I finally watched Scream 5 or Scream as this one is called, recently. Yes, I did not see it when it came out last year. I wanted to see it, but I just did not make it to the theater. I have seen all prior films. I did not see them when they initially came out. The first Scream came out when I was six years old in 1996. I have mixed feelings when it comes to the horror genre. I am not the biggest fan, but I do like some of them. I do enjoy the Scream franchise. I enjoyed all four prior movies. I also watched the TV series that first aired on MTV and then moved to VH1 for its final season. I enjoyed the series as well.

This franchise seems to follow suit with other franchises when it comes to legacy and the legacy characters. Scream first came out in 1996 followed shortly by Scream 2 (1997) and Scream 3 (2000). The films were successful and kept the three main leads Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, & David Arquette through the whole entire franchise including this new entry. There was a lot of hype for Scream 4 which came out in 2011, eleven years after Scream 3 which marked the biggest stretch between films yet. Scream 4 did not end up performing as well as expected. I remember being surprised that Scream 4 did not open bigger or earn more money. It opened with 19 million and went on to gross 38 million domestically. That is substantially lower than the previous films. At that time, I thought Scream 4 would have made 100 million minimally. I was twenty-one at the time, so silly me. I had a tendency to be very optimistic at that time and I still am optimistic. This obviously stalled plans for a 5^th and 6^th film. Scream 4 was eleven years after Scream 3. Fast forward to eleven years later and we get the fifth Scream movie which is just titled Scream. I am not sure why they chose not to call it Scream 5 but my guess is that it was to reinvent the franchise. This is not the first time this has been done. Look at The Fast and the Furious franchise. The fourth movie was called Fast and Furious and brought back four of the main stars from earlier films. As seen from that, the franchise got bigger and bigger and later this year Fast X which is the 10^th film in the franchise will be coming out. A big difference between these two franchises is that Scream has kept its three leads the whole time. The main characters from the Fast and Furious were not in every movie prior to the 4^th film. Like Fast and Furious, Scream came out and became a hit. Scream opened with 30 million, already a substantial increase from Scream 4. Scream went on to gross 81 million in theaters. Worldwide, it made 140 million which was also better than Scream 4 which earned 97 million.  

This entry in the Scream Franchise is the bloodiest yet. It is very interesting to me how these films have evolved over time. The earlier films almost look tame compared to this one as well as Scream 4 which seemed to up the body count and the bloodshed. It has already been said that Scream VI will be even bloodier.

I was very excited to see Scream and have been wanting to see this for almost a year now. I finally watched it, and I will say I enjoyed it. I thought it was a good movie. I know it’s a horror movie, but these films never scared me and to be honest most horror movies don’t scare me. That is not to say I don’t enjoy some of the movies, I just don’t get scared by them. I do enjoy the slasher genre. I have seen some of the Halloween movies, not the recent ones or the Rob Zombie ones. I am familiar with both A Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13^th. I have seen bits and pieces of various movies on TV, and I did see Freddy vs. Jason when that came out. One thing I think is cool about the Scream movies is how its self-aware of the genre it is in. All the films have had the commentary about the dos and don’ts on how to survive a slasher film. They comment on the dialogue that is typically used in these types of films like the classic line “I’ll be right back.” This movie comments on being a “requel” which is a mix of a sequel/reboot which is essentially what the movie is. Scream 5 has the legacy characters in Sydney Prescott, Gail Weathers, and Dewey Riley who starred in every entry, but the title is Scream which usually falls in the reboot category. Even Fast and Furious tweaked the title slightly to somewhat signify that it is a sequel. Even the new characters in Scream have connections to the bigger franchise.

At this point, there will be some spoilers for those who have not seen the film. If you have not seen it or don’t want to be spoiled, now would be the time to click out of here.

Melissa Barrera plays Sam Carpenter who is the sister to Jenna Ortega’s character Tara Carpenter. It is revealed in the movie that Sam Carpenter is actually the daughter of Billy Loomis played by Skeet Ulrich in the original movie, who reprises the role in this entry. He was the original killer which adds another layer to this movie since he, along with Matthew Lillard’s character Stu Macher started the whole thing. Randy Meeks’ (played by Jaime Kennedy in the original films) legacy lives on through the return of his sister Martha Meeks (played by Heather Matarazzo) who is the mother to the main characters Chad and Mindy Meeks played by Mason Gooding and Jasmin Savoy-Brown. To add another connection to the franchise, Scream 5 brings back Marley Shelton who was introduced in Scream 4 as Deputy Judy Hicks. This time around she is now the Sheriff and has a son Wes Hicks played by Dylan Minnette. The climax of the film takes place in Stu Macher’s old house adding another connection and callback to the original film.

This movie seems to take risks for the franchise to help catapult it forward. I won’t spoil some of the bigger things here, but some decisions were made which seems to create a bit of a blank slate for Scream VI. This movie seemed to have a good balance between the new characters and the legacy characters. There is a lot of bloodshed and high body count, but the movie does make some bold choices in terms of who survives and who does not. I also think these films have a pretty good story as well. A lot of times slasher films don’t usually have the strongest plots if any. Even if Scream can be viewed as the same thing every time, I always felt each film had a plot. The movie may have become more vicious, but it still has kept its wit and humor that was a huge part of the franchise.

I think the cast does a good job and I am very excited to see what will happen in Scream VI which is currently the real “Final Chapter.” Who knows? I believe they mean it, but I won’t be surprised if ten years from now another one comes out. One big change for the final film is that Neve Campbell will not be returning due to a salary dispute. I was aware before watching Scream 5 that this would be the final time seeing Sydney. I am disappointed that things could not be worked out for Neve Campbell to be included in Scream VI but I am still looking forward to the movie. Another big change for Scream VI is that it will be leaving Woodsboro and going to the Big Apple itself, New York City. This is also in the first teaser for the movie. With a setting change, I am not sure how Sydney would have factored in to begin with, but I am sure they would have found a way. She could have been in the city for a weekend getaway.  

I enjoyed Scream 5. I thought it was a solid movie and I liked what they did with this one. It was grittier but did not lose its identity. It had good connections to the franchise as a whole and it was nice to see the respect for the legacy characters and what had come before. A lot of times when reboots or sequels come with long lasting franchises, there can be a tendency to ignore the history. This also seems to be more of a common issue when it comes to television series, look at Melrose Place, Dallas, etc. Scream VI will definitely have legacy characters since it has been revealed that Courtney Cox as well as Hayden Panettiere who was in Scream 4, will be in Scream VI. I am very curious how Hayden Panettiere will be in the film given her character seemingly died in Scream 4. This was a solid entry in the franchise, and I am very excited to see where it goes next.