Scream aka Scream 5 is a 2022 American slasher film directed by Matt Bettinelli- Olpin and Tyler Gillette from a screenplay by James Vanderbilt and Guy Basik. It is the fifth installment in the Scream film series. Although billed as a reboot of the franchise, the film is a direct sequel to Scream 4 2011 and the first film in the series to be directed by Wes Craven after his death in 2015 at the beginning of the closing credits. The film stars Melissa Barrera, Kyle Gallner, Mason Gooding, Mikey Madison, Dylan Minnette, Jenna Ortega, Jack Quaid, Jasmine Savoy Brown and Sonia Ammar plus Marley Shelton, Skeet Ulrich, Roger L. Jackson, Heather Matarazzo, Courteney Cox, David Arquette and Neve Campbell reprise their roles from previous installments. The film takes place twenty-five years after the original Woodsboro murders from Scream(1996) when another ghost-face appears and starts stalking a group of teenagers, all connected in one way or another to the original murders. Like previous installments, Scream combines the brutality of the slasher genre with elements of black comedy and detective genre, poking fun at the trend of reboots and traditional sequels. The film also deals with the culture of horror fandom, specifically the divide between High Horror and classic slasher films.

Scream was released in US theaters on January 14, 2022 by Paramount Pictures and grossed $140 million worldwide. It has been praised by critics for honoring Cravens legacy and providing thoughtful meta-commentary on horror films, with some calling it the best of the Scream sequels. A sequel, Scream 6, was announced in February 2022 with a release date of March 10 2023.

Plot

The action takes place in Woodsboro 25 years after the events of the first film. High school student Tara Carpenter, home alone, is attacked by Ghostface, resulting in her being admitted to the hospital. Living in Modestoher older sister Sam learns about what happened from Wes Hicks, Tara's friend. Sam returns to Woodsboro with his boyfriend Richie Kirsch to visit his sister in the hospital and reunites with Taras friends Wes, Amber Freeman, twins Chad and Mindy Meeks-Martin, and Chads girlfriend Liv McKenzie. That night, Vince Schneider, Livs ex-boyfriend and Stu Machers nephew, becomes the maniacs next victim. After Sam herself is attacked by Ghostface in the hospital, she reveals to Tara that Billy Loomis is her biological father, which she learned about as a child. This led to their parents divorce, her antisocial behavior and estrangement from Tara (as well as visions in which Billy accuses her of hiding the truth despite her antipsychotics, which Sam is silent about)

As Gail and Sydney arrive, Amber leaves the house pretending to be hurt and shoots Weathers. Richie then stabs Sam, revealing that he is Amber's accomplice. Richie and Amber take Sam, Sydney and Gail to the kitchen, where they explain that they are fans of the Stab movie series theyve watched online. Frustrated with the direction of the latest film, they decided to start a new killing spree by bringing back the original cast to provide New and improved material for a future Requel. Sam, as the daughter of Billy Loomis, they intend to expose the killer. In the midst of the struggle, Gale breaks free and shoots Amber, who falls onto the stove and begins to burn. Wounded Sam, at the prompt of her father who appeared to her in a vision, hits Richie several times with a knife thrown by Amber, then makes control shots at him. Suddenly, a burnt Amber rushes at the group, and Tara finally kills her.

Casting

On May 6, 2020, Neve Campbell revealed that she was in talks to reprise her role as Sidney Prescott. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the actress said that it would be wrong to let Sidney die. In mid-May, it was officially confirmed that David Arquette would reprise his role as Dewey Riley. On July 31, 2020, Courteney Cox posted a video on her official Instagram account confirming her participation in the film. The second I was on set, I knew how much I missed Wes. I think he would love how Matt and Tyler restarted the franchise, Cox said in an interview. Marley Shelton also reprized her role.

I experienced ambivalent feelings. The very thought of making a new film without Wes was a test for me. I loved this man very much. But directors Matt and Tyler wrote me a letter in which they told me how they appreciate and respect what Wes Craven did, and that if it were not for him and his films, they would not have become directors and would not have worked in films. It meant a lot to me.

Neve Campbell on Wes Craven.

In August, Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega and Jack Quaid joined the cast. On September 10, Deadline reported that the cast included Dylan Minnette , Mason Gooding, Mikey Madison, Kyle Gallner, and Jasmine Savoy Brown. While at university, Gooding wrote an essay on the first film, Scream (1996). Skeet Ulrich also returned to the role of Billy Loomis, the biological father of Sam's character. Ulrich filmed all of his scenes in one day on chromakey.

In addition, the cast and crew of the previous films appeared as cameos. Drew Barrymore voiced the headmaster, who reads the announcement over the speakerphone. As the characters raise their glasses at the party, those present say For Wes - the voices are those of Henry Winkler, Adam Brodie , Hayden Panettiere, Patrick Lussier, Marco Beltrami, and Cravens widow, Aya Labunca. Matthew Lillard, who previously expressed a desire to reprise the role of Stu Mayher, appeared in two scenes: he played Ghostface in a golden mask in Richies viewing trailer for Stab 8 on YouTube; the actor also owns the hand that appeared in the frame at the party, as well as the voice of the guest saying the phrase: Cool house, Freeman!. Jamie Kennedy also voiced one of the guests at the party. The directors of the film lit up in the trailer for Stab 8

Filming

Filming was supposed to begin in May 2020 in North Carolina, but was delayed due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, filming began on September 23 in Wilmington, North Carolina under the working title Parkside. Filming took place in the vicinity of Williston Middle School, Cardinal Lanes Shipyard and 10th Street (between Ann Street and Castle Street). The film crew was awarded $7 million in rebates from the North Carolina Film Office. Filming wrapped on November 17, 2020. In April 2021, information about the filmed scenes was leaked to the Internet, as well as part of the scrypt. At the stage of post-production, the main work on the installation of the picture was carried out by Michel Allaire The post-production stage ended on July 7, 2021.

At the filming stage, the directors did not plan to rejuvenate Skeet Ulrich with the help of computer graphics: according to Bettinelli, the actor looked great. However, at the editing stage, it became clear that the character's appearance should still correspond to the age of the high school student in which he died. Actor Jack Quaid only wore the killer costume once: in a scene similar to the one with Skeet Ulrich and Jamie Kennedy in the first film, when Ghostface sneaked up on a drunken Mindy lying on the couch. Both real knives and rubber ones were used on the set - Melissa Barrera almost got stabbed in the scene of the first attack on Sam by the killer Neve Campbell burst into tears when she saw the For Wes sign on the first day of shooting.

I didn't liked it honestly.