Scream

Last night my plans were unexpectedly canceled so I decided to see Scream instead.  I had initially been on the fence about seeing it because I am just a casual fan of the franchise but I have to admit that I had a blast with this latest installment!  Twenty-five years after the original murders in Woodsboro, someone wearing the Ghostface mask is once again terrorizing a new group of teens.  After her sister Tara (Jenna Ortega) survives an attack, Sam Carpenter (Melissa Barrera) returns to Woodsboro with her boyfriend Richie Kirsch (Jack Quaid) and reveals that she is the biological daughter of the original killer Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich).  After subsequent attacks, she realizes that the victims all have a connection to the original killers so she contacts Dewey Riley (David Arquette) for help.  He then notifies Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) and Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) and the three of them come to suspect Tara's group of friends, including Chad Meeks-Martin (Mason Gooding), Mindy Meeks-Martin (Jasmin Savoy Brown), Amber Freeman (Mikey Madison), and Liv McKenzie (Sonia Ben Ammar), because that is the formula used in the Stab movies based on events in Woodsboro.  Of course this leads to an epic, and very bloody, conclusion revealing the identities of the killers!  I absolutely loved how meta this movie is about the horror genre and the discussion that Tara has with Ghostface over the phone about the elevated horror found in The Babadook, Hereditary, and The Witch had me laughing out loud (because I love those movies).  I also found the motivation for the killings to be incredibly clever and a spot-on reflection of movie culture today (unfortunately).  Arquette, Campbell, and Cox each have a poignant moment as legacy characters but I really appreciated the fact that they play a secondary role in the plot and that the young cast is allowed to shine (I especially enjoyed Ortega and Barrera).  The kills are absolutely brutal and there were a few moments when I actually jumped in my seat.  I correctly guessed the identity of one of the killers fairly early on (I followed the formula used in the Stab movies) but I enjoyed this movie so much more than I was expecting.  I suspect that hard-core fans of the franchise will love it!