Scream                 4 stars

Since I have seen all of the Scream franchise movies except one I had to go back and see the 2022 entry in the series, Scream. This is the fifth entry in the series and the first since Scream 4 in 2011. A Scream movie has certain rules that must be followed. They center around a fictional series of slasher movies called Stab in which the characters are hacked to death by the mysterious knife wielding character, Ghostface. They rely on the audience having a good knowledge of horror movies like Halloween and others. There is always a new killer in each Scream movie since the previous Ghostface has been killed off by the main characters. And there is always more than one killer that work together. All these rules are followed here, and the movie follows the same pattern we have seen since 1996 when the babysitter played by Drew Barrymore first got hacked to death in the town of Woodsboro. This time Ghostface strikes first, again in Woodsboro on teenager Tara Carpenter (Jenna Ortega (Death of a Unicorn and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice)) who is home alone. She manages to survive multiple stab wounds and ends up in the hospital. Her sister, Sam Carpenter (Melissa Barrera (Scream VI and In the Heights)) comes back to town to take care of Tara, with the two having been previously estranged. It is up to her and a new assortment of teenagers to try to solve the riddle of who the new Ghostface killer is, but as we all know the killer or killers may be among them. Another rule is that the original Scream characters must return to take part in unravelling the mystery and that is fulfilled when the teens call on sheriff Dewey Riley (David Arquette of Scream, Scream 2, Scream 3, Scream 4 and Scream 7), who is now retired from law enforcement. He in turn gets our reliable heroes, the final girl Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell of Scream, Scream 2, Scream 3, Scream 4 and Scream 7) and Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox of Scream, Scream 2, Scream 3, Scream 4, Scream VI and Scream 7) involved as well, all of whom have left Woodsboro for new lives. Weathers is now a well-known news anchor in New York City. One more previous character, Deputy Judy Hicks (Marley Shelton of Planet Terror) returns in this installment as well, but briefly. Two new characters are the sister and brother act, Mindy Meeks-Martin (Jasmin Savoy Brown of Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma) and Chad Meeks-Martin (Mason Gooding of Booksmart). Mindy believes she has figured out the secret that the new killings are related to the release of the new movie Stab 8, and a revolt by the fans who object to the inauthenticity of the latest entry. These new killings are very similar to the original Ghostface spree. Mindy calls it a requel. (Since I already knew that Mindy and Chad are in the later Scream movies, they could not be the killers.) I can give you one spoiler here and that is that one original character may not make it out alive. Co-directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett (who also brought us the Ready or Not movies) have returned to the roots of Scream and given the fans of this comedy horror franchise something to scream about. So far Scream has been followed with Scream VI and Scream 7 with perhaps more to come? Whatever happens, just remember, Shoot ‘em in the head!