'Scream' Sequel Attempts to Resurrect 90s Scares
by EG
A new installment in the 90s horror franchise Scream hopes to prey on nostalgia to get moviegoers excited about old-fashioned scares. But it's not necessarily a given that horror fans will think that the franchise's self-referential humor is as innovative as it seemed 22 years ago. Read on for details.
The Scream franchise hatched by writer Kevin Williamson and director Wes Craven in 1996 injected new life into the slasher film by observing the rules of the genre while simultaneously subverting them. Its meta mischief and high body count spawned a voracious new generation of horror nerds and raked in $608 million in global box office. Revisiting the property 11 years after Scream 4, the new installment — made with Williamson’s blessing and dedicated to the late Craven — goes back to the original for inspiration but seriously over-indulges in self-referential cleverness, to the point of undermining the actual scare factor.
It’s hard not to groan when imperiled Californian teens sit around contemplating who might be responsible for the bloody slaughter once again unleashed on suburban Woodsboro, along with who might be next to feel the knife, and one of them pipes up with the realization of the killer: “Oh my God, he’s making a requel!” You might be more inclined to respond positively to a legacy character telling the latest sinister voice at the end of a phone line, “You really need some new material.”
The entire franchise was built on a knowing dissection of the slasher film and all its tropes, so it’s quite possible that some longtime fans will eagerly consume this playful new serving of constant carnage and mayhem, which climaxes with a bloodbath in the very same house where Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) faced down the original killer behind the Ghostface mask in the first finale. But meta riffs on horror are no longer a novelty, neutered by countless imitations and parodies.
The fresh twist here in James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick’s screenplay is the take on toxic fandom. “Someone has to save the franchise!” shrieks a character in perverse self-justification while busy notching up deaths. “Hollywood’s totally out of ideas.” Whether you find that amusing or so far up its own ass — to put it bluntly — that its winking humor becomes grating will be a matter of personal taste.
Get the rest of the review at The Hollywood Reporter.