Horror Movie Reviews #1

Scream (2022) review 

I saw the new scream film on the day of its release. I’ve been very excited for this film since it was announced, and while I’m not the biggest fan of the Scream series, the original will always be an unforgettable staple in horror and it’s almost impossible not to be a fan of it. As the series went on however I began to like it a lot less. 

Many horror fans would disagree and think the sequels, while maybe not as iconic, are still extremely fun and shouldn’t be dismissed.

If there was one thing horror fans agreed on though it was that the series shouldn’t continue after Wes Craven, the director of the infamous series passed in 2015. However, when the film making collective Radio Silence were announced to be making the 5th film in the series, fans were accepting an eager to see the trio consisting of Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett and Chad Villella, tackle the next film in the infamous series. 

Radio silence had previously done a lot of great work in the horror genre, they’re responsible for the excellent horror flicks V/H/S (2012) and Ready or Not (2019). So like a lot of fans, I was enthusiastic about their involvement in this film, and I can concur that they did not disappoint. 

Scream (2022) was a treat to watch. Unlike many horror movie reboots such as Child’s Play (2019), this film felt modern and new without entirely changing the established plot and style of the series. 

New characters were introduced but old characters were still part of the story almost as much as the others, they weren’t just quick cameos but important characters effected by the events in the film. It didn’t feel like a reboot or like this film was trying to entirely change the series. It felt like a tribute to the films before it, especially the original. 

This film was full of references and callbacks to the original Scream, and followed the well-known tropes from the series that fans love. It had all the meta-ness of the first, even including a recreation of a scene from the first film where the character Randy yells at Laurie Strode as Halloween plays on his TV. He yells at her to turn around as the killer is behind her, not knowing that ghost face is behind him. The beauty of the scene from the new film comes from the insane inception. Mindy, the very self-aware character in this film is watching the in-universe version of Scream, ’Stab’. The same scene (but with a different actor) is playing on her TV, Randy yells at Laurie to turn around and in turn, Mindy yells at him to turn around, and you may have guessed correctly that there’s a killer behind Mindy. This ridiculous self awareness and inception is what makes this movie feel like a true scream film. 

It feels like it is not only a tribute to the series and to Wes, but to fans of horror as it includes many moments that perhaps only horror lovers may understand or relate to. Being a big horror fan myself I truly appreciated these moments, it often felt like I was watching a movie made for me. And it was very small and simple things that made it feel like that, such as a cameo from two podcasters very well known in the horror community. I’ve listened to their horror movie podcast for a very long time, and seeing them in a horror film made me almost jump out my seat and squeal with excitement. 

It wasn’t just references and callbacks that made this film so great though, a main aspect of the first Scream is the anticipation of finding out who the killer is, and this film did not disappoint in the ‘whodunnit’ aspect. Parallel to the first film there are two killers, and I hadn’t guessed either by the end. Even the way the first killer was revealed left me shocked.  

And of course, like any good slasher, this movie had plenty of blood. While I prefer gory practical effects to blood baths, I think the simply bloody kills perhaps made it more accessible to non-horror fans not used to the shocking practical effects of some horror films. Or, contrarily I am simply desensitised to the gore of horror and this film was in fact very gory to most. Either way the kills did not disappoint. 

I have very little negative to say about this film, the only one big negative I have is that one of the most impactful deaths of the movie was entirely avoidable. While of course it is a trope of the genre that characters will make dumb decisions that lead to their death, it was frustrating in this scene considering this character is not the type to make dumb decisions. Being one of the legacy characters it feels unfair that they were killed due to a lack of a lack of common sense when this character is known for having the most common sense. 

Other than that, I really enjoyed this film. It’s a wonderful tribute to horror fans, Wes Craven and the Scream series. I would definitely recommend it, wether you’re a scream fan or not, you will absolutely enjoy this movie, as long as you don’t mind a lot of blood.