Note: This review contains NO SPOILERS
Making a sequel or as the film describes it, a "requel" that not only connects between the past and the present, is a tricky task as it must not only make things feel new but maintain respect for the legacy characters who gave the original work its soul. With recent examples including Star Wars: The Force Awakens, 2018's Halloween, Terminator: Dark Fate, and Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Scream becomes the latest sequel to follow the requel trend with it aiming to continue the franchise legacy after Wes Craven's tragic death in 2015. The fifth entry in the series not only brings back the franchises main stars Neve Campbell, David Arguette, and Courtney Cox, but surrounds them with fresh faces and a storyline that both honors Craven's legacy of work while giving the franchise a new approach that brings it up to modern standards with the results being a dark, brutal, menacing, and bold sequel that ultimately makes it a worthy entry in the series
Continuing a decade after Scream 4, Scream has a new killer donning the Ghostface suit and terrorizing a group of teenagers who share connections to the original killers and victims. Scream's plot aims to embrace the originals legacy while continuing it with a fresh batch of characters, along with the providing surprising twists with the story. Despite the return of the old trio with them carrying pivotal roles in the plot, the newer characters are placed front-and-center in a style similar to that of Ghostbusters: Afterlife. In doing so, the series never loses its edge with the newest film going back to basics and making things shocking and gory. Scream takes huge risks in maintaining the series edge with it mostly succeeding at doing so, while laying a new path forward that's linked to the past.
When it comes to casting, Scream maintains the series tradition of assembling a group of young rising stars to combine with the original trio. The performances here are strong with Campbell, Arguette, and Cox easily slipping back into their roles and advancing their characters. Campbell remains tough as the series final girl Sidney Prescott with her shown to have moved on from the legacy of Ghostface yet finds herself being drawn back to Woodsboro. Arquette is intense here as a more broken down and serious-toned Dewey with Cox once again excelling as story-hungry Weathers with their chemistry remaining spot-on. The franchises new faces thoroughly impress here with Melissa Barrera making for a strong female lead as Samantha Carpenter, whose essentially the Sydney Prescott of this story and sister of Tara Carpenter, played surprisingly well by Jenna Ortega. The rest of the cast all perform well as Sam's circle of friends with Jack Quaid as her boyfriend Richie, Kyle Gallner as Vince Schneider, Mason Gooding as Chad Martin, Mikey Madison as Amber Freeman, Dylan Minnette as Wes Hicks, and Marley Shelton from Scream 4 as Deputy Hicks. As a whole, Scream's cast is convincing with the original trio still possessing their chemistry.
Taking over Craven's directorial duties are Ready Or Not directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett with the duo immediately putting to bed any concerns that fans have over them taking over the franchise from Craven, as they not only do right by Wes, but give the series a more aggressive edge that makes it more violent than previous installments with heavy amounts amounts of blood, spurts, sprays, and gurgles. The film carries a more grittier atmosphere than previous Scream's with a clever buildup of suspense such as the films opening scene involving Tara's character that works as being a brilliant throwback to the originals opening with Drew Barrymore. The sequence in itself is notably impressive because of how well-staged the tension is built while paying direct homage to the first. The films pacing is kept frequently moving with the score by Brian Tyler being haunting with it drawing key cues for from Marco Beltrami's work in the previous films. Overall, the newer directors do a terrific job of extending the series while making it more brutal than ever.
As a whole, Scream's writing is clever with the script including numerous Easter eggs to previous films in the series. What's notable here are the risks that the new film takes with introducing subplots and twists which links the newer characters to the past. The use of old characters serves as a bridge between both generations, while showing their growth in between films. The script places heavy emphasis around the importance of family with the story exploring some interesting dynamics like the relationship between Tara and Sam, along with the origins behind the latters family tree. It also takes aim at bad sequels with its movie-within-a-movie approach with the acknowledgement of Stab 8, along with showing characters watching the first Stab movie which mirrors the events of the original Scream. Although Sidney, Gale, and Dewey remain key players in the story, it's Samantha that now becomes the face of the franchise with her character being strong enough to stand on her own. Scream's writing serves as being both clever and witty with it embracing numerous pop culture references in driving its requel logic, in addition to referencing more recent horror flicks like Hereditary. The script does a fine job of balancing the series legacy while moving it in a new direction that's excitingly brutal with effective twists.
Like the previous Scream's, this one keeps audiences guessing on who the actual killer is with the writers creating suspicion with each new character right up until the ultimate reveal. As a fifth entry in the franchise, Scream is a highly effective sequel that demonstrates pure devotion to the series. It doesn't top the original, but it establishes itself as being a worthy follow-up that maintains the series edge while moving it forward in a way that would make Craven proud knowing that his legacy is in good hands. As far as requels go, Scream is an effective relaunching of a series done right.
Final Verdict: A must see for fans of the series.
Images Courtesy Of Paramount
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