Having disappeared from the spotlight for years, Sidney Prescott and her daughter become once more the Ghostface killer’s target.
As flawed as it gets.
Let me cut straight to the point. If you have seen Scream (1996), and you probably have, then structurally speaking, you have already seen this film too. The narrative blueprint remains almost untouched: horror and sentimentality alternate on cue, twists arrive exactly when expected, and the obligatory motive reveal tries very hard to feel shocking and original – even when it rarely is. And of course, the “rules of horror” return once again, as if they still have something profound to say. At this point, they really don’t. Nothing!
Then we move to the characters, and here the formula becomes even more obvious. Horrible teachers, obnoxious teenagers – very much like the 90s ones, only now amplified by social media and modern technology – ineffective police, and journalists who smell a story the way flies find garbage. And naturally, everyone is a suspect. After all, it is a whodunit, right?
The problem is that what Wes Craven created was lightning in a bottle. The original killers felt believable in a disturbing way – two unhinged teenagers who had watched too many horror films and lost touch with reality. As the series progressed, however, the Ghostface killers became increasingly elaborate masterminds who somehow still don’t seem to know how to use a knife properly, despite orchestrating entire murder sprees. At some point, the suspension of disbelief simply collapses. I would say after Scream 3 (2000).
It is also difficult to ignore how characters in these films continue to survive injuries that would realistically leave people incapacitated. A little research into how the human body reacts to stabbing or gunshot wounds would probably go a long way in grounding the series again. But, I guess, nobody really cares.
That said, it is only fair to mention that co-writer/director Kevin Williamson does improve things compared to the atrocious Scream VI (2023): https://kaygazpro.com/scream-vi-2023-horror-mystery-thriller/, and seeing Neve Campbell and Courteney Cox return – both also serving as executive producers – adds a sense of continuity, even if the film ultimately chooses the safe route rather than anything truly radical.
But here lies the biggest issue for me: the characters often behave so irrationally and moronically that the audience stops fearing for them and starts wanting them to be eliminated (and in a gruesome manner) simply because they are indifferent and expendable. When that happens, horror turns into something else entirely – more spectacle than suspense.
The mass audience has embraced it, though, and if you decide to watch it, you may as well have fun. But personally, I couldn’t help thinking that this story should have ended a long time ago. Meaning, the decade that it started.
Thanks for reading!
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Solidarity for all the innocent lives that suffer the atrocities of war!
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