The Scream is a 2022 American horror film written by James Vanderbilt and directed by Radio Silence (Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett). The film is the fifth in the Scream franchise. Despite being marketed as a reboot, the film is a direct sequel to Scream 4 (2011) and is the first in the franchise to be directed by Wes Craven since his death in 2015. At the start of the ending credits, the picture is dedicated to Craven. Melissa Barrera, Kyle Gallner, Mason Gooding, Mikey Madison, Dylan Minnette, Jenna Ortega, Jack Quaid, Jasmin Savoy Brown, and Sonia Ammar star in the movie, which also features Roger L. Jackson, Marley Shelton, Skeet Ulrich, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, and Neve Campbell.
Neve Campbell returns from earlier editions to reprise their roles. The film is set twenty-five years after the original Woodsboro murders, when a new Ghostface arrives and begins hunting down a group of youngsters who are all tied to the previous crimes in some way. Scream, like previous instalments, satirises the tendency of reboots and legacy sequels by combining slasher violence with elements of black humour and “whodunit” intrigue. The film also makes a point about horror fan culture, namely the distinction between “elevated horror” and traditional slasher movies.
Despite the fact that the fifth and sixth Scream movies were considered after the release of Scream 4 in 2011, Craven, writer Kevin Williamson, and executive producer Harvey Weinstein expressed reservations about making further films after the fourth film’s underwhelming box office performance. Following the 2017 sexual assault allegations against Weinstein and the dissolution of The Weinstein Company, Spyglass Media Group acquired the rights to the Scream series in November 2019, and indicated that a new film will be filmed subsequently. Williamson, who was returning as an executive producer, stated the picture would not be a remake the following year, and that Radio Silence had been engaged to direct the film in March 2020. Campbell and Arquette were set to return later that month, according to reports.
Throughout the middle of the year, Cox and the new cast members will be joining the show. Due to the COVID-19 epidemic, the film’s production was delayed, therefore filming took place in North Carolina between September and November 2020. Several revisions of the screenplay were developed, and several more sequences were filmed, to avoid any plot leaks.
Many of the new faces who came into the “Scream” franchise in the latest film — including Jenna Ortega and Melissa Barrera — will return for “Scream 6,” which is slated to release in March 2023.