Earlier today, I went to my local AMC theater to watch Scream, the latest installment in the hit slasher film franchise that began with the original Scream movie 25 years ago.
I never saw the four previous flicks, but I didn't need to...as I watched this new film just to see how brutal Ghostface was compared to other masked cinematic killers like Michael Myers from Halloween, Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th and even the psychotic college student wearing a baby mask in 2017's Happy Death Day. And needless to say, Ghostface did not disappoint!
I'm not going to go into the mythology of this series since I'm unfamiliar with the overarching storyline between all five movies, but I will say that Scream had an exciting young cast in which it was pretty difficult to discern which character (or characters?) was ultimately the knife-welding maniac with a black cloak, the game-show-host voice, and the Halloween ghost mask.
Apparently, what made the first Scream so successful in 1996 was its satirical take on horror flicks—with the new Scream film continuing this tradition by poking fun at so-called "requels"...movies that are a combination of reboots and sequels. Unsurprisingly, references to actual requels were made in Scream; with one of the main characters mentioning the new Halloween movies that were released in 2018 and last year, respectively, this past November's Ghostbusters: Afterlife and of course, the Star Wars sequel trilogy.
Scream also made me think of the now-concluded Supernatural TV series with its climax...during which the main villain(s) yammer on about their master plan to the captive protagonists before the villain(s) prepare to vanquish them with a knife. Supernatural was known for its villains giving bombastic speeches instead of immediately dispatching monster hunters Sam and Dean Winchester so that all the evil creatures in that universe could finally breathe freely.
Despite the villain(s) not knowing when to shut up and just get rid of the heroes already, I give Scream two thumbs-up. The brutality of Ghostface ensured that this movie would be a top-notch slasher flick that presumably lived up to the spirit of its four predecessors.
Like The Matrix: Resurrections, however, it remains to be seen if Scream was just a final and proper sendoff for the legacy characters who appeared in the previous movies...or this flick will support one of the characters' critique in that this franchise will continue indefinitely since "Hollywood is out of ideas."
We shall see!
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