Wes Hicks: [suspecting Dewey as the killer] You got stabbed a billion times, got dumped by your famous wife, and crawled into a bottle. I think it’s safe to say you’re on the suspect list.
Dewey Riley: Well, maybe you’re the killer. Because that cut deep.

Directors: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillett

Writers: James Vanderbilt & Guy Busick

Starring: Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega

Synopsis: 25 years after the original brutal murders shocked the quiet town of Woodsboro, a new killer dons the Ghostface mask and begins targeting a group of teenagers to resurrect secrets from the town’s deadly past.

Scream is not a remake of Scream (1996) but it is actually Scream 5, picking up years after Scream 4 and continuing the story of Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox) and Dewey (David Arquette). As the film opens, just like the original, we are introduced to a young girl who is alone at night, chilling out, getting ready to watch a movie when the phone rings. The sinister voice from the previous Scream films responds creepily “Hello Tara”. Tara Carpenter (a nod to horror director John Carpenter) answers innocently “Hello” they begin to chat about movies and how the state of horror films has changed since the last entry in 2011. As the previous films the film opens with a killer stalking a young girl on the phone until she figures out the killer is in the house. This opening scene is done masterfully by new directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett taking over the legendary Wes Craven (RIP).

We are soon introduced to a new batch of characters that will become suspects or murder victims as the new killer stalks them all. As most recent sequels to franchises we are getting a “requel” or “lega-sequel” where the original characters return but make way for new characters to take over (ala Star Wars, Jurassic World, Creed). The new characters include Sam Carpenter (played by the stunning Melissa Barrera from In The Heights) who is the victims older sister with a few dark secrets of her own. Her boyfriend Richie (played by Jack Quaid) who is a newbie to horror films and is enjoying the ride. Amber (played by the devilish Mickey Madison from Once Upon a Time in Hollywood), Tara’s best friend, who proves to be a tough foe for the ghost faced killer. Also there are Tara’s other friends, Wes (played by Dylan Minnette from Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why) and twins Mindy and Chad (played by Jasmin Savoy Brown and Mason Gooding, in reality unrelated). All of these characters pose as suspects or victims as the film goes through the standard horror tropes that we’ve come to gotten used to in a Scream film.

However our original favourites Sidney Prescott, Gale Weathers and Dewey soon get pulled back into the mystery, with Dewey getting the most interesting screen time. David Arquette excels in his role as Dewey, the simple minded cop, who has been facing this type of killer for too long. The characters all team up eventually to stop the killer and work out why someone is doing this on the anniversary of the films first batch of murders.

Fans of the Scream franchise will find plenty to enjoy in this entry. This is solid sequel which corrects the mistakes of the previous entry and opens up the series to new characters and stories. The new characters aren’t as entertaining as those in Scream 4 however they are well-acted and Melissa Barrera makes a strong new scream queen.

Ranking	1	2	3	4	5
Plot			✔
Character development				✔
Cause and effect				✔
Acting				✔
Camera techniques				✔
Sound				✔
Lighting				✔
My Opinion				✔

Rating: B+