It’s always someone you know
The inconspicuous town of Woodsboro cannot find peace. When it seems that the inhabitants are slowly recovering from the next series of attacks, another follower puts on a characteristic ghost mask, pulls a black cloak over his back, grabs a knife and sets off to hunt. It is no different this time; the first target of an anonymous cutthroat is also similar – teenage Tara (Jenna Ortega), who spends a lonely evening in an empty house. The girl’s sister, Samantha (Melissa Barrera) returns to the town after the attack. A group of teen friends unite to devise a plan of action and try to discover who is hiding under the mask before it’s too late. They will seek help from a veteran of the Woodsboro attacks – policeman Dewey (David Arquette). The latter, however, was not enthusiastic about re-opening old… stab wounds.
I think I’ve seen it somewhere before
Following the movie premieres, one can get the impression recently that the stout heads of Hollywood have managed to invent an efficient time machine. This machine, fueled equally by greed and sentiment, makes the record companies spit out successive parts of the series and brands from years ago. To name just the ones from the past few months: Space Match , another attempt to refresh the Ghostbusters , the immortal Halloween , and finally the Matrix dug out of the grave . From time to time, however, this deluge will contain a creation so unpretentious and sincerely infatuated with its own matter that it is difficult to find cynicism or cold calculation in it. Such a creation is The Scream , directed by Matt Betinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett.
Although this is the fifth film installment in the series (not counting the series commissioned by MTV), the title intentionally avoids any numbering. The authors refer to the very sources of the Woodsboro murders, in a way recreating – plot, aesthetically and ideologically – the course of the first Scream . Before you scoff at the fact that you have already seen this movie, I warn you – you are absolutely right, but the creators are also aware of it. Therefore, they do not try to enforce forced originality, weirdness, or cover history with the mantle of social commentary. Contemporary trends dominating in horror cinema leave (mentioned by names and titles) Jordan Peele and studios A24 and Blumhouse, instead focusing on the aspects that made Wes Craven’s revolutionary film a global phenomenon. At the core of the scenarioThe Scream by James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick lies primarily in the classic, though bloody whodunitdressed in the robe of a self-aware, self-referential commentary. The authors use handfuls of the unwritten stylistic primer left by the unfortunate innovator, on the one hand, proudly tearing out the genre’s “guts”, triumphantly presenting the seams of patterns and saying aloud the rules by which the world is governed, on the other – breaking them and playing with the expectations of the viewers, intentionally leading them to dead ends and confusing clues. Thanks to this, the story, although it seems familiar, is still engaging and entertaining.
For Wes
Meanwhile, the metatextual layer of Scream faces not only the legacy of the series, but also the contemporary landscape of horror cinema. This has changed drastically in the last two and a half decades since Craven’s groundbreaking work was released. In the era of post-horror, art-horror and sociological horror – a space for authorial expression and exchange of ideas – is there still room for a good cutthroat in a five-a-half mask? This question returns many times, between another reminder of the principles of survival in slasher, and ironic remarks regarding, inter alia, toxic fandom and the radicalization of discourse on internet forums, and finally the very idea of obsessive recycling of new brands. The status of the current installment of the series (hiding in the world presented under a fictional title) is also questioned Knife ( Stab ) – neither a reboot nor a sequel. A novelty turns out to be the interwoven elements of a small-town drama related to the characters of the Carpenter sisters – Sam and Tara, interwoven between the scary-funny sequences, deepening the lore of the fictional town.
Ultimately, however, the latest Scream is above all a tender, sentimental tribute to the film that celebrates an important jubilee, which raised a generation of horror fans and an unforgettable visionary, who repeatedly wrote the rules governing horror cinema. The creators themselves do not hide how much influence the title had on them and that their interpretation is aimed primarily at similar fans. And Wes? Wes would probably be proud.
We would like to thank the publisher – Forum Film Poland for the opportunity to watch the film Krzyk !
