Certificate – 18
Directed By – Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett
Starring – Melissa Barrera, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Jack Quaid, Mikey Madison, Jenna Ortega, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Dylan Minnette, Mason Gooding, Sonia Ammar.
Running Time – 114 Minutes (1 Hour 54 Minutes)
After 10 years, Scream and its iconic horror villain Ghostface have had a rebirth or should that be “requel”? and having smashed at the box office, making just over $140 million on a $24 million budget, Scream is coming to DVD/Blu-ray and digital.
In case you didn’t know, I’m not a fan of horror movies and only knew the importance of these films growing up when watching Scary Movie, a series that REALLY doesn’t hold up.
However, this movie does two things wonderfully. They pay respect to the past and Wes Craven’s legacy and introduce newcomers to this franchise and I will be going back to watching the 1996 classic.
The main reason for my interest in this film was due to the directors, Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett. A few years ago, I went to a press screening of Ready or Not and I had the best time watching horror because the dark comedy made it such an enjoyable watch and felt they’d do the same here.
I was glad to be right because this movie is a great time, and they kept in tone with the humour and “meta” of what made this series popular in the first place.
The story is simple as we’re 25 years after the streak of brutal murders shocked the quiet town of Woodsboro, California, a new killer has donned the Ghostface mask and begins targeting a group of teens to resurrect secrets from the town’s deadly past.
I had a great time watching it because it was a decent murder mystery as it’ll have you guessing who the murderer is. There was one scene in the third act with two of the main characters, and I didn’t know what was going to happen, either one was going to reveal to be Ghostface or they were going to kiss.
Furthermore, the writing was so good. Not only did they continue the poking of the horror genre, with moments using music to fuck with my head, talking about “elevated horror.”
They expanded on Hollywood’s need for reboots and the toxicity of whole fandoms these days, highlighting in a scene pointing to Star Wars fans and the reaction to The Last Jedi.
It also uses modern technology really well to add to the horror instead of taking it away.
The characters were well crafted as it plays well with the legacy characters and newbies.
I have to mention Barrera first because she was excellent. I dug the backstory to Sam, and it was clear she was going to be the one to continue the franchise from Campbell’s Sydney.
As for the legacy stars of Campbell, Cox and Arquette, they served the story well and given the history of Cox and Arquette, their scenes felt more grounded and touching.
Meanwhile, the group of teenagers came across as a friendship group that felt universal to those we see today and what came before. It was awesome to see Brown’s Meeks-Martin as the first LGBT woman of colour “final girl” and I’m interested in seeing what happens to her character moving forward.
Quaid always has that golden retriever charm, and Ortega does a great job in the opening scene that pays homage to the original.
I don’t want to say a lot because I went into this as blind as possible, despite being out since the start of the year, and I got so much more out of it.
Bonus Features
This Blu-ray has plenty of features worth checking out, with the main two being New Blood and Bloodlines. There’s also a filmmaker commentary, which I will be checking out soon, and deleted scenes with one of them that could’ve easily been in the feature itself.
Verdict
Like their previous movie, Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett have made a highly enjoyable horror with decent performances. With the torched passed over, the greenlit sixth instalment can’t come soon enough.
The Bear Cave 