Fast Links
The Scream reboot (or Scream 5) is slated to release on January 14, 2022. Understandably, many long-time fans of the series may be a bit skeptical since it’s a new director carrying on Wes Craven’s legacy. However, worry not. By the looks of the trailer and screenshots of the upcoming movie, it will pay homage to Wes Craven’s original masterpiece.
The Original Scream Background Information
Spoiler alert if you haven’t seen the original movie, but we need to get you up to speed. The original Scream film took place in 1996; a time when it was okay to leave your doors unlocked without the fear of a masked murderer coming in. Oh, how times have changed.
It all starts with Sidney Prescott, a young and naive girl living her life amongst her high school friends. Sidney isn’t a regular teen, however. She’s quite special. See, Sidney’s mother was viciously murdered one year before the events of the film. This, of course, left a lot of trauma for poor old Sidney. It’s no wonder why she’s a bit timid at the beginning of the series.
Let’s talk about the people that surround Sidney’s life. There’s Dewey Riley, a deputy for the Woodsboro police department, who narrowly escapes death every film. Then we have Gale Weathers, a news reporter that will stop at nothing to get to the bottom of a breaking news story. These three make up the trio that we see throughout each film in the series.
Side Characters And Ghostface
As for the other characters who don’t make it out at the end of the series, we have Tatum Riley, Sidney’s best friend, and Dewey’s sister, Billy Loomis, Sidney’s boyfriend with a rather mysterious past, Randy Meeks, a horror film fanatic with a lot of insight as to how things go down in horror movies and discovers the correlation between those and the murders in Woodsboro, and finally, Stu Macher, the guy with a dark but funny sense of humor.
We can’t forget to mention the main star, Ghostface. Ghostface is the murderer of Woodsboro and it isn’t revealed until the final acts that the killer, or killers, are Billy Loomis and Stu Macher. Each has a different motive for wanting Sidney dead. We discover that Billy murdered Sidney’s mother because her affair with his father caused his mother to abandon him and now he wants his girlfriend dead as well. Stu, well, he succumbed to peer pressure.
Now that the background information is out of the way, let’s talk about how the story plays out in the original Scream film.
The Finals Events Of The Original
As previously mentioned, the killers are revealed to be Billy and Stu. The final events take place in Stu’s house while his parents are out of town. Because of the recent murders, school is suspended until further notice. Everyone gathers at Stu’s house to avoid being caught alone by Ghostface. Unsurprisingly, these teens make it a house party to celebrate school being out.
Everyone is having a good time until people start to go missing from the party. Tatum is murdered in the garage of Stu’s house by Billy. This much is evident since Billy gives Stu a signal when showing up to the party a little late, even though he wasn’t invited. Eventually, all of the other teens depart, leaving only Sidney and her group of friends in the house. This doesn’t bode well for anyone now that there are only a few people left and half of them are killers.
Eventually, Randy figures out that Stu is a murderer; he tells Sidney this right before Billy ends up shooting him in the shoulder. The plan all along was to frame Sidney’s father as the killer, who only appears at the beginning and end of the film. Fortunately, Gale and Dewey are also around the house doing surveillance and watching over everything. However, Dewey ends up getting stabbed in the back and Gale is knocked out. Eventually, Stu is crushed by a television and electrocuted while Billy is shot in the head.
This just about sums up the events of the original, but how does Wes Craven’s legacy carry over into the reboot?
The Scream Reboot
From the trailer, you can tell in certain segments that some events and locations are nods to the original. For instance, the beginning seems to be very similar, as it all starts with a phone call to a naive teen who is eventually murdered by Ghostface. While the Scream reboot takes a more modern approach to this, it’s very reminiscent of the opening act of the original film.
Let’s not forget to mention that the original trio, Sidney, Gale, and Dewey, all make a return in the 2022 reboot. Them making a comeback alone signifies that Wes Craven’s legacy lives on. While the trailer may hint at one of them unfortunately not making it out alive at the end, the fact that they are back for at least one last time is a tribute to the fans who have been watching this series for decades.
Likewise, some locations of the reboot seem to be very similar to the original. Stu’s house, for example, seems to be a setting for the film. If Sidney comes back to this house that’s iconic to the series, what does that say about who the killer may be? One would speculate that maybe Stu is alive. Maybe that’s looking too far into it but perhaps not. At the very least, this is a nod to the setting of the original.
Closing Thoughts
The reboot of Scream is surely paying homage to the original film in several ways. Not only is some of the original cast returning, but the trailer showcases a very familiar setting. Rest assured that this reboot will live up to Wes Craven‘s original. It will be interesting to see how it all pans out in the end. For now, we can only speculate who the killer might be this time around. We do know one thing though. It’s always someone you know.