HALLOWEEN 2K23: A Review of "Scream" (2022)

In the 2022 reboot of Scream, Ghostface takes on his most difficult challenge yet... not letting TikTokers record his
ass getting tossed around like a ragdoll!

Hello, hello. Well I hope you enjoyed our review of Scream 4, even if you didn't agree, because I'm already back with another Scream review. Not much time left in the month now, so we're running low on days versus the number of reviews I want to do for Halloween 2K23. ENOUGH CHIT CHAT! *Slams Red Bull*, let's dive into our next entry.

"Hello, Domino's? You don't have to worry about Neve
Campbell calling you, anymore. I'm the new girl on the block,
and I love Pepperoni pizza!"

Scream 4 may have closed the book on the franchise in a few ways. It was the last one with any sort of involvement by Wes Craven, as mentioned in the previous post, Craven died unfortunately in 2015. The Scream franchise's future was thrown up in the air with his passing. However, during 2015, the Scream TV series debuted. I'm not sure I can review the show accurately, as I've only seen the first season and half of season two, but let's just say shortly before his death, Craven declared "MTV should've left the mask alone and let Ghostface be Ghostface". Let that short, one-line review stand on its own, I suppose.

But we're not here to talk about the Scream TV series, we're here to talk about its inevitable reboot! In the wake of Hollywood's overly-safe, nostalgic reboot phase of movie-making, Scream seamed like it was a ripe option for one of its own. Let's face it, movies like Jurassic World, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and Halloween (2018) were all, in and of themselves, soft-remakes sold as half reboots, half sequels. 2022's return to Woodsboro was no exception. Welcome to Scream 5... or, wait, I'm sorry, in keeping with the trend of marketing-safe reboots, 2022's Scream. Not to be confused with 1996's Scream. See what they did there? If you ask me, like Scream 4 was clever for naming itself Scre4m on the movie posters... this one could've been clever by naming itself 5cream or something equally cheesy. Let's dig into this all-new, kind-of-rehash, totally-fresh-sort-of-not reboot-quel to the Scream franchise!

Twenty-five years after Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich in Scream) and Stu Macher's (Matthew Lillard in Scream) killing spree in Woodsboro, high school student Tara Carpenter (Jenna Ortega) is home alone when she is attacked by Ghostface (voiced by Roger L. Jackson) and left hospitalized. In Modesto, Tara's estranged older sister Sam Carpenter (Melissa Barrera) is informed by Wes Hicks (Dylan Minnette), one of Tara's friends, about the attack. Sam returns to Woodsboro with her boyfriend Richie Kirsch (Jack Quaid) to visit Tara at the hospital, where Sam is reunited with Tara's friend group: Wes, Amber Freeman (Mikey Madison), twins Chad and Mindy Meeks-Martin (Mason Gooding, Jasmin Savoy Brown), and Liv McKenzie (Sonia Ammar). That night, Liv's ex-boyfriend Vince Schneider (Kyle Gallner), who is Stu's nephew, is killed by Ghostface. After an encounter with Ghostface at the hospital, Sam tells Tara that she has been dealing with hallucinations of Billy, who Sam learned as a teenager was her biological father. Sam's true parentage resulted in their parents' separation and this is why Sam became estranged from Tara.

Ah, I must've missed the release of this cereal: Kellogg's
Frosted Tips. Now part of a complete circa-2000 breakfast.

Sam and Richie visit Dewey Riley (David Arquette), who is divorced from Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox). They ask for his help in stopping the killer, and he contacts Gale and Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), warning them about the return of Ghostface. Dewey joins them at Mindy and Chad's home and is reunited with the twins' mother Martha (Heather Matarazzo), Randy Meeks' sister. Mindy deduces that the killer is making a "requel"... or as I've said before, "rebootquel", using Tara and her friends as the new generation and using Sam's connection to Billy as a way to weave the legacy characters, revealing to us yet another list of Scream rules:

1. Never trust your love interest.
2. The killer always has something to do with the past.
3. The first victim always has a circle of friends that the killer is a part of.
4. Don't fuck with the daughter of a serial killer.

Ghostface then murders Wes and his mother, Sheriff Judy Hicks (Marley Shelton), at their home. Dewey reunites with Gale, who has arrived in town to cover the story. At the hospital, Tara and Richie are attacked by Ghostface, but are saved by an arriving Dewey and Sam. Sam, Tara and Richie escape, but Dewey is killed when he attempts to finish off Ghostface. Not gonna lie... I thought someone was going to die, and didn't know who. I thought Sidney was untouchable, and really thought Gale would get it. Kind of sad when it was poor Dewey, who wouldn't hurt a fly.

"I'm going to kill you, once and for all, Sidney. But first, I'm
going to swallow this entire knife for your amusement!"

Sidney arrives in town after learning of Dewey's death and meets both Gale and Sam at the hospital. Sidney asks Sam to help stop the killer, but Sam declines, choosing to leave town with Richie and Tara. Sidney and Gale follow the trio to Amber's, which is revealed to be Stu's former home where the original Woodsboro massacre took place. While a party is in progress to honor Wes' memory, Chad and Mindy are both attacked by Ghostface. As the friend group convenes, Amber pulls out Dewey's gun and shoots Liv in the head, revealing herself as the killer. Sidney and Gale arrive, and Richie is revealed as Amber's accomplice. He stabs Sam, and he and Amber take Sam, Sidney, and Gale into the kitchen where Sidney had first faced off against Billy and Stu.

Richie and Amber reveal they are fans of the Stab film series who met online. Disappointed in the trajectory taken with the most-recent Stab 8, they decided to embark on a new killing spree to bring back the "original cast" and provide new-and-improved "source material" for a future Stab film, then frame Sam as the killer. Sam attacks Richie and Tara attacks Amber but is incapacitated; Richie goes after Sam while Sidney and Gale fight Amber together, ending with Gale breaking free and shooting Amber, who lands on a turned-on stove and is set on fire. Richie pursues Sam, who sees another hallucination of Billy, which brings her attention to Amber's abandoned knife. Embracing her paternal heritage, she uses the knife to stab Richie repeatedly and fatally slit his throat, before shooting him to ensure he is dead. A horribly burnt Amber attempts to attack the group again but is shot to death by Tara.

Tara and the Meeks twins are loaded into ambulances to be taken to the hospital, and Sam thanks Sidney and Gale for their help. Gale promises not to write a new book about the new murders and give the killers notoriety, opting to write a tribute to Dewey instead. Sam joins Tara in the ambulance and the night's events are covered in a news report...

"So what are you buying with your Scream reboot money?"
"A new pool house, you?"
"Running shoes!"

... and that is the reboot-quel to Scream, also called Scream. How does it compare to the ones we've reviewed thus far? Well my friends, it was pretty top-tier, not going to lie. The movie has just the right mix of legacy characters and new, fresh-faced characters. Tara and Sam being the new front-runners bring a fresh look into the franchise, and it's fitting that Sidney, Gale, and Dewey all support and take their backseats or side, supporting seats, to these new characters. The best part is, none of them are remotely annoying. You can tell that some real love and affection went into writing these characters. The callbacks were very well done, and not just shoved down your throat but befitting to the plot in the way only Scream can make it happen. Some real top-notch methods to use to reference each of the previous films. I sure doing that doesn't get old, ha ha ha... *cough*

Being the first Scream film not directed by Wes Craven must've shook the faith in a lot of the die-hard fans, but I'm happy to say a lot of them still turned up in droves to see it. Rightfully so; with the return of the legacy characters, touching tributes to Dewey, badass new characters, some pretty Scream-esque kills, dynamite twists with the reboot-quel going back to the roots of the original by having the massacre once again take place in Stu Macher's old house; 2022's Scream is a solid entry in the series, and definitely made up for 4's shortcomings. Roger L. Jackson's creepy Ghostface voice, now in its fifth go-round, just sprinkles on the creepiness for all to enjoy. I thoroughly enjoyed Scream, or 5cream as I called it.

Only one post to go in Halloween 2K23, and it'll probably come out tomorrow on the biggest day of the year! Cheers all, here's to a right good scare.