Introduction

The original 1996 Scream was one of the first horror movies I saw, and the entire franchise was a large part of what sparked my interest in movies. The possibility of another sequel had been an idea that excited me for years, but after Wes Craven’s death I figured it would never happen. I wasn’t sure if another sequel would work without him, but when I heard that a fifth film was being made with the original cast, I felt hopeful. However, my high expectations resulted in me leaving the theater disappointed; nothing in the movie, from the characters to the soundtrack, felt like a Scream movie.

Opening Critiques

My first critiques have to do with the characters, nearly all of whom are selfish, insensitive, and uninteresting. In the original movies, plenty of characters, like Gale and Randy, have their selfish and insensitive moments, but beyond that they actually have interesting personalities. In Scream (2022), however, the characters, especially the teenagers, are fully selfish with no redeeming qualities. They also seem indifferent to the murders and attacks that have recently happened to the people they are close to. The same is true with the “legacy” characters like Sydney, Gale, and Dewey, but for them it is more understandable to be desensitized to death because of how many times they have witnessed similar killing sprees. While that can be excused, their personalities lack just as much as the other characters. They don’t seem to fit into this movie, and they also barely even feel like they would fit into the original franchise.

Intertwined with the selfish and insecure nature of the characters seems to be the meta commentary they provide, which only serves to add some humor and further decreases the characters’ likeability. Meta commentary is essential to any Scream movie, but the commentary is supposed to provide some sort of useful information that will help the characters survive and defeat the killer. That hardly happens in this movie, and when it does, it is overlooked by the characters.

Spoilers Review

As previously mentioned, the meta commentary of Scream (2022) scarcely helps to resolve the plot, especially since the characters ignore the biggest clue that these murders are connected to the originals. In the original Scream, it is revealed that Sydney, the main character, was dating one of the killers. In the 2022 sequel, however, the main character’s boyfriend is never suspected even though he seems to care the least about the events that are happening, and he also guides characters into situations with the killers. The movie attempts to frame the main character, Sam, as the killer because of her relation to one of the original killers, which ends up being a fairly forced connection to the original movie. The attempt to misdirect through Sam is too obvious, which clears any suspicion I had for her. It probably would have been more surprising if she had been the killer, and it also would have made me more interested in her as a character.

Overall, Scream (2022) was not the worst movie I watched this year, but it definitely pales in comparison to some of the previous sequels. As someone who is very character-driven when it comes to my movie taste, this movie is lacking. I reckon for many who are also fairly character-based, this movie will disappoint them. For those who are more plot-driven, however, it may be a more satisfying watch, even with some of its predictable parts. Scream (2022) is an attempt at doing what the original does, and in my opinion it fails, seeming like an out-of-touch view of the modern age.