...which means I enjoyed it quite a bit, for many of the same reasons.
Now having reasonably moved far from Woodsboro, Samantha and Tara Carpenter are living a strained relationship in New York City with a new friend group, though fellow survivors Chad and Mindy are also nearby. New Ghostface killings occur, with the masks of the older killers being left at the crime scenes, and seemingly determined to frame Sam as the killer in Woodsboro previously, in accordance with vile conspiracy theories that quickly destroyed her reputation.
As far as metafiction, the film is a little weak. There are fun moments where film is used in juxtaposition with the film itself, but ultimately, the proceedings are much more just echoes of Scream 2 than anything the requisite "summation" claims the film will have to be as a second film in a requel franchise. The most suspenseful things Mindy warns the cast and audience about, the highest stakes that are on the table according to her and the meta-writers...simply don't get delivered upon. We're being hyped up for an escalation we don't really get, and while that makes for some very positive story outcomes, it feels like the film isn't willing to follow its own premise like it did before—while V's biggest loss was so obviously governed by meta it made issues for the drama, it at least committed to its threatened stakes. Or else maybe this is another Scream 3 where the phenomena the film is commenting upon don't actually exist. I'm game to see more of the story of the Ghostface legacy, and the new series has good drama, so maybe the film-rules commentary could honestly be dropped. What can a third requel film possibly say about itself as a third requel? The emotional arc with Sam and Tara also takes a laughably literal turn that just felt lame to me.
Still, the film is good in the way 2 was. I again find the protagonist much more compelling after her first round with Ghostface has impacted her. Sam's unwanted psychosis from her dad fits much better after she's done a killing, and I like the way the film resolves her conflict by letting her grow past intrusive thoughts...but also not spare brutality on Ghostface at all. That's fair. The plot of her being implicated as the murderer is also strong and different from Sidney's struggles in an equally sympathetic way. The denouement has its own similarities to 2, but Ghostface was compelling here when revealed.
We also get Kirby back from 4, confirmed alive and with some good moments, and Gale is good too, getting one of the smartest moments in any Ghostface fight ever. Sid's not in the film due to Neve Campbell's pay dispute, but the writing makes it work by letting her be away and at peace for once in her life.
This was the right film to sell me on the new generation of the Scream series. I'm ready for VII, whenever that may be.
Film Very much the Scream 2 of Scream New.
...which means I enjoyed it quite a bit, for many of the same reasons.
Now having reasonably moved far from Woodsboro, Samantha and Tara Carpenter are living a strained relationship in New York City with a new friend group, though fellow survivors Chad and Mindy are also nearby. New Ghostface killings occur, with the masks of the older killers being left at the crime scenes, and seemingly determined to frame Sam as the killer in Woodsboro previously, in accordance with vile conspiracy theories that quickly destroyed her reputation.
As far as metafiction, the film is a little weak. There are fun moments where film is used in juxtaposition with the film itself, but ultimately, the proceedings are much more just echoes of Scream 2 than anything the requisite "summation" claims the film will have to be as a second film in a requel franchise. The most suspenseful things Mindy warns the cast and audience about, the highest stakes that are on the table according to her and the meta-writers...simply don't get delivered upon. We're being hyped up for an escalation we don't really get, and while that makes for some very positive story outcomes, it feels like the film isn't willing to follow its own premise like it did before—while V's biggest loss was so obviously governed by meta it made issues for the drama, it at least committed to its threatened stakes. Or else maybe this is another Scream 3 where the phenomena the film is commenting upon don't actually exist. I'm game to see more of the story of the Ghostface legacy, and the new series has good drama, so maybe the film-rules commentary could honestly be dropped. What can a third requel film possibly say about itself as a third requel? The emotional arc with Sam and Tara also takes a laughably literal turn that just felt lame to me.
Still, the film is good in the way 2 was. I again find the protagonist much more compelling after her first round with Ghostface has impacted her. Sam's unwanted psychosis from her dad fits much better after she's done a killing, and I like the way the film resolves her conflict by letting her grow past intrusive thoughts...but also not spare brutality on Ghostface at all. That's fair. The plot of her being implicated as the murderer is also strong and different from Sidney's struggles in an equally sympathetic way. The denouement has its own similarities to 2, but Ghostface was compelling here when revealed.
We also get Kirby back from 4, confirmed alive and with some good moments, and Gale is good too, getting one of the smartest moments in any Ghostface fight ever. Sid's not in the film due to Neve Campbell's pay dispute, but the writing makes it work by letting her be away and at peace for once in her life.
This was the right film to sell me on the new generation of the Scream series. I'm ready for VII, whenever that may be.