Twenty-five years after a streak of brutal murders by Billy Loomis and Stu Macher shocked the town of Woodsboro, Calfornia, a new killer dons the Ghostface mask and begins targeting a group of teenagers to resurrect secrets of the town’s deadly past.

Wes Craven transcended the genre of horror in the 1990’s with “Scream” after a decade of derivative and redundant films. This is a franchise that rarely one-ups itself, but despite it being consistent in quality, nothing ever came close to the original. Wes Craven directed each of the four films preceding the newest entry, and even he couldn’t match his masterful brilliance of the classic teenage murder mystery. Being the fifth film in a franchise and a horror sequel being released in the month where movies go to die (January), just being good is swell enough for me. Now that Craven’s passed, “Ready or Not” directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett have taken up the mantle and finally did what it takes to make an amazing “Scream” film. 

A signature trait of the “Scream” films is explaining the rules of what it takes to survive a horror movie. The original defined three simple rules: no drinking or doing drugs, no intercourse and you cannot say “I’ll be right back.” The sequels tackled what it took to survive sequels, trilogies and remakes. They got more and more complex and interesting as it went along, and the newest film doesn’t fail to introduce new rules to survive a requel. A requel was described as a sequel that relies so heavily on past installments that in many ways could be considered a remake. It introduces new characters, all with connections to the past events, while also bringing in the legacy characters to “pass the torch.” These types of films have been recurrent lately and I’m not complaining, but one similar trait always baffles me – the legacy characters never appear on screen altogether. I dreaded going in with the main focus set on these newer characters because I came to see the old ones back in action again. I have to say that the way they handled everyone worked extremely well, and the new cast was stronger than they had any right to be.

Figuring out the identity of the killers has always been the most intriguing part of these films. I found out exactly who each of the killers were a little over halfway in, nonetheless, it’s very clever. Perhaps too clever. I think the movie knows the audience knows that, yet still tries to keep you second-guessing yourself. There are numerous scenes where either of the eventual killers are left unattended in a room with a non-killer and nothing happens. The two killers, Richie (Jack Quiad) and Amanda (Mikie Madison), just wanted to keep their plan intact. Even if I think their motives could’ve been a bit more fleshed out, the big finale in the house owned by Stu Macher in the original film was epic. Amanda reveals herself as a killer first very abruptly. The next mystery was to find out who the second killer was, and it was very cool how they didn’t reveal them both at the same time because they took the opportunity to keep the tension going. That being said, I liked Richie’s switch from initially good to bad more, as it came as some kind of shock. There’s a point near the end where Richie suggests that Tara (Jenna Ortega) could be the killer, and after seeing what happened to her in the opening scene, I even considered it a possibility. The script is just so well-written and the performance of Ghostface, mask on or off, never gets old.

We follow Sam Carpenter (Melissa Barrera), who’s revealed early on to be the daughter of one of the original film’s killers, Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich). Loomis does appear in small portions throughout the film, but I feel like this cool concept has a lot more to it than a de-aged Ulrich standing beside Sam and pestering her in a few scenes. They could’ve done better with how the killer instinct in Loomis somehow transfers to Sam; it didn’t mean much outside of the final when she went to town on Richie. Overall, I think Barrera gives a solid performance; she doesn’t quite register as the brave leading lady in a slasher film. The supporting cast elevated her performance and made her stick out in a good way.

The opening scene is always iconic within the series, and you could tell instantly with Tara Carpenter’s introduction that this would follow even without the mind of Wes Craven. Ortega killed it throughout the film, but in her big scene she perfectly channels the Drew Barrymore-esque character – I was also surprised they didn’t kill anyone off immediately, as she survives the first attack.

The motive of toxic fandoms is extremely meta and relative because there are large numbers of fans that seriously believe that they can derive from better material and deliver a superior, more cohesive final product than actual filmmakers. The Stab franchise – the films made in the “Scream” universe based on the events of the first film – is the peak of horror pop culture and the one bad film shows how these killers choose to make the source material themselves. It is a bit much, and isn’t far from what Jill and Charlie did in “Scream 4,” but it worked well enough for me. Richie and Amanda met on a Reddit server and planned the ideas once Amanda knew whose house she lived in, and I don’t believe the trailers showed too much. However, they shouldn’t have shown Stu’s house at the very least. Overall, there has yet to be a disappointing killer, but nobody has come close to Billy and Stu. I liked Richie – and how much of the film Jack Quaid was in – but Amanda was absent for large portions so it wasn’t too hard to guess she was a killer. Mikey Madison also has a thing with death by being set on fire because after “Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood” this is now the second time it’s happened to her and I can’t imagine that was a coincidence.

By far the best of the original trio and the one who gets the most to do is Dewey Riley (David Arquette). He’s the only character who decided to stick around in Woodsboro after four previous killings. I always liked Dewey’s character in the “Scream” films: he’s funny, likable and no matter how clumsy he can be, he always maintains his dignity. He’s now one of the best characters in horror and it’s entirely thanks to Arquette’s performance. I do think one of the three needed to die after the fourth film decided against that a decade ago, and Dewey’s been through a lot over the years. I was absolutely gutted when he died by being distracted by a phone call from Gale (Courteney Cox). As soon as he went back to finish off the killer alone in the hospital, I knew he was going to die, I just couldn’t prepare myself to watch. However, his death wasn’t unnecessary and his death was brutal enough to make you feel devastated. The “it’s an honor” line delivered by Ghostface was a really nice touch. I loved seeing how his relationship and connection with Gale has changed over the years, which is of course mirrored in real life as Arquette and Cox were married and eventually divorced, shortly after the release of the last film. It’s pretty amazing that for how many times he’s been through this, he still nailed on guessing the killer in his first interaction with Sam and Richie, and it felt like a line the audience was meant to brush off.

Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) and Gale Weathers did not get anywhere near as much to do as Dewey, but I still needed them there to complete the cast. Each of them returns in top form as if time hasn’t even passed. These two show up to help out after Dewey is killed, and appearing in the finale is all they got to do. Oddly, if they make another film, I prefer they not show up again because the story of the original trio has finished. If they only show up again to die, it would undermine what Dewey did here. Sid had to be here even less than Gale did, but I liked the slight reference to “Scream 3,” as she did end up marrying and having kids with Patrick Dempsey’s Detective Mark Kincaid. I’m just glad they got their revenge for Dewey in the end, and Gale was the one to deliver the final blow to Amanda.

There were a lot of kills in this movie, and a lot of bloody ones, but my favorite was the entire scene at the Hicks’ house. The tension in Sheriff Judy Hicks’ (Marley Shelton) car and cutting back to Wes Hicks (Dylan Minnette) in the shower was unmatched. The audacity they had to draw out following Wes inside after his mother was killed right near the doorstep without him was excruciating. It’s incredibly drawn out when the typical “open doors hide the killer out of frame” trick is used constantly. However, it doesn’t fail to keep you at the edge of your seat. I never thought I’d be this invested in Hicks, even after recently rewatching “Scream 4” and still not finding her too interesting, but I was disappointed when she and her son were each killed in brutal ways. 

Randy Meeks’ legacy carries on through another film, with two of the new characters being his twin niece and nephew, Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown) and Chad (Mason Gooding). Chad doesn’t get too much characterization outside of the stereotypical jock with a stubborn girlfriend – Liv (Sonia Ammar), who ends up being nothing more than Ghostface bait. Mindy, on the other hand, is a fantastic Randy replacement, laying out the rules of requels. If these are the characters we continue with, they couldn’t kill everyone off, and I’m glad the twins both made it through. I much appreciated the Martha Meeks (Heather Matarazzo) cameo too.

Summing it all up, the only real complaint I have is that Barrera’s Sam didn’t even come close to the heights of Campbell’s top-tier final girl, Sidney Prescott. Then again, I never expected her to be an all-timer. Along with that, I think Richie and Amber’s motivations could’ve been better explained. Other than that, this entry into the “Scream” franchise is yet another hit. I hope this does super well at the box office – and going back to the movies wasn’t a one-time deal for “Spider-Man” – because I need another “Scream” movie immediately. Seeing that the two remaining original characters have moved onto their own lives outside of Woodsboro, their story arcs have concluded, and I don’t mind one bit to see what these directors (who should surely return) continue with these new characters. Wes Craven would’ve loved this.

Final Grade: B+