Scream 5: One of the Best in the Series & Here's Why

Warning: This blog has spoilers throughout and is meant for an audience who has either seen Scream 5 or does not mind spoilers. 

As you’re reading this, what if there was a masked killer on the loose, sneaking around your neighborhood, killing, peering through your window, and watching you as you sit in the single place that provides you the most comfort and protection. 

Timing is inevitable in a slasher world where the victims have zero control of when and where the killer will strike next. To honor this, I am going to save you a lengthy memoir of my life story and how Scream has impacted my life, blah blah blah, before the masked killer calls you or knocks at your door. 

Scream 5, one of the best in the series and my second favorite, my first favorite being Scream 1. 

Why?

1. Strong female protagonists kicking ass and stealing the show: Not only did Neve Campbell and Courtney Cox return, the main female lead is Melissa Barrera, a Mexican actress born in Monterrey, Mexico (a big hell yes to that!) Barrera’s character Sam is the daughter of Billy Loomis, one of the killers in the first Scream. This absolutely complicates Sam’s character and her development but this doesn’t stop her from making her own decisions which moves the story along. One of my favorite scenes is at the end when they return to the original house of Billy Loomis and Stu Macher. The shot is beautiful: Sam, Sydney and Gale are standing shoulder to shoulder in the house and you just know they are the reason this shit is going to stop and come to end tonight. 
2. Deputy Dwight ‘Dewey’ Riley dies: This was a tough pill to swallow and I will admit I was in absolute shock. After thinking about it, this had to happen to make this film successful. In Scream 1, one of the most adored characters dies and that is Randy. That sucked too but it made the viewers feel something. It made viewers come back to watch the other films. The death of Dewey is what heightens the viewer’s investment and makes us want our female protagonists to not just succeed, but to epically triumph. We want to see the grand finale and it better be grand…and it was! 
3. Billy Loomis returns in ghost form: I really liked this and thought it worked well. It showed the emotional battle that Sam is dealing with as she accepts the fact that she is the daughter of one of the most infamous killers of Woodsboro. I mention the grand finale being exactly what I wanted, hopefully it’s what everyone wanted, and that’s because of Billy Loomis. He convinces his daughter to finish the job of killing her boyfriend, who is revealed to be one of the killers. In all the slasher films I have ever seen, I have never seen any victim at the end of the film kill and stab the murderer the way that Sam does at the end of Scream 5. It’s ironic, it’s dichotomia at it’s finest. Sam is the opposite of Billy, but at this moment she is not. She stabs the killer the way a killer would kill their victim. It borders on the animalistic nature of the Manson killings. It was awesome to watch and to redeem Deputy Dewey, kind of. 
4. Billy Loomis and Stu Macher manifest in the two young killers: First, the female killer Amber Freeman, played by Mikey Madison in this movie, looks like and behaves like Sadie Atkins, one of the core followers and members of the Manson Family. This is not a complete coincidence because Madison plays Sadie Atkins in Quentin Tarantino’s film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. She used this to her advantage in Scream 5, and it worked well. It was believable and both killers in Scream 5 brought characteristics from Billy Loomis and Stu Macher’s personalities into their roles. This also worked great and didn’t seem forced at all but was obvious enough that it created nostalgia, weaving into the setting of the original house. 

I loved Scream 5. I think it did everything right, it represented under-represented groups without being forced or disingenuous. It kicked ass and for us die hard fans, it perfectly connected to the first Scream.

“Hello Sydney, it’s an honor.” And an honor it was indeed. 

Thanks for reading, 
Sterp