One thing I like about the Scream franchise is that there's no singular "bad guy". It's a role that various and sundry bad guys take on. That makes the movies more than just horror with some comedy. It adds a "whodunit" aspect where you're really trying to figure out who Ghostface is and why they're doing what they're doing.
The general formula is that it's some connection to people in the past. Generally. I think they broke that in one of the movies that really aren't Scream movies. But overall the reason(s) are revealed in the third act even if they aren't something that could be guessed from the rest of the movie. It's more a reveal than a mystery but what do you expect? It's a Scream movie.
This one felt like a comfortable continuation of the first ones and I found out that's because it's the same writer for the first, second, and fourth movies. They took on the directing role this time as well because Wes Craven is dead and the originally chosen director dropped out due to death threats. I guess people take the Scream franchise seriously. And the guy who took the director role probably decided it couldn't get much worse for them because they were already the writer.
Most of the movie slides right into the feel of the original four movies. They kept the bigger, more emphatic kills from the last two but I'm guessing that's to keep up with the times. Overall the movies have been comparatively restrained when it comes to the actual blood and gore aspect. Lots of stabbity stabbity but not a lot of results. You get more results in this one.
The trailers for the movie were all fakeouts. I find that amusing. What's in the trailers happened but not like you'd expect. The one with Ghostface burning the house down? Happened. But it's the original house that was turned into a tourist AirBnB and in the opening scene you have the first kill being the couple who booked it, then Ghostface burned it down. I guess that could be an allegory for cutting ties with aspects of the movies that came before. Sure. Go with that.
This one does cut ties tho. The meta aspect that was building in the first four is cut back to almost nothing and I think that's a good thing. By the fourth movie it was starting to get tired. The fake "Stab" movie franchise is still part of the Scream universe but they make fun of it and how it's getting tired too. By taking that out they were able to move the location to where Sidney lives now and while the original Woodsboro is referenced it's not the center of the universe anymore. This gives them freedom to move around more. The rules that every movie to date that the characters listed was also started and cut as being lame, so another homage to the originals while moving beyond them.
We're down to two of the original actors since they killed off Dewey/David Arquette. Neve wisely bowed out of the sixth movie which makes Courtney the only one who's been in all seven movies. Well. The actor who is the voice of Ghostface has been in all of them too and the continuity is great but not being on the screen and using a voice modulator means that it's less obvious that it's the same one. Both of them are producers now so either they believe in the franchise or they wanted the extra money. Regardless they're back in character.
Time has moved on. Sidney has stepped out of the limelight and has been raising her family in a small town and running a coffee shop. Gale lost her big New York gig, hasn't written any more books, and is trying to get back into the reporter groove. The two younger kids are staying with grandparents and are no part of the movie. The newest character is Sidney's daughter Tatum (named for the Tatum that died in the first movie). The daughter is being a typical teenager and has issues with her mom not talking about her life previous to being married. It's kind of a plot hook because I don't think many teenage girls give a good gosh darn what mom was like when they were teenagers.
She's married to a police officer. He doesn't get a lot of screen time but that's what happens when you're not an essential character.
The teenage guy next door is obsessed with the whole Ghostface thing and puts Sidney on the spot a couple of times, with his mom breaking it up. Tatum has a boyfriend, very similar to how Sidney did at the beginning. There's a friend group again, similar to the first movie.
This movie is unique in that there's three Ghostfaces in action. One is also more of a fakeout and a plot advance but there's two active ones working together. Of course, given that we're used to two Ghostfaces (except in Scream 3 but there's fan speculation about a second one that got left out of the final cut) having one killed early means we might think there's only one more out there. Another fakeout for us!
The whole thing starts up with Sidney getting a call from Stu, who is supposed to be dead. He was always an iffy one rife with theories that he wasn't really dead. And darn it all if he isn't on the phone talking about things that happened and what he's going to do. Gail shows up with the twins from the Scream 6 movie right about now, actually running over the first Ghostface.
The first Ghostface to die is unconnected to anything and is an escaped mental patient. Sidney and Gail go to the mental hospital to try to figure out what's going on and the friendly nurse tells them the guy hadn't seen the Stab movies or had any interest in the original events. But there was a John Doe he spent a lot of time with who was there for a couple of decades and recently left. He even shows them the nice tidy room where he stayed. They show him Stu's picture, he recognizes him as the John Doe. OK. We've now got our link! It helps that the other guy had drawings resembling stuff from Scream/Stab/Sidney on his bulletin board yet.
I had to look up the kill count because there's also survivors so it messes with things in my head.
The boyfriend is sus and ends up on the floor. The friends end up getting picked off one by one. The obsessed guy is also a kill but that one has a bit of extra to it I'll get to in the Ghostfaces. There's also the two unrelated people who get it in the beginning but that's kind of a hallmark of the movies to have some initial kills so they don't really count so much. There's six kills, not counting Ghostfaces.
Here's the survivors.
Gale takes a hit and survives.
Gale brings two characters back from Scream 6 as her crew and while they get attacked, they survive.
Sidney's husband takes a lot of hits and survives.
Sidney takes some hits and survives.
I want to say Sidney's daughter Tatum takes a hit or two, maybe a slice, but don't quote me on that one. If she didn't she should have.
As with all survivors they get minimal medical care and function just fine with various and sundry stab, bullet, and slash wounds except where the script requires that they don't. That's a consistent thing in every single movie so it's barely worth mentioning anymore.
Ghostface deaths
Now we get into the "why" aspect of the movie. It's always about why these people put on the mask, sparkly robe, and boots. Yes, people have identified, or tried to identify, the various brands and models of boots in each movie. They need hobbies too.
Ghostface 0
The first one, and the first one to get killed, is the stalking horse. He's got no real motive except being primed to kill the whole family in residence (remember, only the daughter is at home) and botches it.
Ghostface 1
This one took me a bit to recognize but he's the helpful nurse from the mental hospital. He's the one who primed the escapee to try to do the work. He's the one who had them looking for Stu.
Ghostface 2
This is another one from left field. It's the neighbor mom with the obsessed kid. Turns out the mom was even more obsessed with being the new Scream Queen, kind of infected her son with her own obsession, and wants Sidney to finally die because it's just stupid she's survived so much. It's confirmed she killed her own kid. Even if that turns out not to be her it was her accomplice.
Ghostface Kills
Ghostface 0 - Gale's van does an excellent job of it.
Ghostface 1 - As is proper etiquette with a Ghostface, shot to the head. He also gets body shots from Tatum but when she's wavering about the proper shot to the head he escapes.
Ghostface 2 - This one gets the long fight scene, many stabs, and a final lot of shots to the head by both Sidney and Tatum.
So what about Stu? There's a scene in Sidney's very smart house which is full of screens which has him there and then morphing into other characters from the past, including the beloved Dewey. They're taunting her with how easy it was to manipulate her. Of course they never confirm that Stu is really dead or not so there's that. Or maybe they did. It was late in the movie. But the AI thing is part of what they're doing, which fits in with the movies moving along with current technology.
We end with Sidney telling Tatum the story of why she got her name. It's quite obvious what skills her mother has when it comes to evading masked killers in weird robes. There's also a bit where Gale grows a heart and lets the twin take the microphone for the story instead of keeping it for herself like she did earlier. The twins are probably part of the franchise for at least one more movie.
I enjoyed it. Seeing it on IMAX isn't necessary but if you can and you want to pay the extra for the ticket, go nuts. It doesn't have anything that especially needs IMAX so go ahead and watch digital or wait for streaming. If you're going to marathon go right ahead and skip 5 and 6. The only thing you'll miss is the introduction of the twins with Gale. And Dewey's death but that's sad so you may want to skip it for that reason.
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