March 11, 2023
After their harrowing experience surviving the so-called Woodsboro Legacy murders recently, sisters Sam (Melissa Barrera) and Tara (Jenna Ortega) Carpenter, along with twins Chad (Mason Gooding) and Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown) Meeks-Martin, now live in New York City with new roommates Quinn Bailey (Liana Liberato), Ethan Landry (Jack Champion) and Mindy's girlfriend Annika (Devyn Nekoda).
Sam was undergoing psychological therapy brought about by the stress of a viral conspiracy theory online blaming her for the latest Woodsboro killings and then framed Richie (Jack Quaid) for it. When the Ghostface mask used by Richie turned up at the scene of the bloody murder of film student Jason Carvey (Tony Revolori), Sam was called in for questioning by Detective Wayne Bailey (Dermot Mulroney).
This latest installment begins as usual, with pretty Laura (Samara Weaving) being lured out by a voice over a phone call discussing horror movie tropes, right into a trap that would lead to her gory death, being stabbed over and over by a killer wearing a Ghostface mask. However, there was a twist in this one, because the identity of Laura's killer would be revealed right away, only for that killer to be killed by another Ghostface killer.
Jenna Ortega, fresh from her recent success as Wednesday Addams in the Netflix series, dominated this sequel with her striking screen presence as Tara and her chemistry with Mason Gooding's Chad. As Ethan, Jack Champion had a head of dark curls here to distinguish him from his blonde feral character Spider in "Avatar: The Way of Water," but his annoying acting tics unfortunately remained.
Courtney Cox is back as reporter Gale Weathers, with her plastic-surgery-stretched lips now more distracting than ever. Since Neve Campbell did not return as original Ghostface survivor Sidney Prescott this time (the only "Scream" movie without her), fans had to settle for Hayden Panatierre's return as Kirby Reed, a survivor of the 2011 Ghostface murder spree. As campily portrayed by Panatierre, Kirby is now, incredulously, an FBI agent.
The directorial team of Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett executed the script of James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick with the same tightly-edited imaginative kill scenes and wicked sense of fun that made the 2022 "requel" (reboot-sequel) a critical and box-office success. The witty meta-commentary about horror films and creepy sense of nostalgia (with a whole museum of Ghostface memorabilia on display here) will make fans happy. 7/10.
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