Twenty years after the original, The Weinstein Company is still unwilling to kill off a franchise the moving superiority of which the fifth time around feels as dated as the monotonous murders. Delivered by an embarrassingly shabby looking Ghostface, they fail to elicit even the slightest emotional response, be it fright or amusement or the lofty feeling of being in on the joke. The later comes mostly at the expense of the late Wes Craven.
His death seems depressingly convenient for the slasher series most recent installment which employs a pre-end credits to sell itself as homage. Not in spite of but because of all his meta-textual jabber, the perfunctory plot appears desperate to please its audience whom it lectures incessantly about the incontestability of director-duo Matt Bettinelli-Olpins and Tyler Gilletts automated approach, speckled with the mix of iconic regulars and a killable clique of newcomers.
Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), journalist Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) and former sheriff Dewey (David Arquette) team up with blatantly named Sam Carpenter (Melissa Barrera), returning to her hometown Woodsboro after her estranged younger sister (Jenna Ortega) is attacked. The copycat’s inane motivation, intended as a Stab against fanatical fandom, inadvertently mirrors the obsessive ostentation of this self-described „requel“: a reboot-sequel-hybrid praised as the only continuation acceptable. In short: More of the same.
- OT: Scream
- Director: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett
- Screenplay: James Vanderbilt, Guy Busick, Kevin Williamson
- Country: USA
- Year: 2022
- Running Time: 115 min.
- Cast: Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Marley Shelton, Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega, Dylan Minnette, Jack Quaid, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Sonia Ammar, Mikey Madison, Mason Gooding, Kyle Gallner, Reggie Conquest, Chester Tam, Sara Elizabeth Ezzell
- Release date: 13.01.2022
- Image © Constantin