Watching classic slasher films is one of the best ways to celebrate Halloween. The combination of horror and suspense is what Halloween is all about. This Halloweekend, I watched and reviewed Scream (1996) and Scream (2022). The basic premise of these films is that a masked killer, called Ghostface, is stalking and killing teens in Woodsboro, California. The original film utilizes jump scares and eerie silence to scare the audience while Sidney Presscot, the protagonist, tries to figure out who the killer is, all while avoiding getting murdered. Part of the appeal of the original is that it follows simple and well known horror movie rules, while keeping the movie engaging and fun.
Scream (2022) is what film enthusiasts call a legacyquel or requel, which is a movie in a franchise that is not a direct sequel, but includes legacy characters, often from earlier movies in the franchise. Scream (2022) follows Samantha Carpenter, while she deals with her own Ghostface. This Ghostface recreates scenes from the original Scream, which even included bringing back old characters and going back to old settings. While the movie was interesting, it tried so hard to be like the original that it became difficult to differentiate the two. The plot was almost exactly the same, except for Ghostface's motives. It also stuck to horror movie rules so strictly that it became predictable and made it seem like it was trying too hard to be a classic.
Overall, original movies aren’t better for the sole reason that they are originals. They set the precedent for the rest of the franchise and are often well received by the audience because they have nothing more to compare it to. Scream (1996) was released during the Golden Age of slasher films. No matter how hard Scream (2022) tried to live up to the original, it was being held to impossible standards. In any case, the movie did a good job for what it was, and was generally well received by Scream fans.
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