I was so excited about seeing this - the cinema we were in on Friday was basically empty though - as it's so rare to actually look forward to a new film AT THE CINEMA these days. Usually it's just to see whatever's on or Oscar contenders etc, but this felt like an essential opening day viewing.
And I did really enjoy it, for the most part. I thought main girl was excellent with a great back story. All the Screamisms were there, the kills were solid with some attempt to make them genuinely scary and the pace was far better than Scream 4 (which I love despite its flaws). The opening could never top that but they did a good job of taking it back to basics.
But I really couldn't care less about the rest of them except the female Randy and
@jivafox summed it up why. For a 2 hour horror film on its 5th outing, we (and surely most of the core fans which is ironic given the point they kept trying to sledgehammer home) are mostly invested in the main three. Adding new teenagers is all fine, I get they have to have new people, but there just isn't time to flesh any of them out which means everyone onscreen suffers and at this stage they don't NEED a teen cast. It just feels a bit clunky having two casts side by side.
I mean, if you're going to lead Sidney into absurd peril AGAIN, you may as well make her the star. Or switch it up, make Gale the lead. Otherwise it's like they're being crowbarred into someone else's storyline when a cameo might suffice.
But...I'm aware I now sound exactly like the kind of fan the film makes a point about
Anyway it's still a lot of fun, there are so many lovely nods to previous films, Scream 4 feeling very much part of the whole universe is ace, and I can't knock a horror franchise this old that manages to keep original cast and stories alive for this long without breaking what's considered "canon". There's a lot to be grateful for.
And more Courtney Cox who probably gets a better deal here than in Scream 4. We are not worthy etc.