431: Scream (2022)

[00:00:00] 138. Let's get to Scream, or Scream 5 as it is technically, but Scream from 2022. It is directed by Matt Bettinelli-Ulpin and Tyler Gillett. It stars Nev Campbell, Courtney Cox, David Arquette, Melissa Barrera, Jack Quaid, Mikey Madison, Jenna

[00:00:23] Ortega, Dylan Minnette, and a few others. And the synopsis is, 25 years after a streak of brutal murders shocked the quiet town of Woodsboro, California, a new killer dons the ghost-faced mask and begins targeting a group of teenagers to resurrect secrets from the town's deadly past.

[00:00:45] So as I said on the earlier episodes, these were the, I'd seen the first one I think originally, like before I saw any of the others, but this one really was sort of the

[00:00:55] reintroduction as it was for possibly many. And I only saw it shortly after the sixth one came out, I saw them both very close together. And I've seen both this one and the new one maybe three times

[00:01:10] already. I don't know how the majority feels, I think these got fairly decent reviews and I think they were quite financially successful as well. I am a big, big fan of these movies. I think,

[00:01:24] spoiler, I think six is the best of these two and one of the best of the franchise, but I think five, every time I watch it I like it more. And I think there are a few things that bring it down a little

[00:01:38] bit. I think some of the meta stuff I don't always love, I don't need all of the meta explanations of slashers and the tropes and then the fandoms and all that sort of thing, that gets a little tiring

[00:01:50] at times. But it's still one of the most engaging, fresh, well-acted, well-directed, suspenseful horror installments that I've seen in a long, long time. I think both of these are better even though I really like the first two Halloween reboot films in the trilogy

[00:02:11] that they did a few years ago. I think that both of these are better than the best of any of those. And there's just something about, because these directors, they did Ready or Not, which I was not

[00:02:25] a big fan of, so I don't know exactly what it is. Maybe it's the script, maybe it's a combination of things, I don't know. But they are a great fit for these movies and I am so upset, so upset

[00:02:38] that they're not coming back as it seems as of now for part seven and that Jenna Ortega and Melissa Barrera are not coming back as well because of everything that happened. And I won't

[00:02:51] go into that now, that's not the place, I'm not the person to talk about that so you can do that on your own. But I haven't been this upset over a franchise or a trilogy or whatever not happening

[00:03:05] probably since The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the Fincher version where the latter two films were canceled and just didn't happen. So I cannot be more upset that part seven is not going to

[00:03:16] feature them as of now. But with this one specifically, the thing that brings it down slightly is that it is intentionally so meant to be a refresher, kind of paying homage to the

[00:03:27] original. It follows a lot of the same tropes, you know, features the same locations, it has nods to certain characters in certain moments. And so that, while I think it's well done in terms of

[00:03:40] rebooting it for a modern audience and giving people a refresher, the originality of that isn't always perfect but not a big deal. Other than that I think that, and I'll get to it even more so with

[00:03:51] part six, Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega are perfect in these movies and I think that the writing is really strong and I think that the performances are very, very strong especially from Melissa Barrera. And talking about horror franchises or just franchises in general,

[00:04:11] she's such a strong character and that performance really adds to that as well. But the conflicts that she faces, more so in six because of what happens in this one, but dealing with her father's horrible legacy of being this murderer, spoiler, that shouldn't be a

[00:04:27] spoiler at this point, but dealing with that, trying to figure out who she is, trying to make amends with her sister who she left because of everything that happened when she was a teenager,

[00:04:38] and then in part six getting more into the cancel culture aspect of things. But I'll wait to talk about that with that one. But I think that those two together chemistry-wise, great, but the performances and those characters are really, really strong, well-grounded,

[00:04:56] complex, interesting characters that you don't really see very often when it comes to especially movies like this. And so they're by far the best part of the movie. But the rest of the cast,

[00:05:07] like Mikey Madison, I know she is going to be in that new Sean Baker movie that's getting huge acclaim. I saw her first I think in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and then in this. I think she

[00:05:18] is awesome. I hope she goes on to have a huge career. I think she is so deserving of it. There's something about her that is really compelling, really unique, and I love seeing her on screen.

[00:05:30] So very excited to see what she does next with the success of this new Sean Baker movie. But she's great. Everybody, it's like really well casted. And the original characters like Nev Campbell, Courtney Cox, David Arquette, I think all of them are great coming back. It doesn't feel

[00:05:49] forced. It feels very natural and they still have good rapport with each other. So I think that there's a lot going on that's interesting. But also, and I don't think really many people would call these movies actually scary. They're suspenseful and kind of chilling at points and

[00:06:04] intense. But I think that the horror aspect, when it comes to a franchise like this, horror in general, I don't really need a movie to be quote unquote scary. I don't really get scared anymore

[00:06:16] truly by horror movies most of the time. I just want a movie to be entertaining. And that can just be a combination of factors. It can add suspense and emotion and just how scenes are directed.

[00:06:29] And I think that the direction in both of these movies is so strong, and they make so many set pieces and so many fairly mundane scenes very memorable that a lot of other similar franchises

[00:06:42] do not have. Talking about like Halloween, even though, like I said, I like Halloween Kills, I like Halloween, the 2018 movie, there are so many more sequences in screen five and six that

[00:06:53] I remember vividly than I do in those movies. And I've seen them just as many times if not more than these. So talking about more specifically though, the opening with Shannon Ortega, awesome. I think

[00:07:05] that her performance, that conversation is spot on. So good. The sequence in the hospital where Melissa Barrera is chased and that conversation with her and Jen Ortega about what happened in the past and you know who their father is. The sequence at the sheriff's house with her son

[00:07:27] is awesome. Like I don't want to keep sounding like a broken record here. But there are just so many things I really like and I like it every single time I watch it more. But where she's having to

[00:07:37] race home and the son's in the shower and then he attacks her out on the sidewalk and then the son in the house. And one thing that is in both of these movies that it's such a simple thing, but I haven't

[00:07:50] really seen it done all that often for some reason, is the rapid fire stabbing of Ghostface. Where it's like he'll get someone on the ground or whatever it might be and it's like this machine

[00:08:04] gun stabbing. And for some reason that is such a simple yet really really effective, shocking, dramatic piece of direction that I wouldn't originally think would work so well because there are always so many things you can do with a knife and knife killings in movies. And for some

[00:08:23] reason that works and it gets even better in 6 where it's this really pounding, like again, machine gun fire style of stabbing and killing in these movies that just works. And so I really really like that little addition which the originals didn't really have all that much.

[00:08:41] So I like that piece of their, I don't know who brought that to the table but I really really like that. The sequence in the hospital with General Ortega in the wheelchair and then where

[00:08:54] David Arquette, spoiler, dies is great. And then the whole final sequence at the original house and sort of replay of how the original panned out, I think all that is awesome. And Mikey Madison again

[00:09:08] is great. I don't love Jack Quaid, I don't think he's necessarily a bad actor, there's just something about him and maybe it helps that he plays the bad guy in this but there's just something about him

[00:09:18] I don't really find that compelling. I don't really find him to be that charismatic. So like there are so many things, I don't know why it works so well for me, I can't even really explain exactly why, it just does and you know it's really worth watching.

[00:09:34] If you haven't seen any of the screen movies I would watch the original still but I think you could watch this one and understand it fairly well and then go back and revisit the originals

[00:09:44] but that's up to you. And let's see some other stuff, the cast, the rest of the cast as I said earlier good. I think the actress who plays Mindy, Jasmine Savoy Brown is great. I don't love that

[00:09:59] character totally all the time where she's always having to explain the franchise rules and stuff that it's not always on point, like it just gets a little like all right we get it, like it's meta

[00:10:11] eye roll kind of thing but other times it works. I like how in the next one they mention Letterboxd that's pretty cool but that character I think is still funny and enjoyable. Like I think of all

[00:10:21] the characters and for the writing there's no character in here that I find obnoxious, like super annoying, who is always yelling or you know those sort of horror tropes that make things needlessly aggravating and tiresome. This movie and 6 doesn't really have that. I think this whole

[00:10:38] franchise really doesn't for the most part so that's another mark in its favor but yeah really as time goes on I just love Scream more and more and more, the whole franchise really and

[00:10:49] I like the humor, I like where sadly I mean I'm hoping that with part 7 even if the directors don't come back, the cast doesn't come back, I still have hope for it. I wasn't expecting 5 and

[00:11:02] 6 to be this good and they are so if they get the right director, everybody involved, hey it could be great. I still will be sad that we don't have Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega who I think are

[00:11:13] the anchor of these new movies but I think it still has the potential to be awesome. You can do anything you want with it so make it your own and do something completely different, sure it can

[00:11:24] still be great so we'll see. Yeah highly highly recommend it, one of the best of the franchise for me. Let me know what you think in the comments if you're listening to this on YouTube or anywhere

[00:11:34] you can let me know your thoughts so yeah that is a heavy heavy four and a half out of five.