What’s your favorite scary movie? Tara Carpenter is a fan of The Babadook, but does not care as much for Stab. Tara is home alone while her mother is out of town, wandering her kitching to invite her friend, Amber, over. While doing so, the landline rings. She picks up the phone to who she thinks is her friend, Charlie, but she soon realizes it is not him when their conversation begins to sound like the opening for Stab. When she realizes she is indeed talking to the killer, she attempts to make a run for it, only to end up being stabbed when she opens the front door. Sound familiar? 

25 years later in the town of Woodsboro, California, new killers take over the persona of Ghostface, only to target those in relation to the previous victims.  Neve Campbell, Marley Shelton, and Roger L. Jackson, all returned to play their original roles from Scream. According to an anonymous audience viewer from Google, ¨Enjoyed this movie so much I went home and watched the original scream movie right after, and caught even more similarities. I think this movie pays homage to the original in  some nostalgic ways. Like many other fans of the SCREAM franchise, I had mixed feelings when it was announced that a fifth installment was on the way¨. Although initially being advertised to be a relaunch of the American slasher films, the movie is an explicit sequel to Scream 4. Scream 5 premiered on January 14, 2022, directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, after the passing of Wes Craven, the previous producer. Many had suspicion on if the two current producers could pull it off, but after watching the film, it exceeded their expectations. 

To give a quick recap on the film, Sam, Taras older sister, who left home at 13 years old, quickly returned after receiving a phone call of Tara being at the hospital after the attack, along with her boyfriend, Richie. At the hospital, Sam receives another phone call from the killer, claiming to know her secret. It turns out that the reason Sam left home was when she went through her mothers diaries and found out she is the daughter of Billy Loomis, the killer from 25 years ago. Seeking an expert, Sam and Richie head out to Dewey Riley’s house, who was involved in this situation previously. After denying them help initially, he then changed his mind to help out the teens. 

The group of teens meet up at a friend’s house to discuss the situation since the attacks are involving the people who have connections with the last victims. The killer is using Sam and Tara to recreate the Stab movie and using Sam’s connection to Billy against them. While this is occurring, the killer attacks again, but to another one of their friends and their mother. This is where the situation escalates and they are aware they are in serious danger. Ghostface then tries to attack once again at the hospital and ends up killing Dewey. Sam, Tara, and Richie all make the decision to get out of Woodsboro.

On their way out of town, Tara realized she lost her inhaler, but recalls she left one at Amber’s house, one of their friends. What they failed to realize, Amber lives at Stu Machers old house, the second previous killer. As the event heats up, the group are arguing on who the killer may be. This is when Amber speaks about how she is the killer, and proceeded to shoot another friend of theirs. As the chaos unfolds inside the home, the second killer is revealed, Richie. He lied to Sam all along claiming he had never watched the fiction Stab movies to gain her trust. Sam, having hallucinations of Billy, sees him appear in a mirror, claiming not to mess with a daughter of a serial killer. Shortly after, Sam got the opportunity to shoot Amber in the head after slitting Richie in the throat, as this was the end of living through a horror movie.

To conclude, Scream 5 should definitely be added on the to-watch list, as even the producers spoke about how the movie was a crazy risk.It holds down the authentic plot with a few of the original cast members. With chilling twists and suspense, it makes a great movie to sit down and enjoy on a night in. However, one thing that can be learned, never pick up the landline. In addition, never trust those who you think are safe, no matter how much trust is built.