Scream

The Scream franchise never fails to entertain and this latest "re-quel" was no exception. It was funny on so many levels - meta-commentary on horror films and franchise itself, and just plain ridiculousness of the concept and situations that the characters get into. At its core, Scream was - as it should be - a horror/slasher whundunnit with a healthy dose of self-awareness and self-depreciation, with some light drama and lots of black comedy. 

However, where this film failed, as compared to the first film - and to a lesser extent, the original trilogy - was that the main cast all lacked charisma and screen chemistry. Individually, some of them gave decent performances, e.g. Jenna Ortega, Jasmin Savoy-Brown and Jack Quaid. But none of them hold a candle to "legacy" trio of Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox and David Arquette. Maybe, this "re-quel" should just have been a sequel and focused more on Sidney Prescott.

Directed and written by four people (!), they really did try their hardest to update the franchise and subvert the genre and expectations, but coming after Spider-Man: No Way Home and The Matrix Resurrections, the meta-commentary and fan-servicing was not fresh or interesting anymore. The overdone fake-outs did not help - cute in the beginning but eye-rolling towards the end.

Nonetheless, the film-makers were at least self-aware enough to not take themselves or the film too seriously. This was no "elevated horror" and they just leaned into the slasher-whodunnit thriller-comedy of it all. And that resulted in just plain, good, goody, brainless, popcorn fun.

However, I do not think there is enough in this instalment to justify a new trilogy or even a sequel. Perhaps it is time to lay this to rest or just reboot/reset the whole franchise, with a whole new mythology and a better cast. And now, maybe it is time to give the first four films a rewatch.