{"id":24108,"date":"2022-01-13T13:37:28","date_gmt":"2022-01-13T21:37:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=24108"},"modified":"2022-01-13T13:37:28","modified_gmt":"2022-01-13T21:37:28","slug":"the-latest-scream-isnt-quite-as-chilling-as-its-predecessors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=24108","title":{"rendered":"The Latest SCREAM Isn\u2019t Quite as Chilling as its Predecessors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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This feature from Paramount Pictures will be released exclusively\nat cinemas on Friday, January 14th<\/sup>. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back in 1996, a little horror movie came out of nowhere and\nbecame a massive box office and critical hit. The film played homage to slasher\nmovies of the 1980s. playing on genre tropes with both the characters and the\naudience were familiar with. It cleverly threw in references and story twists,\nmaking a lasting impression and even jumpstarting a few careers among the\ncharismatic cast. Since that time, a few sequels have followed. While they\nhaven\u2019t been quite as potent, all have added a few nifty and memorable\nelements. Scream<\/em> is the fifth and latest movie in the series (and the\nfirst without director Wes Craven, who passed away in 2015). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The story begins with a new maniac on the rampage dressed in\na cape and \u201cGhostface\u201d mask. When teen Tara Carpenter (Jenna Ortega) is\ntargeted by the psychopath, her older, estranged sister Sam Carpenter (Melissa\nBarrera) returns to town to try and protect her. It is revealed that Sam left\ntown years before after learning about her unusual connection to the first\nstring of slayings. She and boyfriend Richie Kirsch (Jack Quaid) contact\nfigures involved in the 1996 fracas, including ex-sheriff Dewey Riley (David\nArquette), reporter Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox) and original survivor Sidney\nPrescott (Neve Campbell). As the body count rises, Sam focuses primarily on her\nsister\u2019s friends as she attempts to determine who is responsible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Of course, it\u2019s fun to see some of the established original\ncharacters make appearances, even if they aren\u2019t utilized as effectively as\nhoped for. The story itself also has an interesting angle, focusing on Sam\ngrappling with her dark personal history and the psychological toll it has\nplayed. And naturally, there are a few fun film references and discussions about\nhorror movies. This includes one bit about obsessive fandom, as well as plenty\nof talk about \u201crequels\u201d. One character defines them as much-later sequels to\ngenre classics with all-new characters that follow the same plot but still have\na legacy connection to the first film. There is also a funny scene playing with\ngenre cliches involving a character continually opening doors in the house and\nclosing them, with the audience expecting the killer to be revealed throughout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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However, there plenty of issues with the movie. While a few\nmake an impression, many of the new teen characters aren\u2019t as compelling or\ndistinctive. They\u2019re so busy making references that most are too blas\u00e9 and\njokey about the imminent danger, which dissipates some of the tension or\nconcern for them. And while there are a few witty notes, much of the cinema\ntalk doesn\u2019t hit as sharply as in previous instalments. There are also a lot of\nnods to recent movies like \u201cThe Babadook\u201d and \u201cHereditary\u201d that are defined as\n\u201celevated\u201d horror. But even these allusions feel like a stretch, having little\nto do with the plot of a sequel to a 90s film inspired by 80s slasher pictures.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The movie also looks and feels a bit smaller and visually drab\nthan previous entries. And while there are some graphic moments, none of the\nmurders stand out as overly memorable in comparison with the set pieces in\nprevious entries. Even the big reveal and explanation of what is occurring during\nthe finale will have viewers asking logic questions. This is in regards to some\nliberties taken with the looming appearance of the maniac and how the killer\ncan take so much abuse during slaughter scenes and not show any bruises when not\nwearing the disguise. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In the end, the script gets a little too self-referential\nfor its own good. Even with an amusing film allusion peppered here and there, these\nkinds of gags begin to feel a bit familiar and tired the fifth time around. Admittedly,\nthis reviewer may be getting old and cranky about teen-based slashers. But\nwhile the latest Scream<\/em> does have a few good elements, but it is still the\nweakest entry in the series and ends up coming across as more of a final\nwhimper.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This feature from Paramount Pictures will be released exclusively at cinemas on Friday, January 14th. Back in 1996, a little horror movie came out of nowhere and became a massive box office and critical hit. The film played homage to slasher movies of the 1980s. playing on genre tropes with both the characters and the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":24109,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[209,4824,5280,9319,10112,10560,13661,13722,14687,17828,17831,17835,17837,17838,17840,17841,18035,18515],"class_list":["post-24108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-209","tag-courtney-cox","tag-david-arquette","tag-horror","tag-jack-quaid","tag-jenna-ortega","tag-melissa-barrera","tag-meta","tag-neve-campbell","tag-scream","tag-scream-5","tag-scream-film-review","tag-scream-franchise","tag-scream-movie-review","tag-scream-review","tag-scream-series","tag-sequel","tag-slasher"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24108\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}