While Scream 2022 wasn’t necessarily my favourite horror film from that year (Mad God) or even my favourite slasher (X), it was an absolute cracker of a release that showed that the franchise was in strong hands, and it’s even gained extra endearment from me as it also served as the introduction to 2022 as a year where horror films came back with a vengeance. And following the example of the Wes Craven’s original granddaddy of meta-slashers, we now have a sequel just a year later and the results are… well, that might take a bit to really get into.
There’s a line in this film that really stuck out to me, and it’s one that’s framed as something of a coda for the story at large: “Legacy isn’t all bad”. It’s a line spoken by a returning Kirby from Scream 4 (a creative decision that eases some of the blow of knowing that Neve Campbell as Sidney hasn’t, and under dodgy circumstances at that), and truth be told, it winds up being the boldest statement the film has as far as continuing the franchise’s tradition of commenting on the horror film scene around it. Right from the film’s brilliant opening, there’s a sharp declaration that, this time around, such commentary does not matter. We get the usual references from characters talking about ‘the rules’ and such, but as far as narrative structure and even the motive for this entry’s Ghostface… yeah, we’re not getting as much meta-humour here.
Where this gets weirder is in how that becomes this film’s form of subversion, leaning into how self-aware horror has become the norm in the wake of Scream (the same observation Wes Craven made with Scream 4), and instead going for the more straight-forward route. It still plays around with audience expectations, taking its time to tease out its set pieces for maximum tension, but when it brings up ‘franchise horror’ as the focal point of Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown)’s Rules monologue, it becomes a target… but to aim for, not around. It embraces one of the legitimate good points of a lengthier franchise (getting to see characters grow and change over the course of multiple stories) and zeroed in on it, particularly when it comes to returning main character Sam (Melissa Barrera).
Her arc here continues with the ‘spawn of a maniac’ themes of the last film, showing her still wrestling with her bloodstained heritage, with the added bonus of online conspiracy theorists claiming that she was the real killer, making her life that much worse. Not only does this follow up on the recurring frame-job thread that pops up in quite a few of Ghostface’s motives, it also gives an unfortunate look at what would’ve likely happen to Sidney had the original film taken place today.
From there, while I’d argue that the thematic musings aren’t nearly as sharp here as they have been previously (not just in 2022, but in the Craven era as well), the main thread with Ghostface here is likewise nothing to do with movies, but more about revenge. Ghostface here isn’t trying to make a grand statement, and doesn’t seem to give any kind of shit about the influence their actions would have on the populace; it’s all about getting even. When combined with the Reddit conspiracist theme, it slyly follows up on how the 2022 film (god, even when trying to comment on that particular naming convention, they haven’t exactly made it any easier to refer to the film itself with that name) aimed at horror audiences rather than the industry writ large by looking at… well, how far some people are willing to go in the name of ‘justice’ for wrongdoings, even if they are just perceived ones. Mob justice can turn sour very quickly, and the worst part is that you didn’t even need that big of a mob for that to happen.
Now, while this threatens to turn sour itself when put next to Sam’s arc concerning her father and her own psychological reaction to what happened back in Woodsboro (her own vengeful streak gets the pass because main character shields, I guess), this also ends up showing how the filmmakers here subverting expectations by embracing the franchise condition. What is going on in Sam’s head is complex, more so than can reasonably be wrapped in the space of two films, so while we see her shift as far as her attitude towards that bloodlust and her relationship with her sister (that dynamic ends up being the crux of the film, far more than anything to do with Ghostface), it seems to take notice that this whole thing feels a sequel, or even the mid part of a trilogy, in how it leaves on a note that things aren’t necessarily over from here. Well, that and this franchise dipping into end-credits scenes in the only reasonable way it could.
I’ll be honest, this whole ‘subversion is normal, so being normal is now subversive’ approach doesn’t appeal to me as much as the previous entry did, but I can’t front: The fundamentals are still here and still fucking glorious. It may peak as early as its cold opening, but that is a fucking amazing cold opening and a serious showing that these directors and writers still know their shit, even if they’re choosing to go a different direction this time around. It may stick more to character drama than the whole meta-horror side of things, but with characters this engaging (even when lampshaded, I love the Core 4), that’s hardly an issue. And yeah, the story here being this simplified isn’t as much of a grab (the ending, brutal as it is, doesn’t really do much with the build-up), but the journey getting there (i.e. the fantastic, tension-soaked kill scenes) is ultimately worth it. It may just be the latest entry in the series at this point, and I can certainly understand if longtime fans aren’t entirely on-board with the film accepting that status so readily, but I’m cool with this. A little underwhelmed, but cool nonetheless.
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