Scream (2022) * * *

Directed by:  Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillett

Starring:  Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega, David Arquette, Courteney Cox, Neve Campbell, Jack Quaid

Like the original 1996 film of the same name, Scream satirizes the slasher film genre while working through its own mad slasher story.   Scream understands suspense is better than having a killer whose identity we know (a la Michael Myers) stalk victims and execute them with blood spurting all over the place.   There is blood in Scream to be sure (and violence) but the action is punctuated by the characters' knowledge that they too are in a predicament you would find in a movie like Halloween.  

Scream also introduces as to the concept of a "requel", a movie which is part reboot and part sequel.  Scream is the fifth in the series but also introduces the next generation into the decades-long story.   The new characters are intertwined with the "legacy characters" who are returning from the previous films.    These are former sheriff Dewey Riley (Arquette), sensationalist TV reporter Gale Weathers (Cox), and many-times victim Sidney Prescott (Campbell).   When a new "ghostface killer" makes his mark by attacking and brutally slaying people, the survivors of the previous films are enlisted to help find out who the killer is and stop him (or her).  

Dewey and Gale are now divorced (just like the real-life David Arquette and Courteney Cox) and their one scene together is poignant.   The fact these two were married in real life and are no longer makes the scene work on two levels.   There is a touch of truth there.   Gale and Sidney are two women who have been through this enough to know what their younger counterparts don't.   Bringing back Arquette, Cox, and Campbell isn't just stunt casting, it adds a certain wisdom to the proceedings.   Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich), the killer from the first film, is dead all right, but he plays into the story too.

The younger folks aren't as engaging as their predecessors, but we're still involved enough to care who the killer is and why he's killing.   In that case, Scream works.