While dealing with family drama with her daughter, Sidney must do battle with a new Ghostface, who may have an interesting connection to her.
The opening scene of the couple at the Stab-themed Airbnb was fun; the way they ratcheted up the tension and played with expectations was well done and will lead to some memorable moments.
It was nice having Neve Campbell back; I’m a sucker for the Sidney character, and it was interesting seeing her now at the age her mom was in the first film and where she is in life and how she’s dealing with all the emotional baggage of her life and her relationship with her daughter.
I’m mixed on Sidney’s daughter Tatum (named after her best friend from the first movie); like, I like the actress's performance overall, and the character is fine, but she was written kind of bratty and overly dramatic, like I get there’s a killer on the loose and things are stressful, but she was complaining about some pretty inconsequential details, like at a certain point I had to catch my eyeballs rolling out of my head lol.
I like seeing Gale Weathers and Randy’s niece and nephew back; their characters are always enjoyable and get some good laughs, not to mention I enjoyed their introduction, but Gail and Sidney have some drama more forced than a Darth Vader chokehold, and it would’ve been nice for the twins to have more to do than just show up, be snarky, and explain the rules, but I’ll admit I got some good chuckle moments with them in their banter.
I enjoyed Joel McHale in the movie; not to sound like a broken record, but I liked his performance, but the character was pretty generic, as his only real personality traits are loving husband and cop… Just a generic cop lol.
This may be the most bloodthirsty we’ve seen Ghostface; with just the brutality of the kills, I wonder, with the success of the Terrifier series, if the producers are trying to compete with that franchise. It doesn’t come even close to something Art would do, but the kills do have a similar feel as far as brutality, which at times can sort of clash with the more family-friendly, mellow drama tone of the rest of the film.
I liked the new cast performances; everyone did a solid job and was likable in their roles, but the characters were flatly written, like it’s hard to describe their personality outside "friend of Tatum or Sidney."
There is a sort of subplot addressing Sidney not being in the last movie, which felt unnecessary and, as my friend described, “too insider baseball” that most audiences won’t really care about or even pick up on.
The cinematography was sufficiently moody. Kevin Williamson did a good job at capturing the overall tone and feel of the other films, but I did find some of his direction pretty flat and overly standard, like with basic “medium close-up, reverse shots” during dialogue scenes. Nothing really jumped out at me as far as stunning visuals, but the directing was competent overall, and the action scenes did have some thrills to them as far as pacing, use of location, and fight choreography; that was all solid.
There wasn’t a whole lot of meta commentary on horror movies as previous entries, but there were plot twists and subversions to the story that I did find enjoyable and kind of clever.
There was something modern that was incorporated as a plot device, which I think overall led to some fun moments and an intriguing mystery, but I can see some viewers not being the biggest fans of it; I thought it was fine.
I do feel like the film is overly relying on callbacks to previous entries in the franchise, like they kick on that nostalgia like maple syrup on the world‘s biggest pancake, but I will admit some of the references got me to smile or chuckle, but overall it was more of a crutch than an advantage, but it never got overly annoying or anything; it’s definitely a mixed bag, up to the viewers' discretion on how they feel about it.
Unfortunately, this movie hands down has the weakest Ghostface killer reveals; like, I’m not gonna spoil anything, but even as the big motive was being explained, I was getting confused and lost in the moment about what this was all even about. But for me personally there was a performance I did enjoy in that scene; I just wish there was stronger writing to support it.
In the final confrontation, Sidney does have some badass moments, but that stuff is most enjoyed if you’re a fan of the character or the series; if not, you will think it’s fine but just not as much as
So overall, I think the movie is OK; like, on a visceral slasher action level, the movie is fine and has enjoyable moments, and certain characters were fun to see again, and there were some subplots that did draw me in and I was curious about, but there was also too much forced drama in callbacks. I gave the film an enthusiastic 2 and a half stars ⭐️⭐️💫; like, I don’t strongly dislike it or anything, and the movie definitely has its moments I enjoyed, but at the end of the day there just wasn’t a whole lot of substance to the film.
