“Scream 5” — technically titled “Scream,” but I insist on some sanity on my blog – ends with “For Wes.” To evoke the late great Wes Craven, you better have earned it, and this team of two directors and two writers does. They live up to the “Scream” name more so than the last time Ghostface ran amok, in Season 3 of “Scream: The TV Series” a few years ago.
Fan fiction?
As is this franchise’s wont, “Scream 5” is meta, but on top of that it nicely illustrates Hollywood’s fan-creator feedback loop that has emerged in the past decade. The film has a reason to exist, and it embraces that reason.
“Scream” gave us the rules of horror films, “Scream 2” the rules of sequels, “Scream 3” the rules of trilogies, “Scream 4” the rules of franchises, and “Scream: The TV Series” the rules of teen TV dramas and prestige murder mysteries. In “Scream 5,” we have the rules of “requels,” sequels that reinvigorate the series by finding the sweet spot between the familiar and the fresh. Requels are often reactions to fans’ complaints about previous installments – attempts to “get it right.”
“Scream 5” (2022)
Directors: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett
Writers: James Vanderbilt, Guy Busick
Stars: Melissa Barrera, Jack Quaid, Jenna Ortega
I notice no one is talking about the TV series anymore, perhaps because it’s on a different timeline, perhaps because people didn’t like it. But it’s relevant because it premiered in 2015, when IMDb still had its chat threads. It was a blast discussing whodunit theories in the first two seasons. Also, MTV briefly had one of those after-shows. Fans had a chance to engage with the property.
The loss of IMDb’s threads is a shame, but the feedback loop is still out there. Even from a casual Facebook scroll around the time of last fall’s trailer and January’s theatrical release, it seemed fans were excited about “Scream 5” in a way they weren’t for “Scream” Season 3, which was dumped onto VH1 in 2019.
The originals return
Part of the rediscovered appeal is that Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox and David Arquette are back for the first time since 2011’s “Scream 4” (along with one other effective surprise from the 1996 original) and all do good work. “Scream’s” protagonists have long known they are in a horror movie, but directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett (working from a screenplay by James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick) especially strike a perfect tone.
I feel the pathos from Campbell’s Sid and Cox’s Gale, yet I also grasp the dark comedy of their blunt announcement that they aim to “murder” Ghostface (Roger Jackson returns as the iconic “The Voice,” present in all “Scream” incarnations). Or multiple Ghostfaces, if that’s the case.
The characters are rightly bothered by the stream of serial killings yet also willing to discuss the “rules of requels”; they know the rules could help them survive. The dramatic score by Brian Tyler sets one mood, great deadpan dialog sets another mood, and the mix feels right.
Of course, the plot is the same as the other “Screams,” but right off the bat it does something appealingly different. The cold-open’s phone-quiz victim, Tara (Jenna Ortega, the voice of Brooklynn on “Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous”), survives and continues to play a role from her hospital bed.
Multi-generational appeal
TV is a better format for character building, but this 2-hour film gives the right amount of attention to three generations of stars. Joining the aforementioned Gen-X’ers are Sam and Richie, a millennial couple who serve as POV characters. As Sam, Melissa Barrera’s regular-gal appeal emerges as the story progresses. As Richie, Jack Quaid’s regular-guy likability carries over from “The Boys.”
The hospitalized Tara, younger sister of Sam, leads the Gen-Z’ers who form the bulk of Ghostface’s potential victims. None stand out as horror-film nerds because nowadays everyone is a horror-film nerd. Tara’s favorite scary movie is “The Babadook” — somewhat of a deep pull — but we get no sense that she’s horror-obsessed or even faking it to be cool. Gen-Z’ers simply know their pop culture.
A lot of “Oh yeah, that guy/gal” actors are in this group of naturally hyper-aware friends, including “Yellowjackets’ ” Jasmin Savoy Brown as Mindy. Brown nails this exchange where Liv (Sonia Ammar) is annoyed that Mindy considers all her pals suspects:
Liv (with anger): “You think I’m gonna cut you up?”
Mindy (sinking back into the couch): “A little bit now, yeah …”
That’s followed by a scene where Mindy watches the “Look behind you!” segment from “Stab” (the franchise-within-the-franchise that’s based on the events from the “Screams”). So Randy tells a character to look behind him, Mindy tells Randy to look behind him, and we as viewers tell Mindy to look behind her. It’s well staged and fun.
More smart than scary
I should note that “Scream 5” is not at all scary; I know that’s a make-or-break factor for some horror fans. Some violence is cartoonishly striking, yet this isn’t quite a gore picture. The staging of cliched horror scenes is often brilliant though, including a sequence where a possible victim opens several doors and Tyler plays a music sting as he closes each one and we brace for someone standing there.
The film misses possibilities for more commentary. A major sequence takes place in an inexplicably empty hospital. I think this is a commentary on the cliché, but an exasperated line like “Why is this hospital so empty?!” might’ve enhanced it. On the other hand, I’m happy the writers acknowledge the stupid title via Richie’s criticism of the eighth “Stab” film, simply called “Stab.”
I worried for a moment the denouement was playing out the same way as “Scream” Season 3, but it adds another wrinkle. The cast of characters is, oddly, both appealing and forgettable. But the concept, writing and pacing are not at all phoned in (Hey, I had to use that pun once).
“Scream 5” is like “Scream” but also its own thing. It successfully navigates the rules of requels, and earns its “For Wes.”