I had the pleasure of watching the latest Scream film earlier today. This post will have my non-spoiler review.

Scream is a slasher murder mystery (a slasher mystery?) series, which uses awareness of the horror genre to offer very meta satire. It comes from Wes Craven, the same mind behind Nightmare on Elm Street.

Like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and many other slashers, Scream (1996) is a fantastic comedy. But the Scream franchise goes beyond that with its self-awareness, such as commenting on itself through the characters.

The latest (and fifth) installment released today, and due to conflicting titles, I will refer to it as “5cream.” Out of the franchise, this is my favorite sequel. It had good use of the original material and characters, while offering new elements that I enjoyed.

5cream‘s protagonists bring compelling arcs that actually made me hope they live. In most other slashers, I root for the killer, due to the undeveloped/unlikable victims. The essence of horror is to give us characters we like, so that we actually fear for their survival; yet in the genre, this is pulled off less frequently than one would think. This is a case of the satire being better than the target (like Hellsing UA).

The commentary on modern movies and fandoms works well. 5cream does a good job adapting horror to the changing face of technology. The action scenes are very on-brand, with fun references to previous films while bringing their own flavor to the table. Sidney, Gale, and Dewey had realistic arcs that do not overshadow the main story.

My personal ranking for the Scream franchise is: Scream > 5cream > Scream 4 > Scream 2 > Scream 3.

My rating for 5cream:

Plot: 3/4

Characters: 3/4

Worldbuilding: 2/4

Details: 3/4

Misc.: 4/4

Total: 15/20

Fans of the series have plenty to enjoy. My expectations were a bit lowered, considering that Halloween Kills was underwhelming; but, 5cream has learned from the mistakes in previous films to give an entertaining experience.