5cream Ramblings
First, to get it out of the way...
Wonky Stuff about the New Scream
- There's some fuzzy math with ages, I think. Sam has to be at least 25, maybe 26, and she's said to be five years older than her sister Tara, who is ... still in high school? It's not clear (or maybe I missed it). I certainly hope Tara and that friend group are not high schoolers, otherwise there's a creepy age gap between the adult male killer and his teenage boo he met on the internet. 2nd Viewing Addendum: There is a sign that says "Woodsboro High School," so yeah, they're teenagers. Which doesn't work mathwise and makes Richie even creepier.
- I'm pretty sure they forgot about a whole-ass character at the end (Liv, who sort of dated the first person who's actually killed and is the girlfriend of Chad; she gets pissed he won't bone her because [Randy voice] EVERYBODY'S A SUSPECT). She shows up with blood on her hands, everyone thinks she's the killer for five seconds (because remember Rory Culkin in 4?), and then she disappears. 2nd Viewing Addendum: Nope, Amber shoots her to announce herself as one of the killers. It's super quick and overshadowed by the reveal, so I'm not surprised I missed it.
- It's a bit weird that so many people in this new friends group are connected to the original characters. Sam is Billy's daughter, Amber lives in Stu's old house, Mindy and Chad are Randy's niece and nephew, Liv's ex is Stu's nephew, and Wes is Judy's son (though Judy is a sequel character). I know Woodsboro's a small town, but that's a bit too snug to be plausible. Though it does give the story an Elm Street vibe, with a younger generation being punished for the actions of their elders.
- I'm not sure how I feel about de-aged ghost!Skeet. I loved seeing him again, but the de-aging technology on him is ... not very good? It's not as convincing as THE IRISHMAN, which itself is not convincing to a heck of a lot of people. 2nd Viewing Addendum: The worst part is actually the terrible wig.
But in all honesty, I don't care that much about any of that (2nd Viewing Addendum: The age thing really does bug me, gah). What I was most interested in was 1) that it would bring something new to the table, 2) that it would have some interesting commentary on the horror genre as it has evolved since the last movie, and most importantly 3) that it would do right by the original characters. I think it succeeds on all three counts.
Look, nothing touches the original. It is still the most significant thing to happen in the genre in the last three decades. The opening is one of the best in the entire genre (I might go out on a limb here and say THE best -- wait, no, I forgot about the opening to the '77 SUSPIRIA). The original cast is unmatched in both charisma and chemistry (it's still a miracle to me that Matthew Lillard's wackadoo performance works so frickin' well). And it's a great mashup of a slasher movie, a whodunit, and a sort of soap opera. This movie is not as important to me as it is to a slightly younger generation who I'm stunned actually saw it as kids, but I do love it a lot and I get why it's a sacred cow for a whole lot of people.
The sequels before this one were ... okay. There were lots of problems. SCREAM 2 was kind of a structural mess because of all the rewrites they had to do due to leaks, the killer reveal is weak because it's a character we haven't seen in like 45 minutes of the movie's run time, and I cannot forgive that horrible cafeteria serenade. SCREAM 3 is entertaining (Parker Posey MVP!) and oddly prescient (#MeToo before there was #MeToo), but there are so many stupid things in it -- that voice changer with technology that has never existed, Gale CHECKING THE KILLER'S PULSE, and that one guy dying from a gas explosion when no one smelled gas 30 seconds before when they were all in the house. SCREAM 4 is surprisingly solid, but the villains are pretty forgettable and so are most of the rest of the new characters.
So where does #5 stand? For me, well above the other sequels but still not that close the original. But there's a lot of space between the original and 2/3/4.
Things I Loved About the New Scream
- The opening is pretty great. Again, nothing touches the original, and I thought the opening of SCREAM 2 was great as well, but this both treads familiar territory and gives us some surprises. I love (LOVE!) the opening phone conversation (this actually might be my favorite Roger Jackson performance of the whole franchise). I love that you can tell it's him, but only barely, because he's not putting on the scary/sexy voice until he's been talking to Tara for a while. In fact, I wasn't positive it *was* him until he said the words "scary movie" (and not even in the usual context). We get into the genre commentary right away, with Tara not into schlocky movies like "Stab" and preferring (I cackled when she said this word) "elevated" horror. She's an A24 gal, for sure. I love that the new Ghostface is so tech savvy (as each version always has been). And most of all, I love the reversal that NO ONE DIES in the cold open.
- I actually cared about at least some of the new characters, particularly Sam and Tara, which made me invested in what was happening long before our legacy characters turned up. We continue the soap opera element of the original, with Sam's true parentage cropping up early in the movie, and some great conflict and complexity between her and her younger sister.
- There's some genuinely good acting in this. I was especially impressed with Jenna Ortega, who plays Tara. There's a moment where she's pulling herself out of a hospital bed and into a wheelchair, and it's painfully real in a way you don't normally see in a movie like this.
- I don't know how the filmmakers feel about HALLOWEEN (2018), but I can at least tell that they wanted to do something different with the legacy characters. Sydney is living her best life, far away from Woodsboro, with her husband and daughters. Gale and Dewey have split, but Gale has a successful television career. Dewey's in not so great a place, but it's a believable place, and it's ... I don't want to say "nice," but it's an interesting change to see a guy in that position.
- I loved the Dewey and Gale drama. One of the most unbelievable things to me in the arc of their relationship is that they were together for as long as they were and that Gale was content (well, mostly) to stay in Woodsboro. It feels right -- if heartbreaking -- that she got an opportunity in New York and that he tried to be with her there, but he just didn't fit in and felt like he always belonged in Woodsboro. I love the way their relationship reflects the real-life history between Courteney Cox and David Arquette, whose marriage didn't work out but they remained close friends. So that when Gale says "you killed my best friend," there's a whole other layer there.
- I don't think I've ever cried over a character death in a horror movie the way I cried (and am crying again now thinking about it) over Dewey. Malin Akerman in THE FINAL GIRLS was emotional, but man, this one was rough. I knew they had to kill off one of the big three. They had to. There's no way they were going to kill Sydney. Gale was probably a no-go as well because she's just too tough. Dewey seemed the likeliest choice -- he was vulnerable, and his death was bound to have the most emotional impact. Also, after his conversation with Sydney on the phone, where she said she was not setting one foot back in Woodsboro, I knew something was going to have to bring her back. And as soon as the elevator door shut with Sam and Tara and Richie on one side and Dewey on the other, I knew this had to be it. I love that he goes back because he's finally learned -- after four movies -- that you have to shoot them in the head. He gets one of the most brutal kills in the movie -- like, as hard as I was crying, I could appreciate what a good death scene it was. And it was definitive; he'd survived a lot before, but this was a LOT (sliced up the front *and* stabbed in the back - DAMN). And I lost it all over again when they rolled the stretcher out, which we've seen so many times before in this franchise, but this time he was in a body bag. RIP Dwight.
- I *KNEW* from the MOMENT I recognized her as the actor who played Susan Atkins (aka the Scariest Manson Girl) in ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD that Amber would turn out to be one of the killers. I had my eyes on her the entire time. And I kind of loved how she died in a very similar way as Susan Atkins did in Tarantino's alternate reality -- on fire and screaming like a banshee.
- When Vince first appeared, I thought it looked a *bit* like Kyle Gallner, but the mustache and hat and hair threw me off, so I felt validated seeing him in the credits. He had a pretty good kill (though his character felt a bit tacked on).
- 2nd Viewing Addendum: Kirby Reed (Hayden Panettiere) is confirmed as having survived the events of SCREAM 4. You have to know where to look, but when they show the YouTube video of the guy and girl (shout-out to Dead Meat's James A. Janisse and Chelsea Rebecca) complaining about Stab 8, the top suggested video on the sidebar is an interview with her.
- "Are you telling me that I'm in the middle of some FAN-F***ING-FICTION???" Reader, I cackled. I also just really loved Mindy's State of the Genre monologue.
2nd Viewing Addendum: This movie came for the Last Jedi haters with what seems like a throwaway line about "the guy who made Knives Out" until it becomes the whole motive for the killings.
- Sam's and Tara's last name is Carpenter because horror directors love to homage.
- I love how all the easter eggs in this movie don't feel like "hey, remember this?". There's a memorial (urn?) for Tatum in Dewey's house because of course there would be. It feels right that there's a movie shrine to Randy in Mindy and Chad's house. Sheriff Judy (classic wine mom in yoga pants) makes lemon bars for her son because she's always made them.
- 2nd Viewing Addendum: Speaking of Judy, she must have had Wes *before* the events of SCREAM 4. Also, the name Wes was yet another throwback, giving all the "For Wes" balloons and "To Wes" toasts an added layer.
- The "Stab" scene where Randy explains the rules is verbatim from the original SCREAM and I kind of love it. 2nd Viewing Addendum: I'm pretty sure they digitally inserted movie!Randy into the original SCREAM scene because those other teens look exactly the same and none of them are credited.
- I loved how THE THING-esque the second half is, where everyone suspects each other and no one knows who to trust. That's something that wasn't really there in the other movies (just a bit in the original, with Randy and Stu). This movie isn't terribly scary, which I've heard people complain about, but what it lacks in old-school terror it makes up for in paranoia.
- I remembered having seen Stu Macher's house in the promotional stuff, and during the scenes at Amber's house, I found myself thinking "wait, we're in the final section here -- when are we going to Stu's house" and then Sydney sees the GPS and it was "ohhhhhh, WE ARE ALREADY AT STU'S HOUSE." The filmmakers do a good job of hiding the iconic details of that house with low lighting and carefully framed shots, until that reveal and suddenly THERE are the stairs Billy fell down, THERE is that closet Sydney burst out of to stab Billy with the umbrella, and THERE is that porch where Stu and Randy plead each other's guilt to Sydney. That was great.
- Even though it might not be a huge surprise, the villain reveal is still great, as is the traditional monologue. I love the killers' motivation and the commentary on toxic fan culture.
- There are some great kills in this. Wes has a good one, and obviously Dewey's is incredible on multiple levels. But I think my personal "Golden Chainsaw" (h/t Dead Meat Kill Count) will go to Richie. Y'all, it was one thing when Sam stabbed him ALL THE WAY THROUGH THE FACE -- hilt on one cheek, tip out the other. But then she maneuvered herself on top of him and went absolutely buck wild with the stabbing, because she's not Billy Loomis's daughter for nothing.
- ALL OF THE WOMEN LIVE. Well yeah, Judy died. And Amber, but she was the killer so she had to die. And who knows what happened to Liv. But I love that the focus at the end is all these women survivors. The double-team of final girls AND Mindy (thanks for not burying that gay). And I love that Mindy and Chad are like the new Deweys, taking a licking and miraculously keeping on ticking.
- I also like that, though there's a completely new person doing the music, there are still nods to the original. That little bit of "Red Right Hand." That even littler bit of Dewey's "spaghetti western" theme. Love it.
- It might be schmaltzy, but I LOVED when Gale said she had an idea for her next book and, when asked what it is, she says "Not this" before saying she basically wants to write a book about Dewey. Also love that little moment between Dewey and Gale when he says she was always happiest when she was writing.
- AND even though the movie knows how badly we want to see the legacy characters back together again, it doesn't quite give that to us. Sydney and Dewey talk on the phone, but they don't have a scene together in the same place at all. We never see the three of them all together in the entire movie -- and now we never will again. GAH, CRYING AGAIN!