Scream (2022)

I was a little disappointed. Maybe I shouldn't have been. But until this point the movies have been solid mysteries. The killers being Richie and Amber felt very random.

Yes, I appreciate Richie was the first person Dewey suspected, and Dewey finally dying means the movie matters in the way the franchise hasn't since Randy died in the second. But the killer has NEVER been a random pair from the group of friends. They've always had a deeply personal motive for revenge against Sidney. Their motive is usually b.s. and not equivalent, but it always exists. The vengeful killer is usually paired with a psycho clown obsessed with these movies, but generally speaking, the main killer has a legit bone to pick.

I think I hated the fact that the killers' motives are just shallow and stupid. I felt that about Billy and Stu too, but Billy had some underlying pathos. I will say this about Sam. If there are more movies she isn't be groomed to be the next "Requel" star. She's gonna wind up the killer at some point. She enjoyed stabbing Richie a little too much.

A shocking amount of characters survived this one (Scream 4 was an utter bloodbath that killed off everybody but Judy and The Staples.) The large amount of survivors suggests eyes are on a new bunch of movies from the producers. At this point, I think each of these films is an ordeal. Simply because I care so much about the core cast. Seeing Dewey die was NOT fun for me. And I don't want to see that happen to Sid and Gale. Every time one of these comes out I kind of have to sigh in resignation before I watch it.

Glad both Randy's niece and nephew actually survived. Again, it's shocking the amount of characters the movie let live. Even the girl stalked in the beginning (Sam's sister) survives the stabbing for the first time in franchise history, and even survives the entire movie which is another record.

Sort of weird there's a Dawson's Creek clip in this since Joshua Jackson had a small role in the second one.

Kevin Williamson didn't write this (if he had, I suspect the jokes would have been funnier) but he executive produced it, and the film was dedicated to Wes Craven. As it should have been.

I didn't like it as much as Scream 4. I didn't like Dewey dying, and I didn't like that the mystery is random and not truly solvable by cunning viewers. But it was all right. ***.