If the trailer is any indication of what to expect in the 5th offering of the Scream film franchise, it’s looking like there will be plenty of screams, as usual…and a few laughs. The original “slasher” film became a template for the subsequent three sequels and this latest one. In total this film franchise of five films has raked in $603.2 million worldwide to date.
The film series was originally written by Kevin Williamson, with Wes Craven directing the first four films. Original cast members returning for their fifth turn at playing the iconic Scream roles are Neve Campbell playing Sidney Prescott, Courtney Cox as Gale Weathers-Riley and David Arquette who plays Dewey Reily. Roger L. Jackson also returns to voice Ghostface.
It’s twenty years later and a new killer takes on the Ghostface mask and begins targeting a group of teenagers. One of those teenagers is Jenna Ortega (Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous, Jane The Virgin) who plays Tara Carpenter and is attacked by the “slasher.” Melissa Barrera (In The Heights, Vida) plays Sam Carpenter, a central character in Scream 5. Having escaped Woodsboro years ago, Sam returns when her sister Tara is attacked by Ghostface. Her boyfriend Ritchie Kirsch, played by Jack Quaid comes along to help.
The new cast of teenagers and friends of Tara is played by Dylan Minnette, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Sonia Ammar, Mikey Madison and Mason Gooding and they get the thumbs up by some critics. AP film writer Jake Coyle wrote, “Working in their favor is a solid young cast, including Ortega, Melissa Barrera (“In the Heights”) and Jack Quaid”.
As for Barrera, she is standout in the film. Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times signaled her, “…operating on a different plane is the terrific Melissa Barrera as Sam, a fragile Woodsboro returnee hiding a terrible secret…but Barrera, who mesmerized me for weeks in the recent Starz drama “Vida,” begs us to care about her anyway. She’s a marvel.”
In her interview about the film on TheTRENDTalk, Ortega talked about spending three months studying the past four Scream and credits the original film for setting the tone for all that followed. “Wes Craven and the original cast really did such a phenomenal job at making things intimidating, but also funny at the same time,” she said. Writers James Vanderbilt, Guy Busick and Kevin Williamson continue the tradition and take it a bit further by also poking fun at the horror genre itself. Co-directors Matt Bettinelli and Olpin-Tyler Gillet (Ready or Not) carried through with the cast to deliver that tongue-in-cheek and frightful effect throughout the film.
Critics are mostly in agreement that the film delivers. “A Bloody, funny thrill ride that honors Wes Craven,” screams a review headline on Rotten Tomatoes where the film rates 77% on the Tomatometer and 92% on their Audience Score.
Social media is abuzz with excitement and anticipation. “The cast was great, it’s hilarious and of course, the jump scares GOT ME GOOD,” Miriam Tapia posted on Twitter. While Kevin McCarthy of KevinMcCarthyTV gave it the ultimate review,”The 5th SCREAM film is the closest I’ve felt to the brilliance, excitement and horror of Wes Craven’s 1996 masterpiece.”
Scream hits the theaters on May 14 exclusively. How long it runs there will depend on how well it does. The next window for viewing the film will be on Paramount+, the streaming service. Afterward, it will be available for rent on digital platforms.