Scream (2022)

**One of the best slasher flicks since 1996!**
I loved the first Scream - the surprise, the shock, the self-awareness, the humor. It reinvented horror and launched a franchise of sequels of varying quality. And this newest one is the best since the first! It captured all the fun of the first. It kept the stakes high by bringing back the original cast and proving that no one is truly safe. The directors had fun baiting the audience with every slasher trope they could. Tense music would rise every time a character walked past a dark doorway or opened a cabinet to hide the view from the hall - naturally, that is when the killer is standing on the other side but not in Scream! Playing with the tropes in a fun, self-aware way is what Scream is all about, and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett nailed it.

Ghostface is my favorite cinematic serial killer and I love the first four films (yes, even _Scream 3_ and Gale’s terrible bangs) despite their flaws and fluctuating factors of entertainment. I’ll see and support any new _Scream_ film or TV series that comes along because of it. I know this new installment was successful ($88.4 million worldwide box office gross as of this writing) and some enjoyed it, but it is honestly my least favorite in the franchise.
This new film feels like it’s trying too hard to be one of the original _Scream_ films when it should have just been more of its own thing. This is something the film addresses, but originality should always triumph over retreading familiar territory; especially when it seems like its kills are being plunged into the same stab wounds.
Full review: https://hubpages.com/entertainment/Scream-2022-Review-Movies-Make-Psychos-More-Imitative