Review: Scream (2022)

Scream

Rating

Director

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett

Screenplay

James Vanderbilt, Guy Busick

Length

1h 54m

Starring

Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Melsissa Barrera, Jack Quaid, Mikey Madison, Jenna Ortega, Dylan Minnette, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Mason Gooding, Sonia Ammar, Marley Shelton, Skeet Ulrich, Kyle Gallner, Chester Tam, Reggie Conquest, Heather Matarazzo

MPAA Rating

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Review

Unlike the recent James Bond outing, Scream understands its essence and embraces it whole-heartedly. Grizzly murders have returned to Woodsboro, but can it be more than a regurgitation and become a re-invigoration of a premise that had begun to fade in the original series’ waning years?

Returning for another stab at the Scream franchise are series originals Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, David Arquette, and Skeet Ulrich. They are supporting characters whose involvement in the narrative comes fittingly. The core of this story is Melissa Barrera’s Sam Carpenter who returns to Woodsboro when her younger sister Tara (Jenny Ortega) is viciously attacked in the surprisingly adroit pre-title segment. Like James Bond, audiences have come to appreciate that introduction to the killings with a familiar face being murdered. While we didn’t get the level of celebrity in the opening like we did before (think the unforgettable Drew Barrymore or the pretty damned intense Jada Pinkett-Smith scenes), the producers have found the best way to integrate it into the narrative as a whole.

The potential young victims include Ortega, Jack Quaid, Mikey Madison, Dylan Minnette, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Mason Gooding, and Sonia Ammar with Marley Shelton as Minnette’s mother, the new sheriff of Woodsboro, and a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo by Heather Matarazzo. Quaid plays Sam’s boyfriend, Madison plays Tara’s best friend, Brown and Gooding play twins, and Ammar plays Gooding’s girlfriend. The biggest issue is that few of these characters seem like they would be in the same friend group. All of them could belong to other cliques and while the occasional Breakfast Club setup can work, it too often feels forced and that’s the case here. Minnette’s character is the most out of place, but Madison’s is as well, which ultimately makes the core dynamic strained.

Directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett are largely able to keep the events moving, but they aren’t always unexpected. The killings feel more gruesome than ever and the parade of hapless victims, even the self-aware ones, is part-and-parcel for the event. What the franchise always did well is weave a simple narrative through complex bait-and-switch mechanics, all culminating in a thrilling and insane finale. That said, this one doesn’t quite execute them all perfectly and while the finale is absolutely invigorating, the reveal is less interesting than it should have been and the raison d’être feels just a shade too gimmicky.

For fans of the Scream franchise, there’s enough originality to warrant excitement for future excursions, though without the series regulars, who aren’t certain to show up next time, there might not be much of a future to the series after all.