The fifth installment in the Scream franchise decides to eschew the numbering, which I kind of hate when it isn’t an actual reboot of the series. This still takes place in the same timeline, with the same characters, and giving it the same name as the original is just needlessly confusing. They can almost get away with it since this one is more of a reboot than the last one, even though the theme of that one was reboots, since this one has more successfully restarted the franchise.

It has now been 25 years since the events of the original movie when the attacks start up again. This time, however, the first victim, Tara, manages to survive the assault by Ghostface and ends up in the hospital. The attack will reunite her with her estranged sister, Sam, who reveals that the reason she was probably attacked is that their family harbors are dark and kind of weird secret. Sam is actually the daughter of none other than original killer Billy Loomis. Now the killer is going after anyone that had a connection to any of the previous franchise characters in a “requel” themed murder spree. You have to wonder at this point how the company that makes these Ghostface masks in this universe hasn’t managed to get absolutely sued into the dirt.

Starting out with some digs at “elevated horror”, this entry in the meta-horror focused franchise is walking a difficult line with the requel idea. It’s very similar to the reboot theme that the previous film did and so risks seeming too similar and not doing anything interesting and new. On the other hand, it also comments on how fans of a series want to have a certain level of constancy to it and when you deviate too much it pisses off the fandom. Like the previous film, the motivation in this revolves around the idea of narrative in a meta way but this one much more specifically hones in on the concept of trying to do right by a franchise and the dedicated people that love it. Which means having excuses to bring as many things back from the original as they could get away with, including Skeet Ulrich in some hallucinations.

That same theming is where the main issues with the movie come into play. The constant focus on the past movies and references to them and so on are great to a point but can end up making it feel a little stale. This is perhaps more noticeable when you’re watching the movies back-to-back rather than 10 years apart but playing the same beats over and over, even if intentional, can get monotonous. Thankfully, this entry doesn’t make the mistake of Scream 4 and the use of the legacy characters is sparing but efficient. Sidney, Gale, and Dewey are used for emotional beats and some plot moments but are otherwise there to be support for a story that fully revolves around the new main characters.

Tara and Sam are both great new additions to the franchise and I’m looking forward to seeing how the next movie incorporates having new recurring characters.

Score: 4 out of 5