This is going to be a tough sell for some people but let me explain.
Late last year I saw the original Scream for the first time. In short, I loved it. The intensely self-aware humour was infectious, the kills were creative, and it was overall just a fun time at the movies. Three day later I saw Halloween Kills and remarked in my review how I thought slasher movies were just “not my thing”. Even though I still think there might be some truth in this, I have no idea why I said this just after seeing Scream.
The formula both the original and this new movie follow is fool proof. In truth, this new Scream movie is just as cliché and dumb as any slasher movie that has come before it (and will come after it), but the movie filters those clichés through a self-aware lens that ends up making the conventional slasher movie tropes way more interesting than they actually are. To some the self-awareness will become obnoxious in record time, but I find the way the movie makes fun of ‘high class’ horror films like Robert Eggers’ The Witch and Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook absolutely hilarious (the line “I still prefer The Babadook” is my favourite one liner so far in 2022). Usually when a franchise tries to do their up-to-date meta commentary instalment it ends up feeling either forced, or incredibly out of touch (Matrix: Resurrections springs to mind), but with Scream it’s a way more natural fit because the metatextual commentary is such an integral part of the series as it is. The only difference this time is the modern sheen.
But clichés coated with self-awareness are still clichés, right? Well… I guess…? Here’s my counterpoint: I don’t care. For some reason the culture we are a part of places so much weight on originality in the critical conversation for seemingly no reason, as if it’s entire worth can be solely determined by how ‘unique’ it feels to a particular audience without any regard for what said product is actually saying.
Even though I find this criticism unbearably lazy, on the most basic and fundamental level I do get it. People hate remakes and reboots and sequels and all the rest of the cooperate nonsense that makes the most money nowadays, but insisting that their can’t be a measure of quality to these movies (even if it’s to a lower standard) strikes me as frustratingly disingenuous. Without any further commentary, it’s simply not a good criticism. Full stop.
Of course, this on its own would not be enough to make the movie good. It would still need to offer up plenty of thrills, twists, and creative kills. Scream ticks all three boxes with remarkable ease. I’m still a little astonished I loved it as much as I did despite my lack of familiarity with the franchise as a whole (outside of the first one), but it turns out if you do the raw fundamental slasher movie clichés this well and with this much creativity, it can be enough to win me over.