The critics are, for the most part, enjoying the new Scream. The fifth installment of the slasher movie series, Scream is the first to be made without legendary filmmaker Wes Craven at the helm. Ready or Not directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett sought to make Craven proud with the new film, and while not every viewer is completely satisfied, the critics have labeled the sequel as Certified Fresh with a score of 77% with an 83% audience score.
This current rating of 77% rivals the Rotten Tomatoes score of 79% for the original Scream, which is considered by many horror fans to still be the best installment of the series. The critics collectively loved the sequel even more so, however, as Scream 2 leads with pack with a Certified Fresh score of 81%. Scream 3 falls the lowest in the rankings at Rotten Tomatoes with its score of 41% rotten while Scream 4 managed to barely get the series back on the fresh side with its 61% score.
Because many filmgoers don't always have faith in the critics, it's always a good thing to factor in the audience score as well. It's worth noting that the fifth Scream's audience score suggests that the majority of the fans are pretty happy with the film. That must be good news to the filmmakers as there had been concern over how the fans would react to the events of this new movie without the creative guidance of Wes Craven.
There Could Be More Scream Movies Yet to Come
Have we seen the last of Ghostface? Without getting into any Scream spoilers here, the future of the movie series is open if Paramount wants to move forward with Scream 6. The cast and crew have been open to the idea of moving forward and it has seemed like the goal has been to relaunch the movie series with multiple new installments. It all likely depended upon the film's success after its recent release.
"The whole experience has been such like a family experience, with the cast with the crew with the producer," Bettinelli-Olpin told Variety. "Not to be corny, but it’s been a love fest, and I think we’d be crazy not to want to continue it.”
Courteney Cox also teased a new Scream future by noting, "This is the fifth one... it's not Scream 5, though. This is Scream. The directors are incredible, they're making it absolutely...it's a new franchise... It's hip. It's scary. It's just a new Scream. It's not a reboot, it's not a remake, it's just a brand-new launch. I think it's gonna be fantastic."
The good news is that Scream has been doing pretty well financially in addition to garnering a fresh score at Rotten Tomatoes. It was the first movie to knock Spider-Man: No Way Home out of its No. 1 spot at the box office, and it's always good for horror fans when slasher films manage to take that top spot. The future appears bright for the Scream series, but as of now, no new sequels have been ordered.
Scream is now playing in movie theaters.