SPOILERS FOR THE SCREAM FILMS – INCLUDING SCREAM VI – AHEAD!
For me, the Scream franchise is unique in its ability to remain fresh; while other franchises can reinvent themselves to also stay relevant, this usually comes after a run of poor sequels or a lengthy hiatus due to low box office figures or a negative critical and fan response. Take the Halloween franchise, for example, which I have also written a blog post about: H20 and 2018 are two great sequels that were very in touch with the cinematic climate at the time of release, but both came after a string of dire sequels or ill-received remakes. And, while Scream has been through some hiatuses, it’s not because of poor reception or the need to reinvent itself; a new Scream film only comes about as a result of the ever-evolving cinematic climate I mentioned above. Scream is also unique in its ability to be self-aware (or ‘meta’) towards all cinema, not only the horror franchise.
The original trilogy was able to be churned out rapidly because by that point there had already been decades of movie tropes and clichés to build on. The original, the sequel, and the trilogy-ender, all released within a 4 year period. Then, an 11 year gap as Wes Craven and the team waited for the landscape of cinema to evolve again. And it did, with strings of remakes of classic films (again, not only horror) being released by what must have been an out-of-ideas Hollywood.
Another 11 year gap stretched out between the 4th and 5th films in the franchise, though there was a TV series in the middle which completely renewed the franchise with all new characters, cast and story, perhaps jumping on the success of other horror series like American Horror Story, and perhaps feeling that there was nowhere else for the movies to go after the ‘remake’ phase was parodied. However, Hollywood did again find a way to bring back popular franchises with the ‘requel’, a continuation of the original film or series in a franchise with a new, young cast of characters but with the original cast in a supporting role for the full nostalgic effect. Arguably first done (or maybe just most famously done) with The Force Awakens, this spilled over into the horror genre too, most notably with 2018’s Halloween. And so Scream (5) was born.
So successful in every aspect – commercially and critically – talk of a sequel and confirmation were not far around the corner. However, while Scream VI was an action-packed thrill ride of an addition to the series, I do feel it was starting to scrape the barrel with its meta edge being to parody ‘franchises’. With a seventh film all but certain, it’s time to think about where the Scream series’ famous self-awareness can go, before it backs itself into a corner and becomes the very thing it was supposed to parody in the first place: an endless stream of formulaic films.
I have two solutions to the conundrum posed by the seventh film’s meta edge. The first is quite simple, as it sticks with the current cast and story that has been established. A seventh Scream film would have to be a ‘franchise-ender’, similar to Avengers: Endgame or Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. After this, the main series of films would surely have to be brought to an end (but never say never, eh?), though that doesn’t mean the door would be closed to spin-offs: again, look at the Star Wars franchise, but this phenomenon has also once more spread to the horror genre with films like Saw’s Spiral, and we already know that Scream has enough copycat killers to make spin-offs a real possibility.
This seems the most obvious, basic approach for the seventh film to take in terms of its self-awareness angle. However, there is another idea that would elevate the self-aware, meta deconstruction of the genre and mainstream Hollywood films to a whole new level. Not original at all, it’s something that’s been done before, and by Wes Craven himself. What if the seventh Scream film followed the same path as Wes Craven’s New Nightmare, the predecessor to the Scream series and meta addition to the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise?
Now, this is not original in terms of being my idea either, unfortunately I have no credit to attribute other than coming across this social media post:
However unlikely a film of this kind would be, I feel it would be an amazing and extremely fitting end to the Scream franchise. The possibilities are indeed, as the post above suggests, endless. The list of actors and actresses who could be brought back itself would be very extensive, and the direction of the film: locations, plot points, killer’s identity and motive would leave a huge amount of creative space for whoever would inherit such an ambitious project.
Even the opening of the film – another aspect Scream has become famous for – would leave so much to be played with inside ten or so minutes, without even beginning to think about the remining hour and thirty. Which cast members could be brought back? Killed off? Revealed to hide an insidious agenda? The idea of a Scream film of the same blueprint as New Nightmare is one so exciting and so crammed with possibilities that it starts to make your head spin after a while.
Could something like this really happen? I hope so.
Ratings:
Before I launch into the ratings, I would like to offer a disclaimer: the Scream franchise, compared to most horror franchises, is quite limited in its film count. As such, some of the films may appear to be ranked quite low (they do to me, anyway). However, I don’t believe there is a single ‘bad’ film in the franchise. I very much enjoy all of them, just some more than others…
6) Scream 4
Somewhat contrary to the disclaimer offered above, Scream 4 is a film that brings me the least enjoyment. I’ve only watched it a handful of times; it’s certainly the least ‘fun’. Scream films also often rely on their famous openings to have the greatest impact on the audience, and not only is this the weakest entry in the franchise, it has the weakest introductory sequence. The third act is fun, but that’s about it really. Even a return to Woodsboro for the first time since the first film couldn’t elevate this ‘remake’ entry to the series. But, perhaps that makes it the true remake entry: underwhelming and not a patch on the original.
Rating: 5/10
5) Scream 3
Similar to the ‘remake’ entry, this ‘trilogy’ addition to the franchise is true to its self-aware angle: feeling somewhat unnecessary and like a simple “oh, well, we might as well”, as so many franchises throughout movie history have done. It ups the stakes in the way that a third entry has to, and introduces a ‘big bad’, but for a lot of fans – me included – that does take away a little from the first two films in the series.
Rating: 6/10
4) Scream VI
For me, Scream VI is host to the greatest opening sequence of any Scream film. Just as Stab serves as a movie within a movie, the opening of Scream VI serves as an opening within an opening (in a much better way than Scream 4’s sloppy attempt): we are given the false introduction with a wannabe Ghostface before the ‘real’ killer surfaces, snarling “who gives a f@ck about movies?!”, which told us that this wasn’t going to be your ordinary Scream film. And, indeed, by its climax we’re given many new features that upend the slasher and horror clichés not done in a way since the first film, and we’re given a revenge instead of movies angle for the first time since the second.
Rating: 7.5/10
3) Scream (2022)
Plays it somewhat safe as all requels do (save for the brutal offing of one of the original cast members that requels have to do in order to be effective), but relies on a formula that works, just as it did for The Force Awakens and Halloween 2018. The meta edge to this film felt extremely well-done, arguably the most impactful self-awareness angle since the first movie, as this entry to the franchise was released at the perfect time to take full advantage of the ‘requel’ era.
Rating: 8/10
2) Scream 2
As sequels go, I think Scream 2 does it perfectly, and remains relevant today in the way that it parodies sequels. There is some great storytelling and visuals at play, the ‘whodunnit’ angle is still effective as its early enough in the series for people like Gale to conceivably be the killer and keep the audience guessing all the way. Scream 2’s introduction of the Stab franchise and its opening scene are also cleverly executed that makes it a worthy sequel to the original film.
Rating: 8.5/10
1) Scream (1996)
It always comes back to the original. Maybe no longer as effective as when it was released, but everything about Scream changed the horror and slasher genre forever. The opening scene, the ‘whodunnit’ angle, the meta edge, and the final reveal that upended everything we’ve come to expect from slasher films over the decades and finally turned the clichés on their heads.
Rating: 9.5/10
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