Thirty years since Sydney Prescott became a final girl and yet she still answers calls from unknown numbers.
By: Amanda Musto
The “Scream” franchise is back with yet another installment for some reason. The only positive about that is the return of Neve Campbell to reprise her role as Sydney – because let’s be real, without her there is no “Scream.”
This film franchise has always been one of my favorites and held space in my horror loving heart and that was highly due to the masterminds behind it; Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson. Craven gave the horror world many great films including: “The Last House on the Left,” “The Hills Have Eyes,” and “A Nightmare on Elm Street” all before “Scream” came about so it was no surprise it would be a hit. The films proved themselves as genius films, but unfortunately they should have died when Craven did.
The latest addition was honestly a lot better than I expected and the film opening with the Macher house was such a joy and brought me right back to the original. I was pleased with most of the film, until it got to the end. The reveal of Ghostface after all the build up was such a let down and lacked the big reason or close relationship to Sydney that prior Ghostfaces have had. If Ghostface was someone else, I don’t think I would have had any complaints, well minus the too modernized update of AI use.
Kevin being back to write and direct and Neve being back as the lead is truly what saved the film. It brought back the feel of the earlier movies before the concept and cast started to shift. This many installments though is making the franchise feel a little too much like “Friday the 13th” and it’s starting to feel stale, but the addition of Sydney’s daughter Tatum, played by Isabel May (“Alexa & Katie,” “1883”) was a nice touch to keep things fresh. It was also perfect since it’s been 30 years since the first was released and her daughter being the same age as she was in the first brought everything full circle.
Some of the kills were lackluster and basic, but there were a few that were so fresh and new. I didn’t drink beer before, but I really was turned off to it after this film. I loved the gore and graphic nature of a lot of the kills too, keeping the true Ghostface nature. I mean they literally gutted and hung Casey from a tree in the first one, so the gore can only keep getting better from there.
A big thing I loved was the dynamic with Sydney’s husband and daughter. They were such a badass team and knew how to work together to come out on top. You can’t be around Sydney and not know how to defend yourself and they proved themselves strong. Like Tatum says, “I’m Sydney fucking Prescott’s daughter.”
It was great seeing so many familiar faces in this new addition and seeing many of them brought on rounds of applause in the theater, but also don’t do that, the actor can’t hear you. So many aspects and people from earlier films being incorporated to this one are some of the reasons that this film did better than expected.
Of course this film was nowhere near the best of the franchise, but it’s also not the worst, which I’ll leave everyone to their own opinion about, *cough cough* “Scream 6.” Even though they should probably end it and stop conjuring up new Ghostfaces, I know I’ll be sat in the theater for the next films fan night release.
