Scream (2022 film)

Scream is a 2022 American slasher film directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, and written by James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick. It is a sequel to Scream 4 (2011), the fifth installment in the Scream film series, and the first in the series not directed by Wes Craven, who died in 2015 and to whom the film is dedicated. It is also the first film in the franchise not to be produced by Dimension Films after it was shut down in 2018, and the first film to be distributed by Paramount Pictures. The film stars Melissa Barrera, Kyle Gallner, Mason Gooding, Mikey Madison, Dylan Minnette, Jenna Ortega, Jack Quaid, Jasmin Savoy Brown, and Sonia Ammar, with Marley Shelton, Skeet Ulrich, Roger L. Jackson, Heather Matarazzo, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, and Neve Campbell reprising their roles from previous installments. The plot takes place twenty-five years after the original Woodsboro murders from Scream (1996), when yet another Ghostface appears and begins targeting a group of teenagers who are each somehow linked to the original killings.

Although fifth and sixth Scream installments were discussed after the release of Scream 4 in 2011, Craven, writer Kevin Williamson, and executive producer Harvey Weinstein had doubts about proceeding with more films following the less-than-expected box office performance of the fourth film. After the 2017 sexual assault allegations against Weinstein and the closure of the Weinstein Company, the rights to the Scream franchise were obtained by Spyglass Media Group in November 2019, who confirmed a new film would later be made. The following year, Williamson, who was returning as an executive producer, confirmed the film would not be a reboot and that Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett had been hired in March 2020 to direct the film. Campbell and Arquette were confirmed to be returning later that month, with Cox and the new cast members joining throughout the middle of the year. Filming took place between September and November 2020 in North Carolina. To avoid any plot leaks, numerous versions of the screenplay were produced, and several additional scenes were filmed. Brian Tyler, a frequent collaborator of Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett, was hired to compose and conduct the film's score, replacing Marco Beltrami, the composer of the previous four films.

Scream was released in the United States on January 14, 2022, by Paramount Pictures. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised the direction, performances and tribute to Craven, with some calling it the best Scream sequel. It was also a box-office success, grossing over $138 million against a production budget of $24 million. A sequel, Scream VI, was released on March 10, 2023.

Plot

Twenty-five years after Billy Loomis and Stu Macher's killing spree in Woodsboro, high school student Tara Carpenter is home alone when she is attacked by Ghostface and left hospitalized.

In Modesto, Tara's estranged older sister Sam Carpenter is informed about the attack. She returns to Woodsboro with her boyfriend Richie Kirsch to visit Tara at the hospital. There, Sam is reunited with Tara's friend group: Wes Hicks, Liv McKenzie, Amber Freeman, and twins Chad and Mindy Meeks-Martin. That night, Vince Schneider—Stu's nephew and Liv's ex-boyfriend—is killed by Ghostface. After an encounter with Ghostface at the hospital, Sam reveals to Tara that she has been dealing with hallucinations of Billy Loomis, who had an affair with their mother in high school and whom she discovered as a teenager was her biological father. Sam's discovery of her true parentage led to their parents' divorce and is the primary reason for her estrangement from Tara.

Sam and Richie seek help from Dewey Riley, who is now divorced from Gale Weathers. Dewey contacts Gale and Sidney Prescott to warn them about the return of Ghostface. He joins Sam and Richie at the Meeks twins' home, where he briefly reunites with their mother, Martha Meeks, Randy Meeks' sister. Mindy deduces that the killer is creating a "requel", targeting Tara and her friends as the new generation while using Sam's connection to Billy to lure the legacy survivors. Ghostface murders Wes and his mother, Sheriff Judy Hicks, at their home. Dewey reunites with Gale, who has returned to town to cover the story. At the hospital, Tara and Richie are attacked by Ghostface but are saved by Dewey and Sam. The Carpenter sisters and Richie escape, but Dewey is stabbed to death when he attempts to finish off Ghostface.

Sidney arrives in town after learning of Dewey's death and meets Gale and Sam at the hospital. Sidney asks Sam to help stop Ghostface, but Sam declines, choosing to leave town with Richie and Tara. Sidney and Gale follow the trio to Amber's house, revealed to be Stu's former home, where the original Woodsboro massacre took place. During a party in Wes' honor, the Meeks twins are attacked by Ghostface. As the friend group gathers, Amber pulls out Dewey's gun and shoots Liv in the head, revealing herself as Ghostface. Sidney and Gale arrive, and Richie is revealed to be Amber's accomplice. He stabs Sam, and together, he and Amber take the Carpenter sisters, Sidney, and Gale into the kitchen where Sidney first confronted Billy and Stu.

Richie and Amber explain that they are fans of the Stab film series who met online. Disappointed with the direction of the most recent Stab 8, they initiated a new killing spree to inspire a fresh installment based on true events and planned to frame Sam as the culprit. Sam attacks Richie, while Tara attacks Amber but is incapacitated. Sidney and Gale fight Amber, ending with Gale shooting Amber, causing her to fall onto a lit stove and catch fire. Richie chases Sam, who sees a hallucination of Billy that guides her to Amber's abandoned knife. Embracing her paternal legacy, Sam repeatedly stabs Richie and slits his throat before shooting him to ensure he is dead. A horribly burned Amber attempts to attack the group again, but is fatally shot by Tara.

Tara and the Meeks twins are taken to the hospital, while Sam thanks Sidney and Gale for their help. Gale decides not to write a book about the new murders to avoid giving the killers notoriety, opting instead to write a tribute to Dewey. Sam joins Tara in the ambulance as the night's events are reported on the news.

Cast

Previous Scream actors Matthew Lillard (Stu Macher), Drew Barrymore (Casey Becker), Jamie Kennedy (Randy Meeks), Hayden Panettiere (Kirby Reed), Henry Winkler (Arthur Himbry), and Adam Brody (Ross Hoss) provide voiceovers for partygoers who participate in a toast for Wes, which doubles as a tribute for Wes Craven. Additional voice overs in the toast are provided by directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, Craven's widow Iya Labunka, previous Scream screenwriter Kevin Williamson, previous composer Marco Beltrami, previous editor Patrick Lussier, previous co-producer Julie Plec, and filmmaker Rian Johnson. Lillard also voices Ghostface in Stab 8 and Barrymore voices a school principal. Jamie Kennedy provided the production with unreleased photographs of his younger self to be used as his Scream (1996), Scream 2 (1997) and Scream 3 (2000) character Randy Meeks for a shrine in Martha, Chad and Mindy's living room, while an image of Panettiere as her Scream 4 (2011) character Kirby Reed is briefly shown, retroactively revealing the character to have survived the events of the film. Footage of Scream 3 star Scott Foley and Scream 2 star Joshua Jackson is briefly shown in a "Stab" film within a film, using footage of the duo taken from the Dawson's Creek episode "The Scare".

James A. Janisse and Chelsea Rebecca of the YouTube channel Dead Meat appear as the hosts of the fictional YouTube channel Film Fails. Christopher Speed portrays Randy Meeks in the film within a film Stab.

Production

Development

In 2011, Wes Craven confirmed he was contracted to work on a fifth and sixth installment of the Scream franchise, to be made if the fourth film achieved a successful release and reception. Following difficulties with script rewrites on Scream 2, Scream 3, and Scream 4, often with pages only being ready on the day of filming, and the related stress of the situation, Craven stated that he would need to see a finalized version of a script for Scream 5 before committing to the production. Kevin Williamson also confirmed he had contractual obligations for scripts for Scream 4 and Scream 5, having submitted concepts for three films leading up to Scream 6, though his contract for the sixth film had not yet been finalized. Williamson indicated that if a Scream 5 were to be made, it would be a continuation of the story of the characters who lived through Scream 4 but that Scream 4 would not include any cliffhangers that led into the potential sequel.