I’m just gonna come out and say it. This movie has been hyped more than anticipated. Normally, this would be an issue for me, and I would delay seeing it. But there is an exception to that rule. When I still don’t think the movie will be all that great, I can persevere. Not bringing back 2/3 of the familiar faces was a terrible decision. Killing off Arquette was just abysmal. Not giving Neve Campbell the money that she requested was absolutely shitty. Who cares if it was a million more, for example?
Of course, that is how I felt until I heard her whine about how if she were a man, she would have gotten paid her asking price. I really, really wanted to be on Team Neve. I still am in support of her being in the film. Fuck her “If I were a guy” bullshit. This is from Wikipedia: “Campbell expanded on her statement a few weeks later, saying she could not bear “walking on set and feeling undervalued” and that the offer would have been different had she been a man.” You couldn’t bear walking on set and feeling undervalued??? For fuck’s sake.
Let’s be really real here for a moment. Has she owned the role? Yes. Has she been memorable in the role? Yes. Could someone else have easily filled the role initially and grown with the franchise and been equally as important? Yes. Did she do anything outstanding in her performance to set herself above and beyond what 20-30 similar actresses could have done? Oh hellllll no. She’s not Uma Thurman in Kill Bill. She’s not Sigourney Weaver in any number of projects, but we’ll just say Alien. She’s not Essie Davis in The Babadook. She’s not Meryl Streep in The Deer Hunter or Pam Grier in Foxy Brown. No, Neve Campbell is slightly above Heather Langenkamp from A Nightmare on Elm Street, but below Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween. I don’t hold Jamie Lee in high regard either. Neve was a young lady who got a part, and she played it well and should have been paid accordingly, given how she is synonymous with the franchise at this point. I get the feeling that she may have overvalued herself.
And yet, I wish that she were here. Standards have been set in this mostly great franchise, excluding part 3. Missing Neve will annoy me. On the plus side, they brought a rising star in Jenna Ortega. Dermot Mulroney is in this. They brought back Hayden Panda Bear, and she bear being on set. Most importantly, I have my eye on Samara Weaving. If you haven’t seen Ready or Not, do yourself a favor and go watch it. What a fun movie, that is a good time. Okay, on with the movie.
Start Film
Samara’s voice is freaking me out. She is at a restaurant and gets a call from a dude named Reggie that she is supposed to meet. She is an associate professor of film studies, and she specializes in slashers. She falls for ‘Reggie’s” ploy. Ghostface takes off the mask, and he is….according to Wiki, a guy named Jason Carvey. Why not just go with Jason Hervy? Bonus points for you if you get the reference. Eric Bischoff would be proud of you. Okay, it was fine for an opening. If I remove the fact that it is Samara Weaving, this would be like a 4 out of 10, but I adore her, so it gets a 5. One of the weakest openings in the Scream Franchise.
Ahhh, there’s Jenna. I hope she remains relevant for at least 5 years, preferably 10. She just needs to stay away from horrible projects. So Tara knows this Jason dude, maybe some romance, don’t know, don’t really care. He’s a killer, so of course, there’s romance.
Jason comes home and has a “Stab” closet full of posters and masks, and mannequin heads. The mother fucker has a shrine. I get being a bit obsessive, but still. Greg calls, and Jason talks about the killing. These 2 jabronis talk about the killing. Greg is using the voice modulator. Jason turns on the TV and is watching Friday the 13th VIII, I think. Gotta confirm this quickly. Yeah, why did I doubt myself? I can actually remember the scene, which says way more about me than I would like to admit. The plan is to kill Sam and Tara to finish Richie’s film. Richie was in Scream V (2022). Why don’t I remember him? Ahhhh fuck, I never reviewed the fifth movie!!! We’re gonna put this film on pause, go rewatch Scream V, review it, then watch this. This is how I start my October!!!
And now I get the Richie film reference. Anyway, we’re still playing warmer and colder. Jason finds Greg all mutilated in the fridge, and now Ghostface destroys Jason. Okay, uhmmm, I kinda just want to shrug my shoulders at that.
Sam is meeting with her therapist, Dr. Stone, but she has trust issues. She reveals who her father was and who Richie was. There was an online rumor that she orchestrated the whole thing to frame Richie and Amber. She claims to have stabbed Richie 22 times before slitting his throat. The doctor gets freaked out because she said that it felt good to do it. Well, he had a big role.
Will we get to meet Sam and Tara’s mom in this movie? We have a general idea of what the mom would look like. We meet their roommate Quinn, who is a ginger whoooore who is not banging Paul. Tara is at a frat party, and Sam likes the shirtless guy across the way in a different apartment building.
The frat party is exactly what you expect. There’s Mindy and her girlfriend Anika. Mindy’s hair game is not good at all, but Anika’s is. Tara talks to Frankie, who offers Tara some Fireball up in his bedroom. Tara is dumb and gullible. Anika tries to cockblock, but Tara ain’t having it. Chad is with some dude, Ethan, who is Chad’s roommate. Okay, hopefully, that’s it for names. Anika gets Chad to run interference. Frankie starts dragging Tara up the stairs, Chad ain’t having it, shoving match, Sam shows up and whacks Frankie in the balls. Ya know what? That’s a fair play. You can’t be dragging a bitch up the stairs when she’s that kind of drunk. Sorry, you just can’t. But you can drag a bitch for amusement purposes. I’m pretty sure it’s in the law somewhere. Just don’t get fucking weird and rapey. And people at the party recognize the psycho girl. Of course, Tara and Sam have a big scene outside where Sam is being overprotective, but Tara is being an irresponsible asshole. Then, some bitch throws her drink on Sam. Ethan has at least 3 tissues. Why 3 tissues? That’s the biggest question that I have so far.
Quinn and Tara talk. Her dad was overprotective after her brother died, and she joined the NYPD. Tara thanks Chad for not letting her go upstairs. This leads to the kiss…..nope, Quinn pops back in and cockblocks Chad and even says cockblock. I like Quinn; she uses good verbiage, just like me. Chad needs to get some strange.
Sam sees the shirtless guy, but he’s clothed, entering the building. She just pulls him to the side and then starts making out. His name is Danny. So is Danny the killer? Chad then demands that Sam come up. Police report about the 2 guys killed. Tara freaks out and says they’re leaving. Tara thinks this is probably a coincidence. The reality is that she just wants a normal life and will ignore the obvious. Tara also knew the guys from film class. So Chad and Mindy back up Sam. Quinn goes to call her dad, and then Sam’s phone rings. It is Gale. But Quinn’s dad, Det. Bailey, played by Dermot Mulroney, has found Sam’s ID at the crime scene. She needs to meet him down at the station.
Sam and Tara leave, and then Sam gets a call from Richie’s phone. Go on. Ghostface is calling, and he tells her that she should be thankful that he killed Greg and Jason. Ghostface wants to expose Sam and punish her. That feels like a whole other movie, and I’m here for that. He tells them to watch their back. Then he grabs Tara. They escape into a corner store. Ghostface comes in after them. 2 men run interference and get got. The store clerk breaks out his shotty, but misses. He tells the girls to go out the back. The back door is locked. He goes to give them the keys, but is then killed by Ghostface. This is different, at least. I don’t love Ghostface with a gun. But it is kinda fun. Oh, come on! He has them trapped cowering behind an end cap, and Sam tosses a can of beer, and Ghostface is just like “Ohhhh, shiny red ball.” Here’s some advice to the cereal killers reading this: yes, that was intentional. If you have your targets relatively where you want them and it’s been silent, and suddenly there is a sound, just stand your ground and stay right where you are and keep moving forward. Also, these cereal boxes are bullshit. Instead of Life, we have Love. They push the aisle over on him, the cops arrive, and Ghostface flees out the back door. Really? So he found the store clerk, got the keys, knew the correct key to use, and got the fuck out?
At the station, there are pictures in front of Sam and Tara. The one guy looks like the dude who does the voice of Ghostface, Roger Jackson. Pausing to see if that is him. I’m afraid of finding spoilers, and I can’t confirm this yet. Det. Bailey brings in the mask that was found with Richie’s DNA. So who would have access to his DNA? Tara says that the guy’s mask was older and more beat up. He asks them for alibis. Bailey suggests that it had to be someone close to them to get the ID. So Danny seems like the logical candidate, right? But we already did the “Sam’s boyfriend is the killer”. Bailey instantly said that it couldn’t be Quinn. That leaves Ethan and Anika. So I am willing to say Quinn and someone else that we may not have seen yet, a male. The FBI is there, and it’s our old friend, Kirby Reed, played by old Hayden Panda Bear. She isn’t there to just take over, but rather to help. Sam wants to get out of town, but they’re told that they can’t since they are persons of interest.
They exit, and there are a bunch of reporters, including Gale. Sam goes to punch her in the face, but Gale dodges, so Tara punches her instead. They’re pissed at her because she wrote a book about what happened despite Gale promising that she wouldn’t. Dewey will always be number one, but Gale is right up there. Gale says that she talked to Sidney, but she’s not coming. She is taking Mark and the kids and going someplace safe. Gale claims to want to catch Ghostface, but they think that she needs Ghostface for her career. Fair points.
Dr. Stone is watching the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers. That is a movie that I plan on reviewing this month. There is a knocking at the door. Who could it be? Ghostface punches through the glass, rams Stone’s face into the door a few times, then stabs him in the face. Then Ghostface gets a file from the office.
Here we go with Mindy blathering on about a sequel to the requel. Will somebody shut her up? Now they’re in a franchise, and here are the rules. 1. Everything is bigger and beheading. 2. Whatever happened last time, expect the opposite. Hmmm, so Mindy has become a suspect as she wasn’t hurt very badly in the previous film. She has stuck closely by these people. Something to consider. 3. No one is safe. “It’s not looking too good for Gale or Kirby.” Gale will survive. They already did the legacy character death in the last one, or are we forgetting that? Rule 3 seems kinda pointless, if you ask me, and since you are reading this, I feel that it may be implied that you’re asking me. And the worst part is that the lead characters are expendable, especially Sam and Tara. Ethan is weirded out by a potential target. Mindy accuses Ethan of being a suspect. Maybe slutty Quinn because her dad is a cop. Finally, there is Anika. You can’t trust the love interest, but how does she count? Mindy isn’t the main character or target? Ethan asks about the twins and sisters. Quinn thinks that is BS. Yes, I like my Mindy as a suspect almost as much as I like Quinn. I have about 13 minutes before I have to lay out my formal prediction for who the killer(s) are.
Bailey tells Kirby that Stone got stabbed through the nose. Another mask was found with Roman Bridger’s DNA. Who the fuck is Roman? “The Ghostface who was directing Stab 3.” Yeah, but who the fuck is that? Okay, he was in Scream 3. He was Sidney’s half-brother in Scream 3. No wonder I don’t remember him. Fuck that movie. Kirby theorizes that the killer is dropping Easter Eggs and counting down. Well, which Easter Egg was from Scream 4? Is Kirby the reference? Did I miss something? Will Dr. Loomis be Billy Loomis’ uncle? Well, fortunately, we’re going to get the big explanation going over all the past killers. Jill Roberts and Charlie Walker were the killers in 4, and I adored them. Their mask was at the bodega. Wow, I already forgot that scene. Good on me. Roman was the only solo killer, and it was the absolute worst. So that leaves Mickey Altieri and Nancy Loomis from part 2, and then Stu Macher and possibly Billy Loomis from part one. Kinda feels like we’re beating a dead horse with Billy though. Kirby warns Bailey to warn Quinn to stay sharp. Bailey doesn’t have a good feeling about Kirby. So we can add Kirby to the list of Mindy and Quinn. Ugh.
Tara tells Chad to get out of the city. Chad won’t do it. Chad names Sam, Tara, Mindy, and himself the “Core Four”. Oh boy. Anika sees on the TV that Sam is the prime suspect. That makes sense. They show the video of her only shoving the bitch that threw her drink on her, oh so conveniently. Sam is sad that she is hated. Sam admits to sleeping wth Danny, and everybody says that they called it.
Danny is shirtless again, but puts a shirt on. He sees Ghostface in Quinn’s room. He tries to get Quinn or Sam’s attention. Nobody can hear him. Ghostface sees him, and he leaves the room. Danny calls Sam. They all laugh, and she doesn’t answer the call. Stupid bitch. Quinn is moaning like a whooooore. They all get a text from Ghostface. Quinn’s body is shoved out the door. GF cuts Mindy on the arm. Anika grabs GF’s leg, so he picks her up by the throat and stabs her in the belly, twists, and lifts. Tara and Chad can’t get back in. Sam locked herself in the bedroom with Mindy, Anika, and a dead guy in the bathtub, who was presumably boinking Quinn. GF comes from another door after Mindy. This is definitely a dude. If this ends up being a small girl like Amber again, I am done with this franchise.
Danny hands a ladder over so that they can crawl across to his room. Mindy will hold the door like Hodor. Sam goes across first. I would be fucked here. I would never make it across. Anika’s turn, she is bleeding so much. Anika tells Mindy to go, she will be right behind her, and we know that ain’t true. GF is breaking in. Anika is so F’d in the A. He has broken free. She is halfway across. GF starts rocking the ladder. GF tips her off as she grabs Sam’s hand. Anika’s face bounces off a dumpster. Damn.
Okay, I am so glad that I just bought myself those 13 minutes. Perfect timing. Now, I think it is safe to say that Anika is dead. I don’t know definitively if Quinn is dead yet. That would be a good fakeout ploy. I have a feeling that if I hit play, within a minute or 2, they would confirm that Quinn is dead. Okay, so Ethan and Kirby appear to be the obvious choices here, right? Ethan almost feels too obvious, though. That would leave Bailey or Danny. Danny isn’t off the hook yet. I’ve never been one to shy away from stupid predictions that immediately blow up in my face. I’m going with Danny and Quinn. Mock me when it’s revealed that it’s Ethan and Kirby. My second pick would actually be that father-daughter duo. That would be fun. Alright, I promise, I haven’t seen spoilers. I promise that I don’t return to these paragraphs to change things to make myself look smart. I think if you have read long enough, I get things wrong more often than not. Time to resume.
Sam is now smoking. Danny checks on her. Danny, how old are you? He’s about 35 when this was filmed. Sam is about 31, so not a huge age gap. She says that someone took all the knives so that they couldn’t fight back. He tells her not to trust anyone, not her friends, and not him. Dammit, if this ends up being Mindy as the secondary killer, I’m punching an orphan. Ethan shows up, and Chad flips out on him. Ethan claims that he was in a study hall with a hundred other people. Bailey shows up all teary-eyed. Both of his kids are dead. Poor guy. They took him off the case. Gale shows up now, hahaha. Gale knows where the masks are coming from. Kirby shows up. Gale asks when they let children into the FBI. “Well, you look like a zygote.” Okay, that’s the standard for lines. That’s the bar.
Gale leads them to Jason and Greg’s rented place. Gale is such a bitch to Kirby. Aside from Chad, Gale is clearly the best character in this one. They really want us to think it’s Kirby, I think. It’s a movie theater/shrine, because, of course, it is. They have so many things from the past under glass and on display. I know that I shouldn’t bring logic to this, but you just wouldn’t have this shrine just anywhere, and you probably wouldn’t have it this elaborate. Come on! There’s the knife that Kirby was stabbed with. Where are the 8 that Gale has been stabbed with? Awww, a shrine to Dewey. That one hits hard. And we’re led to believe that Jason and Greg somehow got access to all of the original masks that the killers wore? People actually read this script and thought that it was good? People have gone out of their way to tell me that this was good. Huh? Sam sees Billy in the reflection. I like that bit of psychosis.
Kirby and Mindy have this stupid conversation about the best movies in franchises. Best Nightmare, they say the original, and we know that isn’t true, BUT this is Wes’ creation, and I have to let that slide. If I were involved in this, I would even have to say the original just out of respect, a respectful lie. Mindy says that the best Friday the 13th is Part II, and Kirby says Part IV The Final Chapter. Kirby is correct. And Part VI is, at the very least, the second best. “Candyman, the original or the prequel? Both!” Idiots! The original is a masterpiece. The newest one is a good attempt at reinvigorating the franchise but, not on the same level, not even close. Not a good scene, embarrassing, quite frankly.
Tara doesn’t want to be part of a legacy. Gale asks where the sister’s mom is, and she cut them both off. Gale says that you can have a family, even if it’s just one person. Agreed.
Tara and Kirby have a talk about Kirby almost dying. Kirby won’t let Gale remain with this new idea.
Kirby plans on tracing any potential calls. Mindy says it’s a bad idea, even though it’s out in broad daylight, this is how Randy got got. Ethan and Chad are with them, too. The best part of the scene is Mindy making things awkward and Ethan cautiously passing Chad the bag of Cheetos. Sam and Tara are bait. Kirby tells them to stay frosty. Bailey is out there being inconspicuous. Sam gets a call from Richie. Ghostface knows what the plan is. He says that he isn’t nearby; he’s on the Upper West Side. We still have plenty of time for 2-3 more deaths. They’re worried about Gale. The sisters steal Bailey’s vehicle.
Ghostface finally calls Gale. Ghostface makes a point about Gale making money off others’ misfortune. Another Ghostface captures Gale’s boyfriend behind her back. He looked like a big dude, so I feel that has to be Danny there. GF mocks Gale about Dewey’s death. GF tosses the boyfriend and now comes after Gale. The fight is on. Gale locks herself in her bedroom and gets out her gun and shoots at the door. GF calls her to let her know that she missed. She wants to get a headshot. She tells him to hold, and she calls, hears the phone ring, and shoots. GF gets her in the shoulder really good. They’re both down. She steps on his hand, grabs the knife, goes for the kill shot, and he uses his other knife to get her right in the ribs. Is Gale gonna get got? He goes for the final stab, and she stops it long enough for the sisters to get there and open fire. GF flees the scene. Gale is badly wounded, like every other movie. Gale tells the girls to tell Sidney that he never got her. Gale passes out. Her ears look discolored. She has a pulse. Good, no need to kill off Gale.
In the lobby, Danny shows up out of breath saying that he got there as fast as he could. I paused it, and I’m not trying to be mean, but Mindy looks like a dude. That hairstyle has gots ta go. They don’t want to get hurt anymore. Sam says that since GF wants to punish her, she will sacrifice herself to keep the others safe. They’re in this together, the Core Four. Danny thinks that their jackasses. He’s not wrong. Ethan wants to find a place for them to hole up together. Tara thinks that could be a good idea.
Tara calls Bailey. They want to lure GF to a secure location and then kill him. Bailey is in. He’s gonna tell Kirby to meet them. He suggests that they travel in public, for obvious reasons. Because that worked so well at the bodega. As they get on the sub, Mindy gets separated from everyone except Ethan. She tells him to keep his Ghostface ass away from her. She is so mean to him. There is a Ghostface, Michael Myers, and Pinhead on this sub. There are others, including Freddy. No Jason? Okay, I admit that looked cool at least. Mindy has numerous Ghostfaces with her and Ethan. Poor Ethan. One GF was staring Sam down, but she said nothing. OHHHH, 2 girls dressed like the girls from The Shining. The Grady twins, right?
Mindy gets scared by a Ghostface who laughs and apologizes. I feel bad for Ethan. Like, he is secluded and could be innocent. A GF approaches Sam menacingly, and Danny puffs out his chest, but GF ignores them and gets off. I wish the girls would say, “Come play with us, Danny,” since we have a Danny. Mindy’s paranoia grows more and more. She should keep Ethan with her. A GF is staring her down, and it is dark now. GF stands up. When it goes dark, he gets closer. This shit is saving this movie for me. And now GF is gone, then he’s there and stabs her in the belly while covering her mouth. He’s getting her good. Ethan gets her up, and he is trying to get help for her. She is so disappointed that she got it wrong again. That’ll teach you for thinking that you’re smart. This is why I always cast doubt over my know-it-all commentary. When someone finally murders me, people won’t think that I 100% deserve it. Maybe just 92% deserved it. Yup, that was lame.
Kirby meets everyone and asks where Ethan and Mindy are. I suppose Ethan could still be a candidate. My Danny and Quinn prediction is still in play. Sam tells Danny that he can’t come. What a bitch move. Like you drag this dude around, he protects you, and wasted all of his time, for what? I hope that he is the killer for more reasons than just being correct. She says that he isn’t Woodsboro.
Kirby has the doors rigged so that it is the only entrance; he can’t get out, and she has the only gun. What percentage of people watching this were sure that Kirby is the killer right now? I bet between 60-70%. Kirby assures them that they’re safe.
Sam calls Mindy. By the way, this plan is terrible. Billy tells Sam to get a weapon and clear the place herself. Why is the smartest character the dead one? She gets one of the knives, and Billy approves because it was his knife. Sam calls out for Kirby, but no response. Bailey calls Sam and tells everyone to get out. Kirby has been on a downward spiral for the past year. Kirby was fired 2 months ago. Ohh, and now you realize that the only exit is locked. Dumb bitches. At least the original Stab is playing.
Tara and Chad get some alone time together. They finally kiss, good on Chad. Tara just got stabbed in the back. Ghostface is a fucking ninja in this one. So fast and spry. Chad puts up the good fight. GF is down. Sam, Tara, and Chad are together. GF is back. Chad takes GF down yet again. This GF is the female, I suspect. Definitely shorter than Chad and really fast. Also, not a man, or else he would just overpower them. Chad with another takedown. He goes for a finishing blow, and GF 2 shows up. They stab the holy hell out of Chad. Yikes. They are the same height. Danny is in the clear, then. It could be Kirby and Quinn. The sisters must run away.
There is GF in front and behind them. They arm themselves with bricks. It’s on…or not. Kirby appears to be firing her gun. Just then, Bailey comes and tells Kirby to stay away from the girls. How did Bailey get it? It was chained shut. If they did another continuity error with the heights, I am gonna be so pissed. Kirby warns him that there’s a GF behind him. He shoots Kirby. Bailey has 2 GF’s. Suddenly, one is significantly taller than the other. Ethan is one of them, and he is Bailey’s son. Quinn is the other. Fucking A. I said the daddy-daughter combo would be cool. I got one out of 2 correct. Quinn is the one who got Mindy and Gale. Now we’re talking about the final 3 masks. I’m rolling my eyes.
Bailey wants Sam to put on her father’s mask. She is defiant, so Ethan cuts her arm. Hahaha, Quinn is the one who started the rumors of Sam being the killer. That is funny. All of this exposition. Fucking A. Also, Ethan and Quinn are among the worst actors for killers. Too cheesy. Oh, Sam killed their brother, Richie. I guess I didn’t need that aha moment because you knew that there would be ties to Richie based on how often he’s been brought up and the phone. Like, they really insisted on spelling things out. Bailey is the only one keeping this remotely well-acted. Oh my God, now we’re spelling out that this is how Richie got this collection. Is this made for eleventeen-year-olds?
Sam insults Richie, causing everybody to lose their shit. Kirby is back and firing her gun. Ethan stabs Kirby. Sam attacks him and then takes the knife and goes to town, stabbing Ethan. Tara is climbing. Kirby looks like utter shit. Good on her.
Now we have this dumb scene where the sisters are on a balcony. Tara slips. Ethen tries cutting her from below, and Quinn slowly approaches from the side. Tara tells Sam to let her go. Sam hands her a knife and lets go. Tara gets it in the belly, but Ethan takes it in the mouth….just like yo mutha! Quinn brought a knife to a gun fight. That won’t end well. Tara twists the blade. Sam pops Quinn in the head. Bailey is up with Sam now. Sam’s gun is empty. In perhaps the dumbest part yet, Sam then charges an officer with a gun and never gets shot, and they both go over the balcony.
Bailey wakes up, his head is ringing. He gets a phone call from Sam. She is using the voice modulator. She asks what his favorite scary movie is. GF gets behind Bailey and stabs him 40-some times. It’s Sam. Sam says that she isn’t a murderer like her dad, but then stabs Bailiey in his eye hole anyway. Hey, Red Right Hand is playing. I liked this song. They’re gonna get through this together. Ethan comes out for an attack, and Kirby drops a TV on his head.
Kirby tells Sam that if she ever needs anything, to call her. Chad somehow survived. Mindy shows up to run her mouth. Sam kept the mask. Then she drops it to walk off with Tara.
End Film
I do have to give Jasmin Savoy Brown, who played Mindy, some props. She played the role perfectly, even if I didn’t like the character. Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega, and Mason Gooding all did great as the “Core Four”. The other big characters did their jobs well. The acting wasn’t the problem, although after the reveal, the acting was terrible, but I think that is intentional.
So I’m not mad at the acting. I’m annoyed with the writing. I think every third movie in this franchise has to be bad. I don’t see a reason to stop or take a long hiatus this time around. Keep making movies as long as they make sense. But that is the key. How self-referential can you get in a part 7? The best idea that I have is to look back at arguably the 2 most successful Part 7’s: New Nightmare and Halloween H2O. Then I thought more about it. H2O is about 20 years later and tying everything back to the original. That’s basically what Scream 5 was about.
New Nightmare is interesting. Scream only exists because of New Nightmare. While New Nightmare tested out this “real world” idea, Scream kinda built itself off of that, especially with the inclusion of the Stab films. So what do you do? They have now acknowledged the real-life actors in the Stab movies, like Heather Graham. So why not have the real-life actors from Stab get hunted down while Gale, Kirby, Sidney, and whoever else tries to help them survive? Come on, you know that isn’t a horrible idea. The more you think about it, it could be a lot of fun.
Anyway, back to this movie. This movie legitimately wore me out. I feel drained by it. They tried some different things, but it felt too absurd for this franchise. That may be unfair, but it is also a compliment. The whole idea of a shrine was silly. How these famous pieces of evidence were so easily obtained was silly. Kirby’s role….eh. Danny, Quinn, and Ethan were all meh at best. Anika was really good for her role, I thought. Bailey tried, and most of the effort was appreciated. I’m not sure how much more mileage they can get out of Sam and Tara’s characters. They kinda need a break, or perhaps not have it be about them the next time. Be supporting players.
I didn’t hate this movie. It happened in the city, where they have new landscapes. They did it with only one of the trinity. They had that great scene in the subway that really was a true highlight for me. There were also too many times where a scene was good until it wasn’t. The bodega scene was fun, and then she threw the beer can. I assume that was Ethan; he seemed like an absolute dolt at times. Quinn wasn’t much better, just more appealing. I keep coming back to that. Scream’s big reveals aren’t always the most important part, but it’s often fun. This didn’t feel as fun, and I just wanted to get it over with.
Final Rating – I think I will go with a 6.2. I feel that maybe if I sat and watched it without taking notes, it wouldn’t have been so draining, so I am trying to give it the benefit of the doubt. I’ll eventually rewatch it. For now, I can say it was better than Scream 3, which I gave a 5.5.
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- Paramount Pictures
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- Spyglass Media Group
- Project X Entertainment
- Radio Silence Productions
- (Radio Silence)
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