Scream (also known as Scream 5) is a 2022 American slasher horror film and the fifth and final installment of the Scream franchise. The film was directed by Matt Benttinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett and was written by Guy Busick and James Vanderblit from a story concieved by Kevin Williamson.
The film takes place almost ten years after Scream 4 with the story of a young woman returning to the town of Woodsboro where a series of gruesome murders connected to an infamous serial killer and a murder connected to a previous string of murders that took place ten years before. With old and new faces on her side and with no one to trust, she decides to solves the mystery connected to a rebellious teen and put an end to the murders as the body count rises.
The film stars Neve Campbell, David Arquette, Courteney Cox, Marley Shelton, Matthew Lillard, Heather Matarazzo and Hayden Pannettiere who reprised their roles from previous films in the series. Joining the cast is Sophia Lillis, Judah Lewis, Dylan Minnette, Isabelle Fuhrman, Mikey Madison, Mason Gooding, Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega, Toni Collette, Jack Quaid, Anne Hathaway, Jasmine Savoy-Brown, Kyle Gallner, Peyton List, Mason Cook and Sonia Ben Ammar.
The film was released on January 14th, 2022 by Paramount Pictures and was a box office success, grossing $355 million dollars worldwide. The film received very favorable reviews from critics and fans alike for it's performances, cast, screenplay, inventive deaths and for it's finale but it's overtly long runtime and different approach received a very divided response.
Plot
Picking up a month after the events of Scream 4, Kirby Reed is recovering from the wounds she inflicted from Charlie Walker and Jill Roberts. When her mother leaves for some errands, Kirby's friend Samantha Carpenter comes over to visit Kirby and to pay some respects for the murders that happened the previous month. While the girls discuss ideas for a vigil being held at Woodsboro High School, they receive a threatening phone call from Ghostface which leads to a vicious attack on the girls. Samantha is knocked out while Kirby is violently stabbed to death, disemboweled and strapped to a lawn chair for Samantha, a returning Mrs. Reed and Kirby's little sister Allison to discover.
Seven years later in 2018, troubled New Hampshire teenager Casey Miller is caught by police for malicious mischief and petty stealing. Her social worker, Sara Templeton is at the end of her rope and gives Casey a reprieve by finding her a foster home, placing her on watch as part of her probation. Sara and Casey fly from New Hampshire to Woodsboro where Casey finds that her foster parent turns out to be Sidney Prescott. During dinner, Casey meets Dewey Riley, now a chief of the Woodsboro police department, Gale Riley, Martha Meeks and her eccentric daughter Mandy, whom Casey befriends.
The next day, Casey begins her first day at Woodsboro High where she struggles to fit in until she meets Mandy's Cinema Club members Daniel Farney, Madison Benson, Amber Freeman, Brandon Ross, Allison, who is now 17 and Tara Carpenter, Amber's girlfriend and Samantha's younger sister and even becomes friends with Wesley Hicks, the nephew of Judy Hicks. She also makes enemies with mean girls Olivia Mackenzie and Mindy Martin who try to instigate a fight with Casey but Mandy fights with Mindy which lands the two girls in detention. After school, Tara heads home to find that Samantha, who is now a jounalist, has returned to Woodsboro to get the story on Kirby Reed's death. Tara is annoyed with Samantha's persistence with the story of her death and calls her out for being desperate.
That night at Mindy's house, Mindy and her boyfriend Chad Blaze both receive threatening and malicious phone calls and texts by someone using the guise of Ghostface and are both brutally murdered with Chad being crushed to death by the garage door and Mindy being stabbed to death and hung from a tree for Casey and Sidney to discover in the backyard. An investigation begins as the news of the deaths hits Woodsboro especially Allison, remembering Kirby's death in the past.
The kids discuss Chad and Mindy's death, explaining their resentments towards them and comparing them to the Stab films which Casey has never heard of. Upon being asked by Casey about the Stab films, Daniel explains that the Stab film were based on the events of The Woodsboro Massacre of 1996, The Windsor College Murders of 1997 and The Hollywood Murders of 2000. When Daniel lets slip of the murders conducted by Jill Roberts and Charlie Walker that took the life of Kirby, Allison suffers an emotional meltdown and yells at Daniel never to mention her deceased sister again, storming out of the cafeteria, shocking the group.
Casey tries to go after Allison but Madison stops her, telling her to let Allison cool off. This discussion leaves Casey troubled and distraught but Brandon comforts her. Meanwhile, Samantha enters the crime scene for any information on the recent death for her story but is surprised by an officer who tells her to leave. She recognizes the officer as Richie Kirsch, an old flame from her days at Woodsboro High and they reconnect but Richie tells her to let Kirby's death go. That night, Sidney is returning from an errand from the supermarket until she gets a threatening call from Ghostface, who tells her that he will finish what he started in 1996.
Worried and scared, Sidney races home to stop him from killing Casey. At the house however, Casey receives a call from Ghostface who viciously attacks her but she narrowly escapes the house, sustaining a slashed arm in the process but runs into Sidney and Dewey who manage to arrive at the house in time. Casey is rushed to the hospital to be treated for her wounds where she shares a dark secret to Sidney: She was a survivor of a horrific murder that took the life of her parents.
Through a flashback, Casey is shown to be 11 years old at the time of the murder and was a witness to the crime. She was listening to her parents having a fairly heated argument but all of a sudden, sounds of them being attacked are heard. Casey walks slowly downstairs only to find her father disemboweled and her mother on the brink of death from being stabbed multiple times. A horrified Casey watches in horror as Ghostface walks into the room and slashes her mother's throat, killing her. When Casey is too scared to move, Ghostface stalks towards her with his hunting knife but decides to spare her and leave. This incident leaves Casey an orphan and leads her on her self destructive path of petty crime and vandalism.
As Sidney sits in shock in what she learned from Casey's past, Ghostface calls her again and taunts her that she won't save another soul since she rescued Casey. Realizing that he's targeting Madison, Sidney tells Dewey to send his squad to Madison's immediately. Meanwhile, Madison is attacked and killed by Ghostface after a long lengthy chase throughout her house. Dewey and his squad, along with Richie and Officer Vincent Rose arrive too late at the house and finds Madison's dead body in the house's sun room.
The next day, Casey and her friends mourn Madison's death as school is cancelled due to the deaths. They sit at the school's fountain to discuss Madison's death and the deaths from the night before. Casey, still unsettled by her encounter with Ghostface and the news of Madison's death, decides to solve the mystery of the events of the massacre of 1996 and 2011. Tara, Brandon and Mandy decide to join Casey on her investigation after school and they visit Allison, who is tending to Pamela, who is now an alcoholic due to Kirby's death. When Casey tries to talk to Allison about the 2011 Woodsboro Massacre, she angrily tells Casey, Tara, Brandon and Mandy to leave but an adamant Casey refuses to leave.
Allison snaps and finally lets all of her emotions out by recounting the death of her older sister. Tara also reveals that Sam was there at the time of the murders. This stuns Casey as she realizes that Allison lost Kirby the same way she lost her parents. Feeling sympathetic, Casey decides to invite Allison over for a "safety in numbers" sleepover with Mandy, Tara and Brandon deciding to stay over at Sidney.
That night, Sidney's house is under protection by Rose and Kirsch as Casey, Allison, Brandon, Mandy and Tara along with Amber spend the night at the house. Sidney, Gale, Dewey, Martha and retired deputy Judy Hicks, who is Wesley's aunt, found some evidence tying the recent deaths to the events of the past with a picture from the scene of Madison's death containing a message written in her blood: "THIS ENDS WITH HER, SIDNEY". Sidney indicates that the killer is after Casey for an unknown purpose but Martha concludes that the killer is following the rules of a legacy sequel. As the discussion continues, the doorbell suddenly rings and Sidney answers it to find a package which contains paternity results and adoption papers regarding Casey, much to Sidney's horror.
Meanwhile in the living room, Casey is introduced to horror films much to her initial reluctance as she develops some feelings towards Brandon. Sidney calls Casey into the kitchen where she reveals the paternity results of her birth and the adoption paper, to which Casey is stunned in horror as her biological father is revealed to by Sidney's half brother, Roman Bridger. Her reaction causes a scene in the house and she storms up to her room, much to Sidney's ashamed chagrin. Much later as everyone is asleep, Sidney comforts Casey and opens up to her by explaining the tragedies that she had endured when she was Casey's age. As Casey listens, she learns that she was the survivor of the Woodsboro Massacre of 1996 and she went to school with her adoptive parents. At this point, Casey begins to warm up to Sidney.
Meanwhile, a hungover Pamela gets a call from Ghostface, who begins to maliciously taunt and stalk her before brutally stabbing her multiple times, killing her. Ghostface then sneaks into Sidney's house and abducts Amber, who was still awake. The next morning, everyone is aware of Amber's disappearance and Dewey and his squad issue a search for her. Sara visits Sidney to discuss Casey's time and handling of the murders with Sidney replying that Casey is starting to warm up to her and she taking it bad due to losing Madison. At the same time, Liv announces to everyone from school via Facebook that she is throwing a "Screw Curfew" party at her house but unknown to her, Dewey has found out about the party and decides to investigate with Gale and Sam's help.
Soon after though, a video surfaces on YouTube showing Ghostface gutting Amber as she screams in tortured pain all the while telling the entire town of Woodsboro to fear him. The video is discovered by Casey and the kids, causing Tara to break down in tears, devastated at her girlfriend's death. Later, Sara visits Sidney on Casey's progress and her handling on the deaths. Sidney then questions her on Casey's origin with Sara explaining that Casey was found on the orphanage doorsteps as an infant on night a year after the events of Scream 3. Sidney then questions her about the identity of Casey's biological mother but Sara didn't know any information on her whereabouts, much to Sidney's frustration but tells her that the parents who adopted Casey turn out to be former friends of Sidney's from school, Doug Miller and Lucy Richards-Miller.
Casey shows evidence of Amber's death to Dewey who also brings her up to speed on Liv's party and forbids her from going for her own protection. Meanwhile, Gale finds a news article on the events of Stu's party from the first film and finds out that Stu's body had disappeared the morning after the murders. Gale calls Sidney on this information who in turn, tells Gale about Liv's party and thinks that the killer is going to strike there. After hanging up, Sidney gets a call from Ghostface who tells her that Liv's party will be the focus of his plan to kill her, Casey and everyone she loves, prompting Sidney to hang up in horror, wondering if she really killed Stu in the past.
Having overheard Sidney's ordeal from Ghostface, Casey and her friends devise a plan to find out the identity of the killer by going to Liv's party. Tara then tells Richie of Casey's plan and begs him to take them to the party, to which he and her sister reluctantly agree despite Dewey's wishes. Having learned of the party from Mandy, Martha decides to accompany Sidney and the others to the party. Elsewhere, Sara is returning to New Hampshire but en route to the airport, she is attacked and seemingly murdered by Ghostface who had been hiding in her car.
Sidney, Gale, Dewey, Wesley, Hicks, Martha, Sam, and the others made it to Liv's party only to discover that her house once belonged to Stu Macher. During the event, Casey expresses her feelings towards Brandon which leads to them having sex in Liv's room while Mandy (like her uncle before her) telling the partygoers about the rules of horror legacy sequels:
- The film has to ignore unnecessary sequels that the franchise.
- The film has to pick up where the first film left off while retconning the first film's ending to take a new approach.
- Any new or old characters have to die while staying true to the source material and an old villain might return for revenge.
- The old rules still apply.
Meanwhile, Liv becomes horrified and heartbroken to see her boyfriend and Chad's best friend Bennett Ulrich cheating on her and her breaks up with him. Liv then storms out of the house through the garage door where Bennett tries to follow her but is killed by Ghostface by slashing his throat upon ambushing and crushing his back with the garage door. Back outside, Richie and Sam discover a car crashed into the woods far from the house and Sam recognizes as Sara's car but upon looking inside, they find her body with multiple stab wounds and they run back to the house.
Cast
- David Arquette as Dewey Riley
- Neve Campbell as Sidney Prescott
- Courteney Cox as Gale Riley
- Marley Shelton as Judy Hicks
- Heather Matarazzo as Martha Meeks
- Roger L. Jackson as the voice of Ghostface
- Sophia Lillis as Casey Miller
- Jenna Ortega as Tara Carpenter
- Judah Lewis as Brandon Ross
- Mason Gooding as Chad Blaze
- Kyle Gallner as Officer Vincent Rose
- Isabelle Fuhrman as Amanda "Mandy" Meeks
- Dylan Minnette as Wesley Hicks
- Peyton List as Allison Reed
- Mason Cook as Daniel Farney
- Mikey Madison as Amber Freeman
- Jasmine Savoy Brown as Mindy Martin
- Mellisa Barrera as Samantha Carpenter
- Jack Quaid as Richie Kirsch
- Sonia Ben Ammar as Olivia "Liv" Mackenzie
- Anne Hathaway as Sara Templeton
- Millie Bobby Brown as Madison Benson
- Uriah Shelton as Bennett Ulrich
- Mathew Lillard as Stu Macher
- Hayden Panettiere as Kirby Reed
- Toni Collette as Pamela Reed
Trivia
- China Anne McClain was offered the role of Mindy Martin but turned it down due to scheduling conflicts.
- Kevin Williamson offered Millie Bobby Brown the role of Casey Miller but owing her time to Enola Holmes and the upcoming 4th season of Stranger Things, she chose to play the smaller role of Madison Benson, a move similar to Drew Barrymore's choice to play Casey Becker in the first film after stepping down from the role of Sidney Prescott, now played by Neve Campbell.
- Filming was aimed to begin in May 2020 but it instead began from September to November 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Kevin Williamson was impressed by the script calling it, "a nostalgic, gruesome but scarier slasher film and a perfect ending to the franchise". He also stated that the finale tied the franchise together.
- Fresh from finishing The Babysitter: Killer Queen, both Jenna Ortega and Judah Lewis signed onto the project after they auditioned for the roles of Tara Carpenter and Brandon Ross.
- Due to scheduling conflicts with other projects, Hayden Panettiere returned as Kirby Reed for a brief cameo, forcing James Vanderblit and Guy Busick to rewrite the script to feature Kirby Reed as the opening kill.
- For the flashback sequence of the murder of Casey's parents written in the script, former Dawson's Creek stars James Van Der Beek and Michelle Williams were cast in cameos as Doug Miller and Lucy Richards-Miller.
- The original script had a story focusing on a PTSD ridden Kirby as she attends Windsor College like in the second film but the would feature a new cast of characters and a killer that wins but this concept was later scrapped for being downbeat and formulaic.
- The film was initially aimed for an August 13th, 2021 release date but it was pushed back to January 14th, 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Peyton List auditioned for the roles of Olivia "Liv" Mackenzie, Casey Miller and Amanda "Mandy" Meeks but ended up winning the role of Allison Reed due to her performace as Tory in Cobra Kai.
- Christian Serratos was offered the role of Samantha "Sam" Carpenter but turned it down due to her commitments to The Walking Dead
- Upon release, Scream received critical acclaim for it's thematic and nostalgic elements, the performances, death sequences and for it's call backs to the first four films. The film holds 88% on Rotten Tomatoes with it's consensus reading, "Scream brings the franchise back to it's blood soaked glory with a story that has it's characters, deaths scenes and heart in the right place, serving up a finale that ties everything together".
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