The old team are back in this reboot-sequel of the knowing slasher classic, bringing them together with a new batch of teens to take on Ghostface
So here is Scream; actually it should be called Scream 5, and they must surely have thought about 5CREAM. But this one has gone for the solemn franchise-tic of jettisoning the title number as if longevity entitles the latest iteration to automatic classic status. In fact, Scream pre-emptively satirises precisely this affectation, with fans mocking the makers of the film-within-a-film “Stab” franchise who are pompously calling their latest episode “Stab” instead of Stab 8. I have to admit that there is some watchable gonzo humour to this fivequel (though I hid under my seat for the violent bits.)
The Scream films were born in the irony boom of the 90s, about a serial killer called Ghostface who slaughtered his victims according to the scary-movie rules tabulated by nerd-cool connoisseurs and who can only be survived or defeated by sticking to those rules. (My fellow film critic Matthew Turner points out that Scream movies also had an unintended irony, on which they are very silent: the Weinstein brothers were involved in production and distribution and the franchise featured the assault and abuse of female actors.) Horror maestro Wes Craven, who died in 2015, directed the first four and this fifth film is directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett. Original Scream writer Kevin Williamson has an executive producer credit.