Scream is back. And with a new Ghostface (or two) comes a biting deconstruction of not just the long-standing slasher franchise, or the nature of “requels” (a term coined in this very film), or the horror genre in general, but the movie industry writ large. Many films of recent years have tried to capture the imagination of audiences by commentating on their own storied legacy – most recently with both The Matrix: Resurrections and Spider-Man: No Way Home – but none have done it with quite as sharp a wit or a curvaceous a blade as the most recent Scream. Tapping into the meta repartee that franchise architect Wes Craven approached the material with from the very get go, this fifth installment of the 90s-born slasher whodunnit is as razor-sharp and bloody glorious as ever. Most importantly, it’s just a hell of a lot of fun.

Just as Scream cleverly cleaved and commented on the structure and “rules” of scary movies and Scream 2 tackled the heightening of stakes and game-changing inherent nature of sequels, Scream (5) takes aim at the modern propensity towards “requels”. The term “requel” is an invented portmanteau of the terms “reboot” and “sequel” and describes many of the most popular franchise revivals of the past decade. In addition to the aforementioned Spider-Man and The Matrix, you can point to Star Wars, Ghostbusters, Creed, Jurassic Park, and Terminator, each of who gave their own spin on a requel.

Not quite a start-from-scratch reboot nor a traditional sequel, the requel introduces a new generation of characters while tying them into the plight of its most valued legacy characters. The principal purpose of the requel is to pass the torch, to make way for a new generation of stories and highlight new characters while juxtaposing them against the mainstays of the franchise. It’s a delicate balance between fan service and nostalgia, and usually involves killing off a fan favorite.

The requel sometimes even drops the traditional numerical count (Scream 4) or post-colon descriptor (Scream: The Final Kill) repurposing the film’s original name (just Scream) instead. Think 2018’s Halloween. Think 2022’s Scream. There’s a reason this movie isn’t called Scream 5, the winking meta commentary from James Vanderbilt (Zodiac) and Guy Busick’s (Ready or Not) clever screenplay extending all the way to the movie’s title.

Scream begins, as many requels do, by rhyming with the past. A mysterious landline phone call. A sinister voice asks a teenage girl at home alone what her favorite scary movie is. A brutal stabbing.

There are stark differences this time. The attacks and gruesomeness of the violence is much more brutal. Blood is slipped liberally. Bones are cracked and crunched. Bodies are diced, immolated, gunned down. Where the previous Scream movies faced a lack of distinctiveness and flavor when it came to the all-important kills, Scream 2022 has course corrected, punching up to a new weight class. My audience, though small, shrieked plentifully.

Another huge improvement comes in the form of the cast. Neve Campbell, David Arquette, and Courteney Cox return to Woodsboro as Sidney Prescott, Dewey Riley and Gale Weathers, respectively, but there’s a reason this trio don’t have much critical fanfare attached to their names over their plentiful years in Hollywood. Frankly, they are limited performers. They are the kind of talent one used to attach to ensemble-driven teen slashers. This new cast is not.

Joining the bloodshed, Scream boasts a who’s who of rising talent including Jenna Ortega (The Fallout), Jack Quaid (The Boys), Dylan Minnette (Don’t Breathe), Jasmin Savoy Brown (Yellowjackets), Kyle Gallner (Dinner in America), Mikey Madison (Once Upon a Time In Hollywood), and Melissa Barrera (In the Heights). The caliber of punchy stardom has increased astronomically, assembling one of the finest casts of younger talent in a horror movie since maybe ever. Each take to the task of being a potential victim or suspect ably but not stand taller than Ortega as Tara Carpenter. She is truly a revelation and a towering addition to the franchise.

Directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, the pair behind 2019’s critically-adored Ready or Not, approach the material with admirable finesse. They don’t try to make Scream something that it isn’t. They don’t attempt to turn it into “elevated horror” (one character mocks the “Stab” movies, noting her love of “films” like The Babadook and The Witch) but neither do they devalue the shlock and awe of Scream‘s very specific brand of “meta slasher whodunnit.” They know “what the fans want” and toy with and confront the idea of fan service and fan expectations in spot-on manner. Even if not everything is a masterfully-curated twist on the formula, Scream carves precisely the kind of winking slasher fare that horror audiences are dying for.

CONCLUSION: ‘Scream’ (2022) perfects the franchise formula by punching up individual elements like casting and kills, delivering a “requel” filled with campy callbacks and clever subversions that more than justifies bringing Ghostface back to life for a fifth time. Undoubtedly the best since the original.