pop video store, Dewey's Video. The 90s is often scoffed at in terms of horror releases. Even I'm guilty of it but in retrospect the 90s released some seriously iconic films that spawned some successful franchises. The 90s gave us Leprechaun, Wishmaster, Candyman, and the most popular of all, Scream. Honestly, I'm not much of a fan of the Scream series. I can appreciate how Wes Craven was able to poke fun at a dying sub-genre and in turn was able to resurrect it. I get the appeal of the film series to genre fans but I feel like it was a missed opportunity to be an iconic horror comedy. When I heard that the film was getting a reimagine/sequel I was on the fence about it. I was curious about how it would play out but a part of me knew it was going to fall in line with the rest of the films. Regardless, I'm still thankful I was able to check it out. Even if I dislike a film I still enjoy the movie experience.
The film takes place several decades after the initial film when a young woman gets a call that someone in the ghostface mask tried to kill her younger sister. She returns to her hometown to see her sister and reveals to her that the reason she has been distant for so many years and left town was because she discovered that her real father was Billy Loomis, one half of the killers from the first film. When Ghostface attacks someone else she is forced to contact the survivors of the original murders, Sidney Prescott, former officer Dewey, and journalist Gale Weathers, to help her find who is behind the murders and why.
I like the idea behind Scream but the execution is where it loses it's me. The thought of a meta-slasher that knows what it is has the perfect set up to become one hell of a horror comedy. However, a slasher that knows it's a slasher that takes itself too seriously is a bit of a drag to me. I actually liked season one of the show but the four films prior to it are a bit of a let down. They are cringy and extremely awkward while being very predictable. However, Scream 2022 is actually tolerable. Don't get me wrong, it's still predictable and the killers are painfully obvious but I still had some fun with it. With that being said, I don't see myself revisiting it anytime soon. The acting in this one is actually pretty well done. I didn't really care for Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, and David Arquette but I did really like the new characters and the cast. Campbell and Cox felt out of place honestly and was only involved to pacify the diehard fans. Arquette was surprisingly enjoyable but his performance was cut short... The story for this one is a sequel to the original with a predictable story but it does have it's moments. You pretty much know who the two killers are from the very beginning and the dialogue throughout really hits it home when you start to suspect. The original does have an edge over this one in that regard because you never know who the real killer, or killers, are unless you had seen the film before. Aside from some cringy dialogue and repetitive plot points from previous films it still finds a way to make itself relevant in 2022. Finally, this one has the most impressive death scenes in the entire series. It's not the goriest but these kills are fucking brutal with great practical effects and light visual effects to make them stand out better. I recommend checking out this installment just for the deaths. Overall, Scream is a fairly decent installment in a series of films that I normally avoid. I'm not really a fan of the franchise but this installment is leagues above the other films. Check it out.
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