Scream 5 (2022)

Scream (also informally known as Scream 5) is a 2022 American slasher film directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett and written by James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick. It is the fifth installment in the Scream film series.

Though billed as a relaunch of the film series, the film is a direct sequel to Scream 4 (2011), and the first in the series not to be directed by Wes Craven, who died in 2015 and to whom the film is dedicated. The film stars franchise veterans David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, and newcomers Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega, Jack Quaid, Dylan Minnette, Mason Gooding, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Mikey Madison, and Sonia Ben Ammar, with Marley Shelton, Skeet Ulrich, Heather Matarazzo, and Roger L. Jackson reprising their roles from previous installments. In this film, a new killer has donned the Ghostface mask and begins targeting a group of teenagers to resurrect secrets from the town's deadly past.

Although fifth and sixth Scream installments were discussed after the release of Scream 4 in 2011, Craven, writer Kevin Williamson, and executive producer Harvey Weinstein all cast doubts on their likelihood following the less-than-expected box office performance of the fourth film. A Scream television series was then produced, airing on MTV from 2015 to 2016 across two seasons, with a third season airing on VH1 in July 2019. After the 2017 sexual assault allegations against Weinstein and the closure of The Weinstein Company, the rights to the Scream franchise were acquired by Spyglass Media Group in November 2019, who confirmed a new film would be made. The following year, Williamson, who was returning as an executive producer, confirmed the film would not be a reboot, and Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett were hired to direct in March 2020. Campbell and Arquette were confirmed to be returning later that month, with Cox and the new cast members joining throughout the summer. After production was delayed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, filming took place from September through November 2020 in North Carolina. To avoid story leaks, numerous versions of the screenplay were produced and several additional scenes were filmed.

Scream was theatrically released in the United States on January 14, 2022, by Paramount Pictures. Critics praised the film as honoring Craven's legacy and remaining a meta commentary on horror films, with some calling it the best of the Scream sequels.

Plot
Twenty-five years after Billy Loomis and Stu Macher terrorized the town of Woodsboro, high schooler Tara Carpenter is home alone and texting her friend, Amber Freeman. The landline rings and Tara answers only to be confronted by a sadistic caller, who forces her to answer horror trivia by threatening Amber's life. When she gets a question wrong, Ghostface breaks into the house and attacks Tara, breaking her leg and stabbing her multiple times; Tara survives the attack but is badly wounded.

Tara's friend and classmate Wes Hicks informs her older sister Samantha "Sam" Carpenter about the attack. Sam returns to Woodsboro with her boyfriend Richie to visit Tara at the hospital, offering to stay until she recovers. Meanwhile, Wes' mother, Sheriff Judy Hicks, gathers the rest of their friend group – Amber, twin siblings Chad and Mindy Meeks-Martin, and Liv McKenzie – for questioning. Richie, who is unaware of the Stab franchise or its connection to Woodsboro, spends the majority of the hospital visit with Sam catching up on the franchise on YouTube to inform himself of the 'rules' the killer may follow (while another video reveals Kirby Reed survived the events 11 years earlier). After an encounter with Ghostface, Sam, who struggles with hallucinations of Billy Loomis, discloses to Tara that he is her biological father, the reason why she left town and became estranged from her. Meanwhile, Liv's summer fling Vince Schneider is urinating outside of a bar. His car turns on and when he turns it off, Ghostface appears behind him and uses a knife to slice the side of his neck, leaving him to bleed out. Sam and Richie visit a reclusive Dewey Riley, who has been in a bad place ever since his divorce from Gale Weathers. The two ask for his help in stopping the killer, but he declines and kicks them out. However, Dewey contacts Sidney Prescott and Gale, changing his mind and joining the teens at Mindy and Chad's home. As they attempt to uncover the connection between the killer and Sam, Vince is revealed to be Stu's nephew. With the three attacks being on people related in some capacity to the original killers, Sam is accused of being the killer and angrily flees.

Meanwhile, Ghostface attacks Judy outside of her house and kills her by stabbing her eight times. Ghostface tries to force a knife into Wes's neck, and while Wes tries to stop it, he is killed when Ghostface stabs him through the throat as Sam and Dewey arrive on the scene, the latter reuniting with Gale in the process. Sam and Dewey rush to the hospital when they realize that Tara is in danger. At the hospital, Tara and Richie are attacked by Ghostface, who is apparently shot and killed by an arriving Dewey. Sam, Tara, and Richie escape, but Dewey stays in an attempt to ensure Ghostface is dead, and is himself stabbed in the back and stomach, before Ghostface slices his back and stomach open, killing him. Sidney returns to Woodsboro upon learning of Dewey's death and reunites with Gale at the hospital. Sidney asks Sam to help take down the killer, but she declines, choosing to leave Woodsboro with Richie and Tara instead. Sidney, having placed a tracker on Richie's car, follows the trio with Gale to Amber's, revealed to be Stu's old house. As the party is in progress to honor Wes' memory, Liv attempts to have sex with Chad, but he declines and later makes his way outside, where he is seemingly killed by Ghostface after being stabbed four times in the side. Mindy is also attacked but Sam intervenes and manages to fend off Ghostface. As the group accuse each other of being Ghostface, Amber pulls out a handgun and shoots Liv in the forehead, revealing herself as the killer. The rest of the group flees and hides, with Sam no longer trusting Richie as he points out the historic pattern of there being two killers, and runs to find her sister bound and gagged in a closet. When Gale and Sidney arrive, Amber feigns injury and shoots Gale before running back inside. Sidney runs after her and confronts Ghostface, who attacks Richie before throwing himself and Sidney over the railing and onto the ground floor. Sam is surprised to see Richie alive, but he reveals himself as Tara's attacker and Amber's accomplice, stabbing her.

Amber and Richie take Sam, Sidney, and Gale into the kitchen, revealing they are obsessively dedicated fans of the Stab series, disappointed in its trajectory and wishing to revive the franchise with a new killing spree to act as "source material" and defend fans from the "toxic fandom" label they feel they have unjustly received. Amber goes to retrieve the captured Tara but is attacked by her, having been untied by Sam; this distracts Richie long enough for Sidney and Sam to briefly overpower him. Sidney and Gale fight Amber while Sam fights Richie. Gale shoots Amber, who lands on the stove and is lit on fire. Richie taunts a seemingly helpless Sam but she retrieves Amber's knife and stabs him through the cheek. Sam then stabs him twenty-three times in the chest, slices the bottom of his throat open and shoots him three times. Amber with half of her head burnt off, runs into the room with a knife, but is shot in the head by Tara. Tara and the Meeks twins, who actually survived, are taken to the hospital as Sam thanks Sidney and Gale for their help. Gale, refusing to report about the new murders to not give the killers notoriety, plans instead to write a touching tribute about Dewey. Several media crews descend on the house and start reporting about the murders.

At the end of the movie, a tribute to Wes Craven is shown with the words “FOR WES” as the films credits begin to roll.

Cast
Additionally, horror bloggers James A. Janisse and Chelsea Rebecca from the YouTube channel Dead Meat cameo as film critics. When Richie is watching a YouTube video about Stab 8, the thumbnail beside it features a photograph of Hayden Panettiere as her Scream 4 character Kirby Reed, referring to her as a "Woodsboro Survivor"; Panettiere receives a "Special Thanks" credit for the photo.

Development
In 2011, Wes Craven confirmed he was contracted to work on a fifth and sixth installment of the Scream franchise, to be made if the fourth film achieved a successful release and reception. Following difficulties with script rewrites on Scream 2, Scream 3, and Scream 4, often with pages only being ready on the day of filming, and the related stress of the situation, Craven stated that he would need to see a finalized version of a script for Scream 5 before committing to the production. Williamson also confirmed he had contractual obligations for scripts for Scream 4 and Scream 5, having submitted concepts for three films leading up to Scream 6, though his contract for the sixth film had not yet been finalized. Williamson indicated that if a Scream 5 were to be made, it would be a continuation of the story of the characters who lived through Scream 4 but that Scream 4 would not include any cliffhangers that led into the potential sequel.

Before the release of Scream 4, actor David Arquette also supported a potential future of the franchise, stating "[the ending] definitely leaves it open," before adding that he would welcome the opportunity to play the character of Dewey in future installments. In May 2011, executive producer Harvey Weinstein confirmed that a sequel was possible, saying that despite Scream 4 performing below The Weinstein Company's financial expectations, he was still happy with its box office gross. In February 2012, when asked about the potential for making Scream 5, Williamson stated at the time that he did not know if it would be made, saying "I'm not doing it."

On September 30, 2013, Harvey Weinstein expressed his interest in a fifth installment, stating "I'm begging [Bob Weinstein] to do the movie and just end it. We've milked that cow." In July 2014, Williamson expressed doubt on a fifth film happening, saying "I guess Scream 4 never took off in a way they hoped". He also elaborated on his departure from the series as Craven and his team were "done with him". On June 25, 2015, the Wall Street Journal conducted an interview with Bob Weinstein. When asked about the possibility of a film continuation after Scream 4, Weinstein firmly denied the possibility of a fifth installment or any further continuation of the film franchise, citing the MTV television series as the right place for the franchise to find new life. "It's like putting an art-house movie in an art-house theater," Weinstein said. "Where the teens reside is MTV."

Following the closure of The Weinstein Company in the wake of numerous sexual misconduct allegations against Harvey Weinstein, the fate of the Scream franchise was in limbo. In early 2019, reports began to circulate that Blumhouse Productions, which specializes in horror-themed films, was interested in reviving the series, and that studio head Jason Blum was working on making such Scream installments happen. These reports were confirmed to be false. In November 2019, Spyglass Media Group acquired the rights to make a new Scream film. It was unknown at the time if it would be a sequel, reboot, or remake. It was also unknown if Williamson would return. The next month, it was announced that the film would feature a new cast but could possibly feature appearances from previous main cast members. On November 18, 2020, Kevin Williamson revealed that the film's official title is Scream.

Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett and casting
David Arquette was the first "legacy actor" that was set to star in the film, once again reprising his long-running role of Dewey Riley. In March 2020, it was announced that Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett would direct the fifth installment, with Kevin Williamson serving as an executive producer, and that the film had already entered official development, with filming planned to begin in May 2020. In May 2020, it was announced that Neve Campbell was in talks to reprise her role as Sidney Prescott in the film. That same month, it was announced David Arquette would be reprising his role of Dewey Riley; James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick were announced as screenwriters. It was also confirmed that the film would begin production later in the year in Wilmington, North Carolina, when safety protocols to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic were in place.

In June 2020, Variety reported that the film was set to be distributed by Paramount Pictures and was initially aiming for a 2021 release, which would be 25 years since the first movie was released in 1996. Variety also noted that it was still not known if Courteney Cox or Campbell, or any other legacy actors other than Arquette, would reprise their roles. On July 31, 2020, Cox posted a video to her official Instagram account, confirming her return to the franchise for the fifth installment. The news was then confirmed by various other outlets.

In August 2020, Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega were cast in undisclosed roles. In the same month, Paramount Pictures announced that the film was scheduled to be released on January 14, 2022, having been delayed from its original 2021 tentative release due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In September 2020, Jack Quaid joined the cast in an undisclosed role. In the same month, it was confirmed that Neve Campbell, Marley Shelton, and Roger L. Jackson would return to reprise their roles, with Dylan Minnette, Mason Gooding, Kyle Gallner, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Mikey Madison, and Sonia Ben Ammar joining the cast. Skeet Ulrich additionally reprises his role as Billy Loomis, for the first time since Scream (1996).

Filming
Principal photography was originally scheduled to begin in Wilmington, North Carolina, in May 2020, but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Filming instead began on September 23, 2020. Filming took place across several avenues in Wilmington, including exterior shots of Williston Middle School and interior shots of Cardinal Lanes Shipyard and 10th Street (between Ann and Castle streets). The film was awarded $7 million in rebates by the North Carolina Film Office. Filming wrapped on November 17, 2020. The existence of not only multiple versions of the film's screenplay but also multiple filmed scenes, to avoid details of the actual storyline being leaked before the film's release, was confirmed in April 2021. During the post-production stage, Michel Aller served as the primary editor for the film. Post-production on the film was completed by July 7, 2021.

Music
On May 12, 2021, it was confirmed that Brian Tyler would score the soundtrack for the film. Tyler had previously worked with Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett on Ready or Not (2019), and would be replacing Marco Beltrami, who composed the score for the previous four films. The soundtrack album was released on January 7, 2022, by Varèse Sarabande.

Release
The film was released on January 14, 2022, by Paramount Pictures. Originally the film's red carpet premiere was scheduled for January 11, 2022, but it was canceled due to the extended COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of the Omicron variant.

Box office
In the United States and Canada, Scream was originally projected to gross at least $20 million from 3,661 theaters over its four-day opening weekend, which includes the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday. Some estimates were higher; Variety and Comscore both predicted a $25–$30 million opening. Boxoffice Pro projected a $28–39 million four-day opening, factoring in positive word-of-mouth, young viewers being part of the target audience, theatrical exclusivity, ticket pre-sales and social media buzz, and the film serving as a revival to a well-known franchise. The film earned $13.3 million on its first day, including $3.5 million from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut to an estimated $31.5 million (and an estimated $36 million over the four days), becoming the first film to dethrone Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Critical response
The performances of the cast, especially Neve Campbell's (pictured), were praised by critics. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 75% of 189 reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.7/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "The fifth Scream finds the franchise working harder than ever to maintain its meta edge – and succeeding surprisingly often." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 60 out of 100 based on 44 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, while those at PostTrak gave it a 79% positive score, with 61% saying they would definitely recommend it.

Michael Phillips of the The Chicago Tribune wrote: "If we were to make a franchise-reboot comparison: Scream lands about halfway between the pretty-good 2018 Halloween and the turgid follow-up Halloween Kills." The Guardian gave the film 3 out of 5 writing "But it's still capable of delivering some piercing high-pitched decibels." Wenlei Ma of News.com gave the film 3 out of 5 and felt that "Scream 5 lacks the spark Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett brought to their previous endeavour. Scream 5 is certainly funny and irreverent, but where it falls over is that it’s rarely scary." Writing for The New York Times, Jeannette Catsoulis gave the film a negative review criticizing the fan service opining that "Wearyingly repetitive and entirely fright-free, Scream teaches us mainly that planting Easter eggs is no substitute for seeding ideas."

The performances of the cast were particularly praised. Campbell was acclaimed for her performance, and was noted for her "fresh" take on the role of Prescott. The Hollywood Reporter wrote that "... it's a pleasure to see Campbell again in fine form as Sidney, striding back into Woodsboro to take care of unfinished business." Elle magazine named Campbell the "Reigning Queen of Scream" and stated that "Sidney might not have that impact on people were it not for Campbell's portrayal, rife with vulnerability, intelligence, and a palatable dose of humor."

Future
On February 3, 2022, it was revealed that Scream 6 is official and filming starts in the Summer of 2022.