Matt Bettinelli-Olpin

It has been 25 years since the Woodsboro killings. Woodsboro high schooler Tara Carpenter is home alone when she gets a phone call that turns out to be from the newest Ghostface killer. Although she's badly wounded, she manages to survive, and Sam, her estranged older sister, comes to see her.

In this movie, Mindy and Chad, the twin children of Randy Meeks' sister, are the huge horror fans, and Mindy theorizes that the newest Ghostface killer is following the rules of a "requel," a franchise continuation that draws heavily from the plot of the original. Based on this, Tara's friends figure that the ones most in danger are those who have a direct connection to the original killings. With Tara, the connection lies in a secret her sister Sam has been keeping from her for years.

Based on some searches I've done, I have unpopular Scream opinions. For example, if I were rating all the movies from best to worst, the order would be: Scream (original), Scream 3, Scream 4, Scream (2022), and Scream 2.

From the sounds of things, most folks liked this installment in the franchise more than I did. In terms of killings, it definitely went for the gorier and more brutal side of things - not really my cup of tea, but that's just me. And hey, several of the previous movies had on-screen intestines, so it's not like the gore in this one was that unusual. Big biggest issue with this entry was the whole "requel" thing. I mean, yes, there had to be something tying this movie in with the franchise's "meta" aspect, but this just seemed so...weak.

I say this as someone who recently watched Ghostbusters: Afterlife and literally watched the "requel" rules play out. I just refuse to accept that "requel" is a real thing, so the way it was used in this Scream movie came across like a celebration of being creatively tied down by nostalgia and a reluctance to take risks.

Whereas Scream 3 and Scream 4 felt like an overly extended but still proper "goodbye," this movie just felt tired and unnecessary. In a lot of ways, Dewey was the embodiment of the franchise, worn out and unable to move on.

It boggles my mind that a sixth movie is being made. Just let the franchise go.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)… (meer)

Grace grew up in foster care. The one thing she wants most is a family of her own, so she's both thrilled and worried when her boyfriend Alex Le Domas asks her to marry him. It seems like several members of Alex's family hate her, and she's worried they may be judging her because she doesn't come from wealth like Alex. The Le Domas family is part of a gaming empire that spans several generations.

Alex tells her that it's a Le Domas tradition for newcomers to the family to play a game at midnight after their wedding. She'll only have to do it once, and after that she'll be accepted into the family. Unfortunately, when it comes time to pick the game she has to play, Grace draws the worst possible card: Hide and Seek. Although she doesn't know it at first, she's now in a race for her life, as the rest of the Le Domas family tries to find and kill her before dawn.

This was more fun than I expected. It reminded me of Knives Out in a lot of ways: the rich family willing to do anything in order to keep their wealth, quirky individuals, hidden snakes, the ordinary person stuck in the middle of it all, and the way the movie straddled genres. Marta and Grace would probably have been friends.

Daniel was Alex's alcoholic brother - not a fan of the Le Domas family traditions, but also not willing to outright reject them. Emilie was Alex's coke-addled sister, and accidentally one of the deadliest members of the family (that woman should not have been allowed near weapons). Fitch, Emilie's husband, spent most of the movie viewing the game like some kind of bizarre joke - he, like several other members of the family, was armed with a "traditional" weapon he had no idea how to use, in his case a crossbow. Helene, Alex's aunt, had been forced to watch her husband die the last time this game was played, and she's since become a stone-cold traditionalist. Other characters included Tony and Becky (Alex's parents, who support the family but hate to upset their son), Charity (Daniel's wife, who will do anything to keep the Le Domas family wealth), Georgie and Gabe (Fitch and Emilie's sons), Stevens (the Le Domas family butler), and the family's three maids.

It's a very bloody movie, but for the most part not shot in a very grotesque way. The worst, for me, was the part where one of the characters badly hurt their hand - the person's acting was excellent, and I found myself clenching my hands in sympathetic pain. There's also a scene in which literal chunks of people go flying, but that was so over-the-top that it was more comical than anything.

All in all, this was my kind of bloody horror, mixed with just the right amount of humor.

Extras:

"The Making of Ready or Not" multi-part feauturette - this is the first "making of" I've seen in a while that included extensive info on costume design. I have to say, after watching this, I appreciated the movie's ending even more - I'm so glad they didn't go with the originally planned version.

Also included: a gag reel (eh, okay), commentary (which I didn't listen to), and an image gallery (on-set stuff, as well as close-ups of the fake Le Domas board games).

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)… (meer)