It’s amazing what can happen in a couple of decades. A lot of folks might not have believed that Scream would still be around by now, and it’s also likely that many people might not have thought that there were enough believable plot lines to use to keep this story alive. Yet here we are with Scream 5 and the recent trailer that was just released, and there are a few things to take note of. One thing to notice is that the formula has been changed slightly, but the opening kill, in the trailer at least, has been kept around, and the teens of this era aren’t any smarter than they were over twenty years ago. Even the new technology isn’t saving them since locking the doors via cell phone doesn’t appear to be a foolproof method, since the killer is smart enough to find a way to take that advantage away. Plus, has no one ever seen a horror movie? Opening the door is like walking into a lion’s den at mealtime with open wounds for further enticement. And that’s just a couple of things that are worth noting.
But the gang that’s left is still there, and still coming together as Sidney, Gail, and Dewey are all back in action and ready to remind people how to survive a horror movie. The new intended victim will be getting her cues directly from Sidney, who’s called the moment that the murders start happening in Woodsboro again by Dewey, who’s looking pretty rough in the trailer. Obviously, life hasn’t been too kind to Dewey, or at the very least he hasn’t had an easy go of it. But as much as he can, Dewey looks tough and grizzled in this trailer, meaning he’s no longer the fresh-faced cop or the bumbling bodyguard that he’s been in previous movies, which is actually a nice switch. Gail looks like life has been a bit unkind to her as well, while Sidney looks tortured by her very existence.
To be honest and fair, no one could expect this trio to look fresh-faced and ready to tackle this situation all over again, especially seeing how they endured this story for four movies and are still kicking. It’s easier to think that all three of them have suffered a serious case of PTSD at some point and this has been wearing on them for years now no matter if they’ve received therapy and an assembly line worth of medication. But all the same, they are coming back as a killer, or killers as everyone is reminding people, are targeting those that were related somehow to the original killers. Imagine that, people related to everyone that took up the knife and decided to play ‘guess how you’re gonna die’, as Billy Loomis might put it. That could very easily expand the number of possible suspects in a big way since being related somehow to one of the killers could stretch far and wide given that the story of Scream did stretch out just a bit from the first movie to the fourth. But the rumor that Matthew Lillard wanted to come back as Stu definitely stirred up a hornet’s nest since not only is it assumed and believed that he died in the first movie (he had a TV dropped on his head after all), but bringing him back would make it more about Sidney, and she appears to be more of an advisor in this instance, not the main target.
But one of the most chilling moments is when the killer states that it’s an honor when finally coming face to face with Sidney, meaning that this Ghostface is someone that felt wronged by her long ago, or is someone that has bought into the whole idea of the killing that started back in 1996. One can only hope it’s not some long-lost sibling or cousin that was introduced by writers seeking to keep this franchise alive since this type of thing has already been done recently in F9 when Jakob Toretto was introduced. Scream has had no trouble pulling people out of the woodwork over the years, but it’s become something of a bothersome story that, when taken up by someone that’s not related to the victims or the killers, is kind of interesting since it becomes more of a shell game.
When it has more to do with a relative that has a vendetta against someone though, it becomes a bit tired since this type of vendetta is insanely petty, not to mention that it might indicate a serious history of mental illness in a family that might need to be checked out at some point. Scream 5 isn’t exactly a return to form, nor is it anything new, but it could end up being, hopefully, the last entry in an otherwise successful franchise.
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