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Scream Early Buzz: The Fifth Film Is A Bloody Good Time

Ghostface wipes a knife clean in Scream (2022) Paramount Pictures
By Anya Stanley

"Everybody dies but us. We get to carry on and plan the sequel. 'Cause let's face it, baby, these days, you've gotta have a sequel!" The latest entry in the decades-spanning "Scream" franchise is upon us, and the early buzz is rolling in on social media.

In 1996, Miramax picked up Kevin Williamson's script for a cheeky slasher titled "Scary Movie," which would later become "Scream" after Wes Craven signed on to direct. Telling the tale of a young woman who becomes the target of a ghost-faced killer, the movie made a splash with its meta approach to a tired subgenre. Just one year before, the "Halloween" franchise would get its sixth entry and a year before that saw a "New Nightmare" for Freddy Krueger; another year before that, Jason Voorhees would go straight to Hell. Perhaps the greatest success of "Scream" is its ability to interrogate the slasher film while also functioning as one, a feat achieved by each of its subsequent three sequels.

Now, a fifth contribution to the Woodsboro saga comes by way of the terribly titled, "Scream," or "5cream" if you're feeling froggy. Now, twenty-five years after a handful of brutal murders rocked Woodsboro, California, a new killer puts on the Ghostface mask and slices and dices their way through a new crop of victims, revealing the town's darkest secrets and (as this franchise often does) forcing a reckoning with the past. Directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, the film is the first in the series since Wes Craven's death in 2015 and sees the return of franchise legacy characters Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox), and Dewey Riley (David Arquette) for another dance with death. 

Today, social media reactions are coming in as film critics got an early look at the film. Here's what they're saying about "Scream."

It's A Scream, Baby!

Jenna Ortega flees from Ghostface in Scream (2022) Paramount Pictures

Overall, it seems like the reactions to the latest installment are mostly positive, though /Film's Ariel Fisher had a more mixed reaction:

Others, however, had nothing but love for "Scream":

Not In My Movie

An anonymous Ghostface heats things up in the trailer for Scream (2022) Paramount Pictures

For others, Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett's entry simply did not live up to the hype, and not even a silver-faced flame-throwing Ghostface could save it. 

Here is the synopsis for "Scream":

Twenty-five years after a streak of brutal murders shocked the quiet town of Woodsboro, a new killer has donned the Ghostface mask and begins targeting a group of teenagers to resurrect secrets from the town's deadly past.

"Scream" is directed by "Ready or Not" directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett and was written by James Vanderbilt ("Zodiac") and Guy Busick ("Ready or Not") based on Kevin Williamson's characters. Along with Campbell, Cox, and Arquette, Marley Shelton is back as Deputy Judy Hicks and Roger L. Jackson returns with his iconic voicework as Ghostface. Newcomers to the cast include Jack Quaid, Melissa Barrera, Mason Gooding, and Jenna Ortega.

"Scream" arrives in theaters on January 14, 2022.

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