SCREAM 5 - C+
Sometimes films just don't need to be made. They serve no purpose. They have no meaning. They're simply cash grabs, looking to bank on a marketable concept while they sit back and reap the financial benefits of reliability that diehard fans always provide. By George there's a new SCREAM film, "I just HAVE to see it."
By this point there was nothing left to do. Nothing fresh to add. The other four films had already peaked at every level. There was nothing left to top. Nothing left to outdo. All loose ends had been tied up. All questions had been answered. It was inevitable that this film was going to be tongue in cheek. That it would laugh at itself. It was the only direction to go. Part II was the clever, ultimate reveal. Part III was the what we missed, more to it than what we thought revelation. Part IV was the oh wow, never saw that coming. In many ways SCREAM V reflects TOY STORY 4. Did it need to be made? No. Was it sorta fun anyway? Yes.
SCREAM V is the 5th best film in the SCREAM franchise. While two tried to out do one, and then after a bit of a letdown with three, four tried top everything, five didn't try and outdo anything. It knew its place as the ROCKY V of the series, and rather than try and dye its red hair, displayed it proudly as the stepson. There's something admirable about that.
In about everyway SCREAM V ranks 5th in comparison to its predecessors, but that doesn't mean that it didn't do some things right. It did a lot of things right.
HALLOWEEN 2018 & HALLOWEEN KILLS for example like to claim that they illustrated female empowerment, but in both of those films it was extremely contrived and didactically stated. SCREAM V displayed female empowerment and it did so naturally. Female heroines should be focused on their courage, tenacity, selflessness and strength, with their sex being secondary. Not the other way around. This is something that the two most recent HALLOWEEN films failed miserably upon, and SCREAM V capitalized upon.
I must also give the film praise of how it handled the passing of the torch. It's clear that Sydney Prescott is no longer the centralized protagonist of the film. The transition to making Sam the focus, was done very well. It wasn't abrupt. It wasn't ambiguous. It was smooth and transitional. Not many films do that well, SCREAM V did.
What impressed me most about this film was the duality of the Billy Loomis character. For one it was freaking awesome seeing Skeet Ulrich back. To see how in a round about, odd, can't put my finger on it way they sorta, kinda but not really made him a hero of the film was painstakingly clever. To see how Sam was able to use her inherited psychopathy for good, was a direction that obviously took a lot of time and thought.
Those were the pros.
As to the cons....
The reveal was weak. People often complain about the reveal in SCREAM 3, but it was a masterpiece compared to the reveal here. It was extremely convenient and in a lot of ways, made little sense. It was predictable that the reveal would be cheesy and lame, but I wasn't expecting it to be as cheesy and lame as it was. And maybe as an old school horror fan I should appreciate that more. Throughout the film I kept on eliminating obvious choices, thinking that there was no way it could be something so obvious. Then it turned out to be exceptionally obvious. Again, a tongue in cheek maneuver. Films today try so hard to shock you, that the film pulled a complete reversal with having the true shock being how simple and straightforward it was.
Dewey's death was cheap and uneventful. After all that he went through and all that he survived to see him go out in such lackluster way was disappointing. As I watched him die on screen, I thought of Steve Irwin. A guy that wrestled alligators and handled the world's most venomous snakes, being killed by a relatively harmless stingray. It felt much the same way. Like the war hero that survived WWII, Korea and Vietnam, only to get shot by a drunk in a bar one night. It just didn't feel right. Probably because it wasn't. Felt the same about Judy's death.
This movie lacked on the build up and suspense that made the others so good. Way too much focus on the kills themselves. Way too much gore, way to much violence. Not near enough build up. Not near enough cat and mouse. The film could have used much more chase and much less stabs.
The connections and relationships between the characters seemed tiresome and forced. The genuineness and sincerity that made the other four films so strong seemed to lack a great deal in this film. It was still there in some ways and very much not in others.
While I felt that SCREAM IV was about perfect in every way, with little to fix or change, there is so much about SCREAM V that I would have changed. That I would have fixed. A tweak here and a tweak there, I could have walked out of this film feeling like I watched a masterpiece. Instead, I walked out feeling like I watched something just a hair above average. That's all.
C+ through and through.
Sometimes films just don't need to be made. They serve no purpose. They have no meaning. They're simply cash grabs, looking to bank on a marketable concept while they sit back and reap the financial benefits of reliability that diehard fans always provide. By George there's a new SCREAM film, "I just HAVE to see it."
By this point there was nothing left to do. Nothing fresh to add. The other four films had already peaked at every level. There was nothing left to top. Nothing left to outdo. All loose ends had been tied up. All questions had been answered. It was inevitable that this film was going to be tongue in cheek. That it would laugh at itself. It was the only direction to go. Part II was the clever, ultimate reveal. Part III was the what we missed, more to it than what we thought revelation. Part IV was the oh wow, never saw that coming. In many ways SCREAM V reflects TOY STORY 4. Did it need to be made? No. Was it sorta fun anyway? Yes.
SCREAM V is the 5th best film in the SCREAM franchise. While two tried to out do one, and then after a bit of a letdown with three, four tried top everything, five didn't try and outdo anything. It knew its place as the ROCKY V of the series, and rather than try and dye its red hair, displayed it proudly as the stepson. There's something admirable about that.
In about everyway SCREAM V ranks 5th in comparison to its predecessors, but that doesn't mean that it didn't do some things right. It did a lot of things right.
HALLOWEEN 2018 & HALLOWEEN KILLS for example like to claim that they illustrated female empowerment, but in both of those films it was extremely contrived and didactically stated. SCREAM V displayed female empowerment and it did so naturally. Female heroines should be focused on their courage, tenacity, selflessness and strength, with their sex being secondary. Not the other way around. This is something that the two most recent HALLOWEEN films failed miserably upon, and SCREAM V capitalized upon.
I must also give the film praise of how it handled the passing of the torch. It's clear that Sydney Prescott is no longer the centralized protagonist of the film. The transition to making Sam the focus, was done very well. It wasn't abrupt. It wasn't ambiguous. It was smooth and transitional. Not many films do that well, SCREAM V did.
What impressed me most about this film was the duality of the Billy Loomis character. For one it was freaking awesome seeing Skeet Ulrich back. To see how in a round about, odd, can't put my finger on it way they sorta, kinda but not really made him a hero of the film was painstakingly clever. To see how Sam was able to use her inherited psychopathy for good, was a direction that obviously took a lot of time and thought.
Those were the pros.
As to the cons....
The reveal was weak. People often complain about the reveal in SCREAM 3, but it was a masterpiece compared to the reveal here. It was extremely convenient and in a lot of ways, made little sense. It was predictable that the reveal would be cheesy and lame, but I wasn't expecting it to be as cheesy and lame as it was. And maybe as an old school horror fan I should appreciate that more. Throughout the film I kept on eliminating obvious choices, thinking that there was no way it could be something so obvious. Then it turned out to be exceptionally obvious. Again, a tongue in cheek maneuver. Films today try so hard to shock you, that the film pulled a complete reversal with having the true shock being how simple and straightforward it was.
Dewey's death was cheap and uneventful. After all that he went through and all that he survived to see him go out in such lackluster way was disappointing. As I watched him die on screen, I thought of Steve Irwin. A guy that wrestled alligators and handled the world's most venomous snakes, being killed by a relatively harmless stingray. It felt much the same way. Like the war hero that survived WWII, Korea and Vietnam, only to get shot by a drunk in a bar one night. It just didn't feel right. Probably because it wasn't. Felt the same about Judy's death.
This movie lacked on the build up and suspense that made the others so good. Way too much focus on the kills themselves. Way too much gore, way to much violence. Not near enough build up. Not near enough cat and mouse. The film could have used much more chase and much less stabs.
The connections and relationships between the characters seemed tiresome and forced. The genuineness and sincerity that made the other four films so strong seemed to lack a great deal in this film. It was still there in some ways and very much not in others.
While I felt that SCREAM IV was about perfect in every way, with little to fix or change, there is so much about SCREAM V that I would have changed. That I would have fixed. A tweak here and a tweak there, I could have walked out of this film feeling like I watched a masterpiece. Instead, I walked out feeling like I watched something just a hair above average. That's all.
C+ through and through.
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