Scream

All the participating creators obviously love Kevin Williamson and Wes Craven, so they pay them a hundred and one tributes, dig to the very bottom of the homage and really present a new Scream in all its glory. But the whole time you can tell that it's not exactly right, just like it wasn't right in 2000 when a different screenwriter came for the third installment and the lightness started disappearing immediately. Thanks for the return of all the legends, thanks for the fact that the meta flip of everything is still here, but maybe less would be more. The discussion about the direction of the genre, the point, and the fandom takes up almost half of the running time and undermines the series itself too much. Despite one fitting jump scare and a few nicely tuned moves, I am ultimately disappointed with the lack of tension, freshness, and overall novelty that even the underrated fourth one was bursting with. Additionally, the series resorts to steps it didn't have a reason to take before, and when discussing all possible identities of the killer at the end, it suddenly didn't matter anymore because any potential surprises had already been revealed. I don't welcome the planned sequel, it's terribly early as far as keeping healthy boundaries is concerned. (02/10/2022)

The gap between the fourth and the "fifth" film was filled by the MTV series, but unfortunately, it didn't work. So, after 11 long years, we get another great Scream. The main trio is back - Neve Campbell, David Arquette, Courteney Cox, and Marley Shelton (and a few other casting surprises) from the fourth film. Current topics are requels, legacy sequels and elevated horror. Among the new faces, actresses Jenna Ortega, Melissa Barrera, Mikey Madison (that girl has Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and The Addams Family in her filmography, unreal), and Jasmin Savoy Brown did great. I also enjoyed it a lot thanks to the perfect atmosphere and the accompanying program in Edison. (01/25/2022)

The Scream franchise was bound to come back at some point even without Craven, so there is no reason this could not happen. This movie is a solid continuation of the franchise, even if it does not bring much new to the table. I was slightly shaking my head at some of the creative decisions. Plus, with one specific creative decision, I even said I might not count it as canon (and I am not going to). However, this is still a very entertaining slasher horror movie that is undeniably meta. Some of the dialogue makes you laugh, and it is entertaining with fine new characters, among which Jack Quaid clearly stands out. Plus, there is Kyle Gallner as the white trash redneck who should have been in there a damn sight more! With the next installment, the movie’s producer will just have to go down a very crazy route, so it is not the same thing over and over again, so I expect at least the return of Matthew Lillard, who probably only has minor scars on his face from the first Scream. (02/04/2022)

On a certain meta-level, the film’s protagonists excuse the fifth Scream for being a mere recycling of several worn-out formulas and motifs (which it is), because that’s what devoted fans want. And it is possible that that might actually be enough for fans of the genre, particularly fans of this franchise. Nevertheless, such a hackneyed film that serves viewers practically the same thing as its predecessors and has no need to distinguish itself in any way is hardly saved by the fact that its creators are aware that it’s worn out and humorously point that out in places. The protagonists can endlessly make snarky comments about the various rules of the horror genre and all of the mistakes that horror-movie characters make, but what good does that do if they themselves can’t avoid making the same mistakes? To a certain extent, however, there is still some entertainment value in the game of guessing which character is the killer while the possibilities gradually dwindle. Otherwise, neither the new (and not particularly likable) characters, the return of old familiar faces nor the gory (though unimaginative) murders hold much appeal. (02/20/2022)

The resurrection of Halloween made a fortune, so let’s try to resurrect Scream. This franchise is handicapped by the fact that it can make a killer out of anyone without any sophisticated motive, and that it is thus only a matter of a hiding place with would-be cool references to other horror movies and would-be sophisticated plays on genre clichés. The first one from 1996 was innovative in this respect. But the resurrection after 26 years without any progress in imagination is able to satisfy only with a decent number of slayings and the nostalgic return of the trio of original stars. Don’t expect effective scares and don’t be surprised if the characters continue to function relatively well after being stabbed in the gut with a big knife. Was there such silliness, delivered with a straight face, in the previous instalments? (03/19/2023)