How should a good sequel to the Time Network feature be made? Spanning a quarter of a century and now in its fifth new horror series, Scream 5, gives a good answer. As one of the most influential classic IP in Hollywood in the 1990s, the sequel to Scream returned after 11 years, not only with a "soft reboot" of the story, but also with the re-participation of series stars Neve Campbell, David Arquette, and Courtney Cox.
Two weeks after the film was released on January 14 this year, it once ended the hit "Spider-Man: Heroes No Return" "Weekly Bully Chart Record", and at the same time received a good performance of 76% freshness on Rotten Tomatoes and a 7.1 IMDb score. In recent years, when most of the sequels have shown the appearance of dog-tailed sables, this horror film with an investment of only $25 million has achieved quite good results at both the box office and word of mouth, which also makes the sixth part of the series hot and hot on the agenda.
Nowadays, in the case of horror films, especially "slash and kill movies" routines are almost exhausted, new tricks are lackluster, what kind of strange stories and novel forms can be used to resonate and buy fans with a sequel to the fifth episode? "Scream 5" presents an interesting sample through a series of operations such as homage, self-deprecation, and spit on the previous work, which is undoubtedly a welfare work full of emotions and pokes at the "surprise" hi point for horror film fans.
Scream 5 poster
Routines and anti-routines "The murderer is the person around you"
The first "Scream" was born in 1996, cost $14 million, and eventually grossed $170 million worldwide, which is a typical case of a horror film with a small fight. The reason why it can sell so well and its influence continues to this day is inseparable from the classic "grimace killer" image created in it. Although the costume looks ordinary and cheap, the design was inspired by Munch's painting The Scream, which has become one of the most common symbols in Halloween culture.
Classic "Grimace Killer" image
The story of "Scream" is very simple, the beginning of the film is a small town in California, the United States, a high school couple in the family brutally killed, the murderer is a person wearing a common horror mask that can be bought everywhere. He obviously enjoys the killing process very much and likes to intimidate the target with the phone first, which eventually makes him psychologically broken.
The film's heroine, Sidney (Neve Campbell), is unfortunately the next target, and her mother was killed a year ago. On the night of her father's business trip, Sidney was home alone, and when she learned of the tragedy, she planned to go to her friend's house for a few days. Unexpectedly, when waiting for his friend to pick him up, the grimace killer appeared.
Neve Campbell plays the heroine Sidney
Sidney is not as fragile as he looks, and bravely resists the various attacks of the murderer, and the town police who arrive in time finally end everything. However, the next second the killer disappears, Sidney's boyfriend Bill suddenly appears, and he becomes the target of suspicion by Sidney and the police.
Bill is taken back to the police station to investigate, and Sidney not long after receiving a call from the Grimace Killer again, the real culprit is someone else? After Bill was released, the town had to return to temporary calm, and Sidney, invited by his friends, decided to relax on a party night. No one realizes that a frenzied killing is approaching...
Courtney Cox and David Arquette
Many people see the first half of the film and think that it is a kind of cathartic and boring serial torture movie, and complain that the murderer's way of committing the crime is particularly stupid. In fact, the film is quite careful about the ubiquitous atmosphere of fear. The grimace equipment, as an important prop in the film, is easily accessible and is also used by the male classmates of the prank, the school principal, and even the heroine, not only for the murderer himself. In this way, we can see through the intention of the creator, which symbolizes the crazy evil thoughts in everyone's heart, an outlet for figurative expression.
On the other hand, the slogan of "Scream" is "Always the person you know", which also points out that the crisis encountered by the protagonists comes from the people close to them. When Sidney and his friend were in distress, they had already subconsciously guessed the person coming, but only thought that the other party was joking with himself. Therefore, I believe that being betrayed unexpectedly can truly achieve the horror effect of screaming.
Another great merit of the whole film is that cue a large number of classic horror films. At the same time, the common elements in horror movies are taken out and decommitted. For example, Sidney said on the phone that the heroine of a horror movie would only stupidly run upstairs, and when she realized that something was wrong, she also made this fatal mistake.
One of the supporting characters is a horror movie fan, and when he talks to everyone about the myth that "the heroine of a horror movie can only survive if she is a virgin", the other side is that Sidney finally wants to try her first time with her boyfriend Bill.
In short, there are many similar scenes and plots, and there is no shortage of lines such as "this is how it is acted in horror movies", as well as the argument that "life is a movie, but you can't choose the movie genre", and veteran horror fans will definitely be able to smile when they see it. As for the story of the second to fourth part of the series, it all revolves around the heroine Sidney.
"Screams of Horror" borrows a lot of horror movie old terriers but no lack of black humor, and fights left and right between routines and anti-routines. The film sets up a character who likes horror movies to constantly complain about these bridges, and the murderer really kills people as he says, which strengthens the authenticity of the story and makes the audience look more terrifying. If there are murders happening all the time, then don't think about it, the murderer is the person next to you. Not only do we know each other, but we may also be very close!
A tribute to the first film Fans are the biggest winners
The latest "Scream 5" is 26 years away from the first part and 11 years from the previous one. This one appears to be a traditional sequel to the series, but it is actually like a "soft reboot" of the 1996 scream story.
The film pulls the perspective back to the origin of the series, inviting back the main actors "Three Little Strong" Neve Campbell, David Arquette, and Courtney Cox, the whole process can be said to be a tribute to the first part. The audience can almost ignore the other three sequels, and after only watching the first one, they can basically appreciate the resonant melody in it.
Neve Campbell and Courtney Cox
The film's opening scene of "Telephone Murder of a Girl Living Alone" is a complete remake of the first episode of the series. The ghost-faced murderer's familiar voice rang out: "Which horror movie do you like to watch the most?" Subsequently, the game mode of answering the questions was deliberately set up, threatening the girl step by step, pulling the suspense and excitement to the full, and reproducing the terrifying slashing scene.
The characters in the film are almost all fans of heavy horror films who are familiar with the clichés of horror movies. Through the mouth of the characters, the film makes a head-to-head analysis of how the series was restarted and how the sequel was made. "Restarting a series, neither can it be completely torn down and restarted, nor can it simply continue to shoot, there must be some new things, but it cannot be too new, it must be related to the previous work, try to be linked to the first part, it is best to ask the original class protagonist to return."
In order to enhance his persuasiveness, the character has moved out many sequels to the horror film series in film history to support his point of view. Like Black Christmas (1974-2021), Ghost Baby Return (1988-2019), and Spirit Space (1990/2017), these sequels that were re-shot were ultimately unpopular. Classic series such as "Moonlight Panic", "Chainsaw Horror", "Terminator", "Jurassic Park", "Ghostbusters" and even "Star Wars" will choose to return to the origin of the story and be closely related to the first one.
While the film bluntly breaks the method of shooting the sequel, it also practices this theory in the film. The return of the main actor San Xiaoqiang, in addition to brushing a handful of feelings, also makes the new and old versions of the story related. The story in the first Scream served as a prehistory backdrop, and the work, as well as many classic horror films, was set to be real, breaking the line between the film and the real world. In addition to the tribute, the "Scream" series of works has also become the object of constant mention in the new work, and it has become an important factor in the murderous motives of the murderer, the crazy fans obsessed with the "Scream" work.
Returning "Cop" Dewey (David Arquette)
In contrast to the "screaming scream survive" rule of "screaming and surviving" in the first film through the words of the characters— first, you can't have sex; second, you can't drink and take drugs; third, don't say "I'll be back right away"—interestingly, the film summarizes the new way of "surviving" through the returning "policeman" Dewey: first, never trust your partner; second, the murderer's motives are always related to something before; third, the murderer is in the victim's circle of friends.
This is a bit like the suspense master Hitchcock's "bomb theory", informing the audience in advance that the "bomb" exists around the protagonist, which is far more intense than finding the location of the bomb step by step and revealing the murderer who set up the trap. After the first murder, the film is expressed through the experience of the "comer", and it is also a way to pay tribute to the previous works of the series and many classic horror films, boldly breaking the crisis code.
New heroine (Melissa Barrera)
As for how the new characters in "New Bottles of Old Wine" fit into tacit understanding and transition naturally with the classic story routines, the film sets the identities of the younger generation of young people corresponding to these old characters related to the ghost-faced killer murders in the first and several sequels. For example, the heroine is the illegitimate daughter of the original ghost-faced murderer; the yellow-haired brother is the son of the current sheriff of the town, and his mother was once the little heel of Sheriff Dewey; Amber, one of the ghost-faced murderers, although she is not related to the previous characters, her current address is the murder house where the tragedy occurred that year...
In this way, the new characters stand firm, the old characters all return, and finally, they return to the main scene of the ultimate massacre of the year. The collision of new and old evokes memories full of feelings, and together brings a suspenseful and exciting experience to the audience, especially the fans of the series.
New characters in the sequel
Derived from the classic, starting from the original story, and then returning to the origin of the classic; continuing the routine of the previous work, and borrowing the corpse through the "anti-routine" and "anti-type" way, this is also the direction that Matt Bertineli-Olpin and Taylor Gillett, as loyal fans of the series and the two directors who took over this IP for the first time, may think of.
Like the first rebellious challenge to the formula of hacking and killing movies, the two conducted an interesting experiment on the horror film "sequel law" in this one, and finally received good feedback from fans and the market.
"The murderer is the person next to you"
Author: Eight and a Half / London Bridge
Edit: Eight and a half