Scream (2022) feat. Marley Shelton, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett and Chad Villella

Hello, City. Who is this? It's your killer host. My name is Parker, your resident horror fanatic. And I'm Julianne, your A24 horror. And welcome to. What's your favorite scary movie? What's your favorite scary movie is a horror film podcast where we're on a journey to find our favorite scary movie one at a time. Whether you hate them or love them, join us and discover yours. Spoilers ahead, so plan your movie screening every weekend before the episode release. Hello. Welcome to another week on What's Your Favorite Scary Movie? Where for Snorra, we've been talking Scream 5, no spoilers, but yeah, right. Here we are to do a full spoiler breakdown of Scream 2022. I realized in a recent recording I called it Scream 2020 because time is irrelevant.

But I'm so excited to be here breaking it down with my faves. You met last week, John. Hello, I'm back. And uh we all know, we all love, we all look forward to the next time she'll be here. Julianne. Hello, Parker. It's an honor. I was chilling. Not you, but in the movie. You too. I thought it's it's one of my favorite lines in the franchise so far. What we'll we'll discuss. Yeah, yeah, definitely. And speaking of uh spoiler-free review last week, we got down into the nitty-gritty of who's who and what's what, and you know, just some general reviewing last week on our spoiler-free review of Scream Five. So if you haven't heard that, go check it out because you'll be missing some very uh good nuggets about our opinions of the new movie and some great thoughts from uh Radio Silence, the directors and producers of Scream Five.

And you'll get more Radio Silence this week, as well as my interview with Marley Shelton, who plays Sheriff Hicks in Scream Five. So stay tuned for that. But boring, boring, boring, that's all done. Let's get into it. Like I said, stats were last week, but what we didn't have last week was the Rotten Tomatoes reaction to uh Scream Five. So, John, why don't you kick us off with the critic score? The critics gave it a 76%, which I feel is a little low. I thought it was much better. The audience, however, gave it an 83%, which I think is much more accurate. Yeah, and Julianne, what'd they say? What's the Rotten Tomatoes uh consensus? The fifth scream finds the franchise working harder than ever to maintain its meta-edge and succeeding surprisingly often.

Sums it up pretty good, I think. Kind of a mixed bag though. It starts out a little critical and then nice. And then nice, kind of throat bones. Well, and we know now that we are past the premiere, the whole premiere weekend of Scream 5, that your girl is doing well in the box office. Yay! What's it made? Was it 38 million in the opening weekend? Something like that, yeah. Which is more than sadly what Scream 4 made in its entire run. Can you believe that? I just cannot even believe that that is the truth. I know, I know. Well, and you I mean, for us, that's our favorite scream sequel, so that's even more devastating, right?

I mean yeah. Well, the girls turned out for this one, and uh we're all seeing it, and the future is promising, so hopefully a more promising future this time around. What have you seen buzzing around the internet? How do you think people are taking Scream 5, Julianne? I think in the large part, loving it. Loving it. I think the only people who I've seen who aren't as enthused are people who weren't normally into the franchise in general. So why would they like the fifth one if they didn't like the first four? So I I don't care for what they think, but yeah, largely people are loving it. So I think uh I think we're in good shape and we will see what happens next.

Yeah, I've been um a member of some Scream fan groups on Facebook and social media, and it is a little divided, I think. I've seen well, I guess we always know that uh negative Nellies can be a little vocal. Um, but I've seen some some vitriol on the internet and a couple of Amber's and Richies running around out there saying, you know, screaming shit. They haven't had a good one since 96. So, like you said, I mean it's a lot of uh, I don't know, how dare you do this to my favorite characters? How dare you do that? Blah blah blah. But like you said, yeah, yeah. I'm uh I'm not a fan. John, have you seen anything?

I haven't. I'm also not on Twitter, you know. Tragic. Yeah, yeah, I think it's uh looking good. I do have to say that there was some hyperbole before um it came out. Like it's not the best movie ever created, but but it is it is a damn good scream sequel. And I actually was surprisingly like I mean, I think you guys could attest to this. I was even I loved it even more the second time, the second viewing. So I think like the first time I was like, okay, I I'm I'm hoping, but the hyperbole is a little bit too much from certain critics who I think are a little bit too yeah, it's it's amazing.

And I was like, okay, and then I saw it, I'm like, that's pretty good. Okay, I'm cool with it. The flaws I have with the issues I have with it are still there, but I they lessened my second viewing. And I think that's this movie requires, I think, multiple viewings. And I love movies that have that kind of impact where you want to keep watching them again and again because they have more to offer. Each viewing is a different experience, and uh that to me is the epitome of a scream sequel. So yeah, the second time I loved it way more, and I picked up on a lot more too. And then I Parker will talk about stuff that he sees on like the Facebook fan group that I missed, and I'm like, now I have to see it again because apparently I didn't catch it all.

Yeah, we actually saw it the second time in 4DX, that was an excuse. Which uh yeah, they had full posters for I feel like they were hyping the 4DX screen thing, so I was excited. I'd actually never seen a movie in 4D, and I would recommend not seeing a movie for the first time in 4D because it was like being on a mechanical bowl. It's a little violent. I thought it would move a little bit. No, I was almost ejected from my chair multiple times. It's spraying water on you when people are getting stabbed, so it's like blood, it's jabbing you in the back when people are getting stabbed. And when someone was lit on fire at one point, it emitted the aroma of bacon.

Made me really hungry. Okay, that's nice. I love that. Yeah, I know. I was like, ooh, but also make sure you pee right before you go because I had to pee so bad at the end, and I was like, I can't get up because when I come back, I'm not gonna be able to get back in the seat because it's jerking around too much. Yeah, it was hilarious. I was really tickled by it, but at the same time, sometimes I just literally couldn't see what was happening because I was being thrown around the room. So, but I agreed. I was so even from last week when we when John and I recorded our first reaction, and we were both pretty positive on it.

I gotta say, I'm more positive on it the second time. Stuff that bothered me the first time, I was like, I must have been in a state when I saw it the first time because this is awesome. So on the note, let's get into it. Let's break it down. All the things we couldn't say before, starting at the very beginning with the cold open that's immediately flipping the script on everything we know about Scream previously. What'd you think, Julianne? It loved it. Man, I was like, that's I was like, what are they gonna do differently? Duh, not kill off, not kill her off. Like that's the lure, what they're the whole elaborate plan, and which I will say, how the fuck she survived all that.

I have she she's a tiny, she's a little girl, she's smaller than me, and she survived like how many stabbings? I was like, 11. Yeah, it was a lot, come off, yeah, but whatever. Okay, fine. But yeah, that and I loved how the very beginning, like we're seeing Ghostface kind of she he's toying with her in a way that we've never seen at before. He's always initially menacing right off the bat, he's like pretending to be somebody else, and we get to see Roger Jackson kind of use a different set of voices. I love that. I loved how it started out. Yeah, I actually was really surprised by that because it's funny we talk so much about how the unique thing about Scream is that it's the survivors that stay the same and it's the killer that changes every time.

But at the same time, the ghost face character before he's unmasked, they're unmasked, uh, is usually pretty consistently like the same feeling of a character. So it was really fascinating to see that and be like, oh yeah, there are different people under that costume, like that we have not interacted with before. I thought that was really cool. And I don't know, some of it like I've we've seen the trailer so many times that like the door locking on whatever. It was a little tired by the time we saw it. Not the movie's fault, but this image of Ghostface uh standing above her with the police siren lights on him with the knife and the building music chilling.

And then into the title. And we get that again later. That those that's what I do want to bring that up later, like the looming shots of Ghostface just making his way to the victim. We've never really seen a whole lot of that since the first one. I love that. I love that we're making Ghostface feel more menacing again because I kind of really didn't get that feel in the last honestly three sequels. I mean, I just haven't gotten that, like, oh shit, like there he is, and he's he's working his way towards you. Like, that's terrifying. Like, I love that. Yeah, this was great. I uh I think Jenna Ortega did a great job. Oh yeah.

Um I think that I mean it felt like which it was meant to parallel Casey Becker's death in the first one. All these are paralleling in some way the first movie, and uh it may not have been quite as terrifying or as even long as that first sequence is in the first, yes, Casey Becker's death, but it's still it felt very like, man, what the hell would I do if that were me? It's it's scary. And I and I feel like a lot of modern, especially modern slashers, just don't really know what to do with technology because slashers were made before we had cell phones, right? And so to see her whip out IMDB or whatever their parallel of IMDB is, genius.

It is like if Ghostface were to quiz us, we'd have the answer in an instant, whether we knew it or not. So I love that you have to read carefully because she screwed up that last answer. Yeah, it's true. She did not know the answer, which honestly, girl, I don't know. I don't know how stab plays out in the scream universe. Although I have to say, if I lived in a town where there was a bunch of famous murders, I would be all over those movies. You won't know it, yeah, but excited. And on top of that, like Home Girl is an elevated horror fan. We have to give her credit for that. So that this stab franchise is not her thing, okay?

No, I want to say the opposite, where it's the same thing as I don't know, I'm a vegan. It's like, oh, you only watch the Babaduok. Like, come on, even though the jokes landed, jokes landed, they were spot on. I thought it was fantastic. Yeah, it's that I was like, oh shit, we're already going to like hereditary and the witch, and like it followed. Like, yeah, like some of my favorites. Yeah, mine too. But I was like, oh, the jabs are coming and I love it. Uh and I think that on the note of the menacing ghost face, I was also struck. I enjoyed how these ghost faces are ghost faces are a little sloppy. They don't always get it right.

And that immediately manifests when we get to the um when we get to the hospital, and the very first, well, not the very first ghost face call, the very first ghost face call we see on a cell phone, it says, maybe Amber Freeman, as iPhones do. And it's funny because of course she's like, they cloned my phone. I wasn't the blah blah blah. But thinking back, it's like straight out of the gate, they just told us who the killer was. Oh yeah, she made the mistake twice. Yeah. Who so we in the very first sequence we see the camera is it looks like someone's shooting her, right? From her window. What film shooting. Well, yeah. What do we think?

Not shooting, like as in a gun shooting, but like what do we think that that like we think she did that herself as in like a little thing or like they filmed it beforehand, yeah, yeah. Yeah. See, I saw a lot of arguing about this as well on the Facebook fan group that I'm probably going to refer to a lot of times because I'm just having a ball of a time feeling like like a spy in there, just like seeing everybody being crazy and me not participating in things like that. But people are like, how would they do that? You can't you can't pre-record a FaceTime, blah, blah, blah. Richie couldn't have been there, blah, whatever.

Well, the thing is, I took certain specific note that that is not a FaceTime call. Uh, Amber's phone texts a video to Tara, so it could have been recorded anytime. Uh, she just texts it and it's a video of her. So, I mean, she could have, well, it moves. I was gonna say she could have done it on a tripod. Someone had Richie had to have been there at some point. Also, there was like the knife, yeah, it comes into frame. So yeah, they definitely met up before and filmed that in preparation, but doable. So, all right. Um, we don't need to go scene by scene. I just want to jump to the cool stuff. So a lot happens, boom, whatever.

And then who pops up in my screen? Billy Loomis. When I tell you my jaw hit the floor, I could feel under my mouth underneath my mask just go like a gape. I like we all thought Stu Mocker would be returning in this franchise somehow, and they they smartly kind of I think purposely market it that way where he's just like, yeah, I'll come back to screen. He does in some way, which we'll you know, we we'll talk about. But uh really fucking loomis. I and I I think I didn't quite I mean I could see it the first time, but obviously there's a ton of de-aging. I think I think it looks fine. I think you can't really like you can't expect much more.

I mean, it's whatever, it's been 25 years, he's like in his 50s now, like it's it is what it is, but like the second time around, it's like wow, like I looking up close, I'm like, that's like I can't believe they pulled that off without anyone finding out. Yeah, someone I mean he does look like a computer person, but also he's like a ghost. Like, I don't know, I don't care that much. Weird computer hallucination. Yeah. Um, but I did the same thing. I like grabbed John's arm and looked at him. I was like, what the fuck? I kind of hated it the first time I saw it. Um, but the second time I actually kind of I don't know, I didn't hate it as much, and I kind of liked it by the end.

What changed? What was bad the first time? I mean, to me, it was just like they were just like uh I think it was the look. The look of it, yeah. Like this weird DH computer CGI hallucination. Yeah. Well, and I mean, we've had issues in the past, scream three, with the ghost of a past character. And I gotta say, sometimes it works for me, sometimes it doesn't. I kind of like all of the Billy Loomis stuff, except at the very end when he's like kindly pointing her to the knife. That's a little strange. I feel no warmness for Billy Loomis. So to have some sort of like, he's helping. The redemption arc, not a fan of that, but all in all, I think that I think this movie, like my first viewing, I wasn't crazy about the ending.

I wasn't crazy about the reveal. I was like, okay, this is fine. But for me, what made up for it is this. To me, it's like as a diehard screen fan, I was like, that is a shock that I never would see coming. And is a little hokey, sure. But I also think it's like this is Billy Lumen. It's like an image, and like had we just been told that Sam was his daughter, it's like okay, but to see him interact with her and be like, Yeah, I'm still I'm in your conscience, like you can't run away from me. That's actually that that's effective, in my opinion. I think they had they kind of needed him to be floating around as opposed to just like just telling us that, yeah, that's that's my daughter.

That's just that's not it's not as good, I don't think. So yeah, I was okay with it. Well, I asked Matt Betanelli Open and Tyler Gillette, uh, the directors of Scream and executive producer uh Chad Villella about this very thing. So let's hear about it. I gotta say, of all the predictions that I've made about Scream 5 and that I've heard about Scream 5, uh Billy Loomis's involvement in general and Skeet Ulrich's involvement was not anything that I expected, that anyone I've talked to has expected. So I gotta know, like, uh what was it like pulling him back in? We've heard so much about conversations you guys had with Nev Campbell and all of them, but like what was going on with Skeet Ulrich and what was it like having him back uh in Woodsboro?

Well, really quick, we had the same reaction you did, by the way. We we sort of made we took pains when we were reading it for the first time to make sure that we were all kind of on the same page at the same time because we wanted to sort of be reacting to the experience of the of the story in unison. And we got to that. I remember getting to that moment, the first, the first reveal of his character, and all of us were just like, What? And it was and it felt both like a like a crazy risk for the story to take, and also it felt like fuck yeah, this is exactly right.

This is totally what this movie should do. And so so we had the we had we had very similar, a very similar first experience with with Skeet coming back. Yeah, and I'm sure you've had uh no shortage of people barraging you with requests to have Matthew Lillard back. So I think people are gonna be really shocked by uh which of that duo ended up in it. Because we are uh blown away that that we have managed Skeet has is still a secret secret, which is crazy. But fun fact, just uh exclusive you heard it here first, was that Matthew Willard he does a voice cameo for us. Oh, really? Which part? He says Tia does a couple, he does two, yeah.

He is flamethrower, flamethrower, ghost face, which you can barely hear right in there, and then he has is lit, yeah. Nice house freeman, yeah, and then he has a line at uh at when when you get to Amber's house, there's one of the right when she's walking around, you hear cool house, Freeman, or nice house. Cool house freeman. That's incredible. Uh he's there in spirit, yeah. Wow, so good, and uh such good insights, and I loved it, and what a pleasure and a delight to speak to them about that. Uh, they even said themselves they were shocked that nobody had leaked that yet. So, I mean, now they have, as we saw, Skeet Old Rich himself posted it really fast.

Sam, I was like, can you give the people who haven't been able to see it like a minute? But nope. Yeah. Well, I gotta say, something that this uh turn of events, the uh ghost of Billy Loomis, originally planted in my brain is I wondered, what if Sam herself, which is hinted at a little bit uh when they have the teen meeting with Dewey, what if Sam herself is having some sort of out-of-body experience where she doesn't know she's the killer? Parker, I said the same thing. I was like, I bet that she's schizophrenic. That was my first. I was like, I bet you that she's had she's multiple personalities and she's not even realizing that she's also a part of this.

Like she's not the only killer, obviously, but she's one of them. And I thought, man, that that would be a really quite interesting twist, but obviously it doesn't go that way. But yeah, I I I swear I was like, that is the same. When I saw her popping the pills, and I'm like, something's up with her. I kind of was a little disappointed that that doesn't really go anywhere, per se. Well, but yes. Well, yet, and also what we will discuss to be one of my new favorite lines and moments of the Scream franchise. So I respectfully disagree. But no, I get what you're saying. Yeah. Uh what do you say? We take a little look at the other cameos from this movie.

One of my favorites, the return of Heather Madarazo, Lily Moskowitz from Princess Diaries, which would be an incredible crossover. Um, the sister of Randy, who just like in Scream 3, when she hilariously just pops out of a trailer and she's like, Sydney, same thing where we just go to a house and she walks out and just says hello. Uh a delight. A delight. Yeah, delightful. Did you think this was a make or break? No, I mean I'm Scream 3 is probably my least favorite of the screen movies. So like I was like, oh, it's it's Randy's sister, but I wasn't like it's so brief. It was just kind of like, oh, that's nice, but it didn't really kind of hit me either way.

But uh other things I will say later on hit me a little bit a little bit more. Yeah, a little bit better than that one did. I have to say, um, this cameo was probably for me the one that I knew was kind of a sure deal. Like, I think I went to the movie knowing she would be in it. I mean, seems like an easy, yeah, easy thing to pull off, whereas Skeet Olrich coming back, not as easy. So, and as you heard in my interview with Radio Silence, we have the voice of Matthew Lillard in the chrome face uh sequence for Stab 8 and also at the party, uh scooped by Bloody Disgusting, but I was the first one to hear it, they said.

You're just not the listener, you are not the first one to hear it, but I was. You know what? Going beyond that, when are we gonna get a chrome? When are we gonna switch off the mask? I feel like we need that. Like I feel like especially if they're trying to remake stab. I guess I guess that's stab eight they're referring to with a chrome mask, but like, Dan, how cool would that have been if we had gotten a chrome ghost face mask? That's sick. I was excited because they showed it in the trailers. Yeah. So I was thinking it was gonna happen. And then well, it is tricky in the trailers because they must have just had the footage because it is full screen, like a scene in the trailer, but in the movie, it's you only see it in the YouTube clip.

Like there is not a full screen moment from what I remember with the chrome face. Uh, which it would be cool to change up the mask. I mean, in the real world, there are so many variations on the mask. Like you see people walking around with the ones that can pump blood down it. I'm sure there's been a chrome one before. Yeah. Oh, there's time, yeah. Yeah, so that would be interesting. And if the whole point of it is that the killers are just able to buy the costume at a store every time, like it'd be kind of fun to know that in the scream world the same thing has happened and they can just buy a different version of the or even the killers revealed and they're like they were out of stock of the original, like you know.

Yeah, it's like even in Scream 2, look at all there's tons of ghost phase masks in the beginning of that sequence when Jana Jada Pinkett Smith is going to the movie theater. So it's like we could easily try to have like variation of the stab mask, I think, but it's cool. Yeah, other um cameos is according to Bloody Disgusting Again, Drew Barrymore gives an announcement uh about the uh at the school, she's the principal, uh, which every time I hear it, I hear her say something like hello campers. I just like cannot understand what she is saying. Because I remember the first time I saw this, I was like, Oh, this is a summer camp scream.

Oh my god, that would be great. But it's not meet the scream. How cool would that be? Yeah, I know that. Um I can't I I have to hear that again because I definitely did not get Drew Barrymore vibes, but me neither. I mean, she's probably purposely trying not to be recognized. Um and then reports that the uh for West host at the party is a whole bunch of cast members, including Jamie Kennedy, Hayden Paneteer, Mark, Marco Beltrami, and Henry Winkler and Adam Brody, and Wes's widow, Aya Labunca. So a lot of people and more um participating in that. All right, so there's a really interesting conversation when Dewey shows up. PS note the music, the return of Dewey's theme, and later the return of Sydney's theme in the house.

Gorgeous, gorgeous girls, gorgeous, gorgeous girls. Um, and so there's an interesting conversation where this movie we are spoofing the requel, where it is a redo sequel of is that what that means, right? Redo sequel. Yeah, it's like basically the definition of Halloween 2018, right? It's like they're redoing it, but they're re-ignoring the other sequels and going back to the start, that kind of thing. Yes, and uh, I think it's really interesting because I mean this movie is not a requel, but I mean, I've told other people you only have to see the first one to really get it. I mean, I think of course there are characters from Scream 4, there's a little bit of carryover from it to get the nuances, you need to see all of them, but of course, it's a sequel mostly uh like you only have to see Scream uh Scream One to get Scream Five.

Julianne, you had a thought about the title. Yeah, no, I just thought it was interesting how like we all were like, Oh, of course they're calling it Scream at Scream again, because like of course they are because that's what they're doing, all these movies. But I think of course they are, like that's the whole point of this movie is that it's a prequel. So they have to in order to fill out the meta promise, they have to call it scream because scream five, it's not we're ignoring all the other scream movies in a sense. We even said just a moment ago, Halloween 2018, it's not called Halloween 5000, it's called Halloween 2018. Well, it's called Halloween, but we call it Halloween 2018 because we have to suffer through differentiating those movies like that.

And then also, um in the movie itself, they say, why isn't it called Stab Eight? It's just stab. That's so stupid. So they're even making fun of themselves. Uh, there is that line. I actually remember some debate on the same Facebook group that's getting a lot of airtime, but um, there was a debate happening where people were wondering why they say Sydney was only not in the last one. Yeah, I think in Scream Four when the very first opening sequence, when I don't know the actresses are I don't forget their names, but the first time, the first like meta in movie and movie movie where they're talking about it like, oh, Sydney Prescott was only in the the first three, and then she she threatened to sue.

So I think that was a little bit of like a wonky mistake on their part. People were sh were arguing, and actually, I can see this where they say Sydney's story was only used for the first three, and then she threatened to sue. I wonder if they would still be able to use the Sydney character, just not about Sydney Prescott. I mean, obviously the stab movies diverge from there's one that has space track or time track because there's eight of them, but yeah, the point that this movie comes out. So, I mean, obviously they're not following Sydney Prescott's life anymore. I do think it's curious that uh it seems do we think there was a stab movie about Scream 4?

Yeah, that's a good question. There has to be, right? At that point, what do we remember? We should you Parker, you and I should know because we watched Scream 4 so many times. How far are they along in the franchise at that point? I know. I remember, isn't it Scream 6 and then Scream 7 or Stab? Yeah. So I mean it's kind of crazy that I mean that means there wouldn't have been one about Scream 4 because Stab 8 is the new one, and it has Chrome face and a flamethrower, which did not happen in the true events of Scream 4. Yeah, I guess not. And I think maybe that's what they were going for was that like the the long return of Stab has come back, and this is like the long return of Scream has come back, and it's like after all these years, oh, these movies are too woke, or like that's the commentary, I guess.

Um good question though. Uh, I want to talk a little bit about uh my girl Judy Hicks and her son Wes, who for me is gay, but in the movie, you know, apparently has a cross. No, he's gay, he's gay. No one has frosted tips like that and is straight. I'm just gonna say that. And nobody shows their butt, especially after the year of 1997. Like nobody has frosted tips like that. You're not in in sync, or was it backstreet? Who which was the boy band that had all the frosted twitching? Yeah, I thought not to give away uh anything, but what a good sequence. Oh my gosh. It was fantastic. So I have to I have to say, I was actually really sad by his death.

Um, even though it wasn't Judy. No, I was so crushed by Judy. Um I kind of feel like that was a setup and I knew that was coming, but with his, I I I knew that he was probably gonna die, but man, he was seemed like a really good kid. I felt bad for it. I was like, this is a kid that's like a good character that like the girls are like a boyfriend repellent. I'm like, no, that's the kind of kid you guys should be dating. Like he's actually trying to protect you. Like I felt bad. It was awesome. And hot. And hot. I hope he's 20 something, right? 20-something? He's only gotta be 18.

No, he's pretty old. He's been around for a while. Let's see how old he is. 96. He's a year younger than Parker. Nice. He's 25. Oh my god, did it say December 26th birthday? Very unfortunate. But I December 29th. Okay. I did love that kill scene. I loved the suspense and the build-up, just him closing all those doors in the refrigerator. And you're like, when is Ghostface gonna come out and stab him? Oh my god, and it kept tricking you. And the lemon squares, I love that. The lemon squares. Oh man, and I think the actual the actual kill sequence with him is like it's slow and it's mean, it's close-up. We almost never get close-up shots of these kills, and that was so sad.

Like, and I think that was for we don't really get a whole lot of kills in this movie, considering, but that to me was one of the saddest, aside from the one that we've got. Judy Hicks is the first on-screen kill of the movie, and that's like a pretty that's pretty far into the movie, isn't it? Isn't it like halfway through? I feel like no, I feel like Dewey is halfway through, but I think that um what is impactful really impact so this is of course not the first kill of the movie. The first kill of the movie, which I glossed over because I just don't care, is this guy who is apparently Stu Mocker's nephew, and he's killed off screen.

He like has one scene, and Julianne and I have talked a lot about how it seems like maybe he was a more significant character that we'll get some deleted scenes for later. Um he's notable because a really incredible and like most fun use of the song Red Right Hand, which was absent from Scream 4, but has been in all of the other Scream movies. But I don't know, I just don't feel anything about it. And at first I was really like, oh, an off-screen kill. Like that's not very scream of them. But I think it really pays service to making Judy Hicks, the killing of Judy Hicks, uh, an incredible movie title right there. Um making it more impactful and not letting us in until now on how vicious the ghost face is and how like bloodthirsty ghost face is to have that like like punching boom, boom, boom, boom, boom stab.

And very bold, like in broad daylight. Broad daylight on a like a residential street after she's obviously called in for backup. Yeah, I think that's one of the brilliance of like this movie is that like the sequel kind of shows like Ghostface is always quick, right? He's always he's vanishes. Like you look around, oh he's he's gone that quickly, but he's like almost like supernatural. But in this one, that's there, but it's also like it's slow and deliberate and real menacing, too. And I think that combination just I love the way they portrayed Ghostface in this movie. And reckless, reckless, yeah. Um I love that. Yeah, and of course, going back to Wes for a moment, uh, you know, everybody's talking about the subversion of the damsel in the shower.

Of course, it's exciting that it's a man and that it's a hot man and it's a ripped man, and it's an a man with butt cheeks that we see the very top sliver of, but we'd like to see more. If the ghost of Wes Hicks comes back to haunt someone next movie, I hope it's naked. But uh then his death, very uh penetrative, very slow, very uh see the knife just like under the skin. Hot. Do we think this was Amber? Not that it matters, but do we think this one was Amber? I think so. Yeah, because I think Richie's in the room, I think. She's just a very intense character. Yeah, and you could tell she had some beef with her with Wes.

Yeah, yeah. That was her moment just to relish, being like, fuck you. Yeah, and we can talk a little bit later about not necessarily who killed who when, but like, I don't know, I see a lot of upset online about they couldn't have pulled all that, blah blah blah. We'll get to that later. That's in every movie, yeah. Yeah, but for now, what I would love to get to is my interview with Marley Shelton, the actress who plays Judy Hicks. Hi, Marley, how are you? Hi, I'm I'm great. How are you? Oh, I'm doing well, especially now that I've seen Scream because I've been tearing my skin off for years waiting for this. So I'm so excited.

I know. I'm so excited that it's here. Oh my god, it's been an eternity waiting for it. Um, I've gotta ask the listeners demand to know your opinion on lemon squares. All for them. I I'm I'm a chocolate girl, to be honest with you, but but I think I go citrus next. So lemon squares, yes. Yes. Well, and chocolate and citrus, a great combination in themselves. Absolutely. Now, do you bake much? Do you have you tried your hand at a good lemon square? You know, I hate to disappoint the fans, but I am not I am not a great baker. My daughter's an amazing baker, but I yeah, not not so much, not my four day.

But I'm sure they'll forgive you. So I'm wondering if you could tell me about the first time that you read the Scream 5 script and what you thought, um, and maybe how it compared to where you thought um Judy Hicks had been over the past 10 years since Scream 4. Yes. So um I was in my characters introduced to the Scream franchise in Scream 4 as Deputy Judy Hicks, and uh when we meet up with her in this installment, um she has now been promoted to Sheriff Hicks. And uh so that's a pretty cool evolution. And then additionally, I now have a teenage son. And uh when you read through the script, like what were your thoughts?

Were you really excited? Like, wow, this is a juicy turn for for Judy, or uh what were you thinking? Yes, I I immediately was like, that is such a great idea. Um because you know, she's been grooming herself for sheriff status. I mean, she's well when when we were first introduced to her, she she's immediately you know set up as Uber cop, um, eternal optimist, uh, just loves, loves, loves law enforcement. She lives and breathes it. Um and of course, she idolizes Dewey, who is who was the current sheriff at the time and sort of hangs on as every word. So it's only fitting that she would try to follow in his footsteps and and uh take over, you know, as sheriff.

And then, of course, the storyline of having a son, I thought it was a brilliant way to kind of help the tie-in of the new cast to the legacy cast. Um, like a true, you know, baton pass, really. Like um, I thought that was really smart. And um and it just gave more dimension to her. It was um, you know, we get to in this in this movie, we get to see Judy off duty, we get to see her in her home, uh, we get to see her in her civilian clothes. Um, and we put a lot of thought into what would Judy wear when she's not in her uniform? And we're like, I and so we came up with like the sort of clashing leopard um workout pants and the sweat.

You know, we were like, we we had a lot of fun creating Judy's civilian wear. Let's just put it that way. Yeah, I was gonna ask about that anyway. And I mean, she definitely seems like the power mom type, so I think it's perfectly fitting. Exactly. She's a single mom, she's gotta get the sushi, the takeout, she's got, you know, she's gotta raise raise her son right. But, you know, of course, uh always the consummate professional. Uh, absolutely. And speaking of Dewey, I have to say I'm a huge fan of Never Been Kissed. It's one of my favorite movies of all time. And of course, David Arquette is in that movie as well. So, what's your relationship like with him and what's it been like getting to uh work with him over the years?

Yeah, David is so great. He's he's an incredible actor and an incredible human being. And um, I've I've always been a fan of his. So, a fan first. So then to be able to act with him in these movies is just a ridiculous treat. Um he just brings something, he has this unique quality on screen. He you just he like just opens his heart. He's so vulnerable, and his timing, his comedic timing is brilliant, and he plays these eccentric characters so effortlessly. Um, and if you haven't gotten a chance yet, you have to check out his documentary about his wrestling, his foray into the wrestling world. It is absolutely brilliant. Yeah, that sounds incredible. And also, I need to see Never Been Kiss 2 get the same treatment as the Scream 5.

There you go. I love that idea. Let's go. Um so, like you said, it was really exciting to see Hicks out of uniform a bit, get to see her kind of characterized as a real person, uh, and not just as, like you said, super cop. Um, and I'm wondering what it was like, the process of kind of diving into who she is as a person and what it was like partnering up with Dylan as your son. So, you know, kind of like when I created Judy back in Scream 4, um, all of that sort of stays with you as an actor. You know, it's it's for lack of a better word, in your hard drive. Um, it's kind of part, so it's it's pretty easy to recall that and kind of step back into those shoes.

Um, but I think what was interesting and challenging in a good way this time around is that all these evolutions have happened to her. So pretty big life changes, a promotion, a child. Um, and so all so it was the challenge was how to incorporate this into Judy's world, like, but still make her intrinsically Judy Hicks and um just make to make sure that there's a through line and it all fits and makes sense for Judy. Yeah, that's wonderful. And uh what was it like? Like you said, working with the young cast must have been fun. I mean, you have some moments where you're kind of being, you know, big sheriff in town, and then other moments where you get to be a little more tender, like uh before you make that sushi run.

Yeah, exactly. I think it I think it's important to, you know, it was fun to show how how would Judy show affection and and uh specifically like what what would that look like? And she's clearly a doting mom and um a helicopter mom. I mean, she's a lethal combination because she's a helicopter mom with all the tools of law enforcement at her disposal. So that's that's a pretty lethal combination. For any teenage kid. So it was fun to play with that. And that and Dylan did a great job. We set up this dynamic that he was sort of a mama's boy and she's overprotective and has pays way too much attention to him because she's a single mom and he's an only child.

And so we had that dynamic going. And then just like, you know, little touches of that were fun to create in terms of her wardrobe. You know, in Scream 4, Judy always is seen with her hair in a ponytail with crisscross bobby pins, like, you know, obstensibly holding back her her wisps of hair. And in this one, we're like, you know what? She's sheriff now. She's graduated. She's no longer rocking the ponytail. Now it's a scrunchy, a bun in a scrunchie, but she's still, but she still has the crisscross bobby pins. So just little fun flourishes and details. Yeah, I love that. And something that I've been really excited to talk to you about is, of course, your experience in the franchise has been half while Wes Craven was still with us and half with the new creators.

And I'm wondering if you could speak a little bit about how your time on each film compared to the other. Well, um when I joined Scream 4, I was the newbie and I was, you know, entering into this world with this established legacy cast that I was such a fan of all of them. I, you know, I was a huge fan of the franchise and of at the movie. So I was a little bit starstruck and um sort of, you know, there's that strange you're like, oh, I'm actually acting with Nev Campbell right now, the star of Scream. Like it's just it's surreal. And um and Wes also um, you know, I was a massive fan of his work, and he's the Wes Craven, the master of horror.

And um, but he's so he had such a lovely disposition and was such a great communicator and and so thoughtful and and insightful and smart. It just it was it was very easy to, you know, he put he put his actors at ease. So I had a wonderful time with him. And then um with with the guys with Tyler and Matt, they are they are such um fans of the horror genre, and in particular Wes Cravens, Wes Cravens fans, that they um they went to great, great lengths to try to honor him with with their version of Scream. They really wanted to perpetuate that incredible, unique tone that Scream is known for, which is that it's at once absolutely terrifying and hysterically funny and self-referencing and meta.

And that was so groundbreaking. I mean, what Wes did we we had never seen before, and so I know they wanted to continue and try to find that per pitch perfect tone, which I think they did, uh, but also add their own touches, which I think they also did. And they were just so enthusiastic and created a really great vibe on set. Um, they were so positive, and we were shooting during a pandemic, obviously. And but they kept they we never felt the stress of that. They there was a real ease on set, and um so both experiences to answer your question were were fantastic. That's wonderful. And from everyone else I've talked to, it seems like this was a really fun experience.

Um, now you've been in a fair few horror movies yourself besides Scream. And so I'm wondering um how much do you get around to watching horror movies? I know not everyone, like Nev Campbell, is a big fan of watching these. I love them. I I love, honestly, I truly I was a fan first of the Scream genre before I got invited to join. Um so I I I have to say I I do love the horror genre as an audience member. I think it's so cool, especially psychological horror. Um I I love I love those kind of movies. Um yeah, so I it's and I feel like we we're ready. We need we need a new installment here, right?

We're ready, we're we have an appetite. And so I hope I hope go ahead. Well, as a super fan myself, I have to definitely agree with you. Yes, this was so exciting. I mean, 10 years is 10 years too long, right? We we we need to get this out already. And it begs the question: what's your favorite scary movie? Well, I have to go, and I'm I promise you, I'm not just saying this because we're promoting this movie, but for me it's Scream, the the original first scream. I mean, I just I remember it like it was yesterday, I seen that in the theaters, and and just my jaw was on the floor. I I was like, what am I watching?

What is this world? It was like elevated horror. It was so smart and funny and kept audiences guessing and and and never dumbed down to audiences, you know, really respected the audience's intelligence and also was so scary. So I've got to go with that. And and then, of course, some of the classics, like I, you know, I'm a huge Hitchcock fan, so Psycho is up there, and of course, the Shining, uh, that's gotta be on everyone's list. Yep. Oh, Rosemary's Baby. Rosemary's Baby, that's up, that's in there too. Oh yeah, those are all classics. I think uh you'll get no arguments on those choices. Uh, if you could be any character in Scream One, if you could play any character, uh being a character in Scream One would not be so pleasant.

But if you could play any character in Scream One, who'd you pick? Besides the character that I that I do play. If I could In Scream One? Oh, in Scream One. Sorry, sorry, missed that. Sorry. Um, well, that's a loaded question because I like some of my favorite characters bite the dust, but um, I mean, the Drew Drew Barrymore, the opening sequence, come on. I mean, that is just iconic. I think that as an actor, that would be such a fun scene to play. Um, just she gets to like run the gamut. I mean it's like the full spectrum of emotions and and the blocking of going in and out of rooms, and um I I mean, I think that just looked like it was a blast.

So I have to go with that. That's an incredible choice, and I think you would rock that. Thank you. Thank you. Uh well, it's been such a pleasure getting to chat with you, Marley. You're a delight, and I'm obsessed with Sheriff Hicks. So thank you so much for gifting us with that character. Oh, thank you so much. I'm so glad you like the movie. Wow, she's never baked a lemon square. Can you believe that? A phony, a fraud. No, I'm kidding. I know. If anything was shocking to me about Scream, she's never cooked a lemon square. In fact, she spit in the face of it and said she was a chocolate girl. Okay, well, I can't I can't repeat it.

The audacity. I know. I tried to reason with her and say that citrus and chocolate is a good combo, but um, I don't know. I don't know. It was such a delight talking to her and um R.I.P. Judy Hicks. I actually loved her a lot more in Scream 5 than I did in Scream 4, where she's a little like weird, creepy person. And this time we got to see the officer uniform come off and the cheetah print leggings come on. And the mama bear come out. Just keep asking for her to. I know, and she's going to get the sushi because she knows he doesn't like it being smushed. She left the lemon squares, such a good mom.

I love it. RF gives him a taser. But why don't we talk for just a moment about the first appearance of Gail when Dewey is at the scene of Judy's death, and Gail shows up and we get to see some chemistry for the first time in a while. He sent her a text to say he's back. And uh what did he say with the smiley face? Yeah, it was hope you're well or something, hope you're doing something like that. Yeah, what a dork, what a doof. But what do you think about this part? Uh I see uh sparks flying. Yeah. So at first I thought it was a little bit exposition heavy. I was like, this feels like we're just jumping on like here's what happened in the last 10 years, but watching it a second time, it actually feels very conversational.

And it feels like a c like they hadn't seen each other in what two years it was it that they broke up or something. He said many years. Oh, it's been several years. Okay. Well, the first time they see each other, they're obviously still have love for each other. Like, I kind of get it. I kind of get that, like, she's just like, what the fuck? Like through a text, like, come on, do it. After all these years, that's what you that's how you tell me through a text. And uh yeah, moving. I think there's some real I forget the year that David R. Kette and Courtney Cox got divorced in real life. I believe it was around Scream 4.

I believe it was just after because something like that. I like was not I I do not remember it affecting Scream 4 at all. So I would think after. I gotta say, I'm not always a huge fan of, and I'm not trying to be mean, but I'm not always a huge fan of David Arquette's performances, but Courtney Cox is turning it out in this scene. You are seeing those tears, the beads of water in her eyeballs. I was a little bit floored by this. And same thing as you, at first, I was like, we're hearing a lot. The only line that kind of annoys me is he was like, I was a coward. And I was like, Oh, and he's like, I left in the middle of the night when you were blah, blah.

And it's like, okay, okay, calm down, calm down. She knows, obviously. But um overall, the effect is really touching, and how he was ashamed of not being able to keep up with her. I love that we see a different side of Dewey in this movie. It's not the same lovable, doofy Dewey. It's he's kind of a mess and he's kind of a little bit rough around the edges. And I think that seeing him kind of living in shambles a bit is like, oh god, like it's it's sad. But then we start to see like he's getting a whole redemption and he's getting his final walk, obviously. But yeah, I think I love that we got to see David Arquette portray a different side to him for once.

Yeah. I was gonna say it was sad to see, you know, such a lovable, fun character, just kind of a sad drunk who lives in a trailer, lost his wife, lost his job. Well, unfortunately, the second that we see him in that situation, I got the feeling that he might not be lasting long because specifically, we see that Sydney has a life that she has moved on to. She even says she does not want to set foot in Woods Forever again. We see that Gail has made it as a big shot broadcast journalist. And it was a little disheartening for his future for me to see that he is so hung up on Ghostface that he is the only one who has not been able to move on, which of course he's hung up on Gail.

He's hung up on many things, but to me, it just screamed, tied to the past, unable to let go, and not much, yeah, not much of a future. Um yeah, they have this big showdown at the hospital, which people like, um, why is there no work? Blah blah blah. I don't fucking care. It's a movie. Get over it. We've seen horror movies. People don't work at hospitals in horror movies, so get over yourself. Also, she has a private floor that's never ever gonna happen in a hospital. So well, it's Woodsboro, and that looks like a big hospital. Maybe there's just that also does not seem very realistic. Have that big of a hospital for a small town, no, yeah.

I can't really grasp the size of Woodsboro, but whatever. That's besides the point. We talked about that last week. Oh, listen, the thing that we all wondered who, where, why, how, what happens. The death of Dewey. Oh man, as soon as he turned around, I was like, that's it. And I I think the trailer kind of gave it away a bit. I mean, you could see Gail's reaction in the trailer, and she's like, Yeah, and that could have been about anything. So but I think no nothing nothing would hit her as hard as the death of Dewey, let's be honest. I mean, she wouldn't care about anything with that. But I think uh yeah, I think I think it was time.

I I love this character, but I you just you cannot keep making the same movie over and over again. And I think we're they're never gonna kill off, I I don't think, Cindy or Gail, because they're our final girls, that they would never touch them. But Dewey, I think it was time. And he died a hero. So the sequence was awesome. I I oh my god. Well, and you worry, we all knew something was gonna happen, but you worry, how are they gonna do it? Is it gonna do it justice? And I think it would probably be really scary to kill a beloved character so violently, but the knives in the back and dragging it up the body, it is like such uh a moment, and that's what I think is the key is it's gotta be a moment, and on top of that, the line we talked about earlier, it's an honor, and then to the floor, yeah.

Oh, and the way that the way that Ghostface, aka Amber kind of just goes like lifts up her arm just is like, I did it, I killed Louie. Like, man, that is so that is so haunting. Like, that is that was by far one of the best sequences in the way that that they they have her shoot like she's shooting before even all that when they're like when she's hunting uh and she's slowly creeping down the hallway, and the camera's like on the floor, kind of like looking up at her, like that's menacing. Like it just felt so mean. You knew something bad was gonna happen so soon, and she had it all the power in her hands, and God, it was just so incredible.

I love the sequence. Yeah, yeah, it's definitely a highlight of the movie, and like one of the first promotional shots we saw was that image of uh Ghostface kind of looking over the shoulder down the hospital hallway. Um, yeah, this is real good. Uh, I actually myself had predicted that Gail was going to die because I thought that I thought that the relationship between Sydney and Dewey was a little too precious to touch. Um but I'm really thrilled. Well, no, no, I'm not thrilled. I'm not thrilled. Uh RIP. I'm thrilled to see I feel like Gail's always kind of been second, second fiddle to uh Sydney and Dewey. And I'm really excited to see Sydney and Gail get to have a little more uh time together.

Perhaps we'll see. I want to see the evolution of that relationship, but we'll get more to that later. But for right now, I had to be a little sneaky because of certain specifications of my interview, but uh, let's hear me ask Radio Silence about killing Dewey Riley. I've got to say, of all the fan discourse that um I think I've been hearing from the past 10 years since Scream 4, it's of course the uh the thing that Scream 4 wasn't able to make any sort of franchise altering move to kill a legacy character. And there's been so much buzz since that movie about who should, could, might die in this one. And so I'm just wondering like knowing what happens in this movie, what kind of were there any sort of like anxious conversations about um about deaths in this movie, about uh how people are going to handle it, taking such a big swing, like you said, for something that uh that you're entering into lots of conversations, yeah.

You know, up until the final lock lock picture lock. Yeah, it it I think I think it was well into the post, right? Where finally people were like, Oh, this is this is the keystone of the movie in a lot of ways, you know, and everything it's just has to go there, and if it doesn't, this is a it's too soft and it's not allowing those characters to really grow or to you know move on in the right way, and it also didn't feel true to what they did in the first movies, like and it but to say there were conversations is a bit of an understatement. We had a ton, and it was like, are we making in the worst fucking idea?

Is this the worst idea? Is this the best idea? You know, but in our experience, when you have those conversations about something, we that that's that's the right target to be aiming at. We'd always rather make something that's either definitely fucking the right idea or definitely the wrong idea. Our biggest fear with anything we make is that it's fine, but it's just sure. You know, that for us is like the death knell. Yeah, I think the the movie had to be willing to go there for the thesis of our killers to like ultimately be worth it, right? That that's whether you're killing Luke Skywalker or Con Solo or Well, spoilers. The idea that that in a horror movie that like the things that you love are safe is so antithetical to what a horror movie is.

And so you we we had to we had to kill the unkillable character for the movie to have our because our movie has stakes. Like we think about that amber, that amber, you know, line at the end of the movie, and you go right, these they are not, these people are not fucking around. If it's coming back, it's coming back with with force. And to do that, we've got to make an omelet, you gotta break some eggs. And just to dovetail back to like the original part of this conversation, I part of the conversation about the fandom and the fans is that we quite literally were doing everything in the movie. Us as directors, we're we're doing the things to the characters in the movie that the characters are doing in the movie, like in a very so there's like this weird meta aspect of the whole thing where we're like, we're fans making a movie, killing that character.

We feel bad about it. We know our movie has to have stakes, and you know, it's like you know, so just to go back to that phantom. Imitating life, imitating art, imitating art. Yeah, it's uh it's it's been a bit of a mind fuck. Yeah, no, definitely, and I think you're definitely right. I mean, it had me guessing to the very end. We're like, oh well, maybe everyone's gone. So um, and I mean, my original idea is like, oh my god, all these conversations about will they come back, won't they? Just kill them in the first 10 minutes, and then we won't even have to worry about it again. We wonder how many walkouts. Wow, incredible.

Again, we couldn't really name names, but you get the gist of what we said. Uh, they were afraid to do it, but they knew they had to. And ladies, it paid off. We did see on social media that David Arquette was like, always a grind auditioning for a new pilot, blah blah blah. It's like, well, yeah, girl, because you're not in the next screens. He could come back as a ghost. Yeah, it's so sad because you can tell how much he loves this franchise. Yeah, it's just like, oh man, like he's been through so much, but I mean it's it had to happen. I know, yeah. You wonder if he loves it even more than the people who will be asked to return in the future, but who knows?

I have to say yes, but yeah, you know, how to be him or Gail, they couldn't kill off Sydney, that would be too upsetting and also annoying. I hate when they do that when you have a character that you love and root for and has survived so much, and then they'll be resurrection. Yeah, um, I'm fine. Sydney can die as long as it's a moment. I don't know. I'm open to whatever. Like, if people pull it off, I want to see it. Like, people were afraid for Dewey to die, they pulled it off. I don't know if they can do it. Let's see it, let's see what you got. They can do a double ghost face kill.

We've never had two ghost faces in one scene, even though there's always two killers. That's so true. Is that true? I don't think there's ever been both killers in the scene. Can you imagine someone gets stabbed? Another ghost face just runs up behind them, stabs okay, John, you're hired. Scream six is looking for riders. I'm ready for my paycheck. Oh my god, I actually want to see that now. I thought you were going to say kind of like Friday the 13th, like two people on one spear or something. No, which would also be great. Um interesting, interesting. Well, I've seen a lot of people online desperately trying to justify uh that perhaps Dewey is not dead, and that the body bag that is rolled out is the body bag for the other officer that Tara sees dead on the ground.

And to you, I have to say, don't be ridiculous. Uh, it would be absolutely insane for the next movie to be like that big moment you knew it doesn't matter because it we lied to you. And there are so many things like Amber's line at the end, he died like a pussy, which is so Oh, such a good line. Yeah. Um, that just no, that doesn't work. And I even saw people say they could read the tag on the body bag and it said Dwight. And I specifically tried, and unless you brought binoculars into that theater, I also don't think that's true. But I agree with you. It's definitely dewy in that bag. There are some small details you can notice, but I don't know how anyone would be able to read that body tag.

It's such a quick shot and it's so far away. How about Gail's reaction though? That made me like that, just that like the knife went through my gut. Like I like I I balled. I balled like a baby that moment. Like just it was so well done. You could feel like you could feel Courtney kind of being like, David, like that's like that's that's that's the father of my child dying in there. And like she she put that into her performance. God damn, it was so effective. I oh my god. I think gorgeous music. Gorgeous music, it just the whole thing was just so good, so well done. Yeah, and I've said before, how many times have we seen Gail run to the stretcher where Dewey's like got the got the oxygen mask on and he's being taken to the ambulance?

So really genius for them to parallel the ending of Scream One and Scream Two, uh, and then swapped Dewey at Gail's bed in Scream Four uh for this moment that we've seen as a happy moment so many times. Yeah, it's a tearjerker. Yeah. How about we get into that finale? The finale that in previous uh episodes, aka last week, I said I did not like. And this week I'm feeling a little more excited to talk about. Uh, of course, Sydney's in town now. She tags the car. I don't know. Sydney is kind of a service character in this movie. Um until the end. Can we discuss that before we get into the finale? Like, how do we feel?

Because I I gotta say, I'm actually really impressed with how they like the first 30-ish minutes, like I kind of not forgot about the legacy characters, but I was like, I'm so engrossed in what these new ones are up to that I'm kind of like, oh shit, like Dewey, like Sydney, like what are they gonna pop up? I kind of I kind of almost forgot about them for a second. And like I think that's a that's a huge compliment. Like, I think they're doing a good job at setting up like we can't make the same movie again, over and over again. And I think that this is like how do we feel about Sam? How do we feel about Tara?

Like, are we invested? Like, I guess I I kind of was for the most part, yeah. Maybe not as much as our legacy characters, but yeah. I mean, I found myself caring less and less about Sydney and Gail and Dewey, and more being like the sisters, the family. Yeah, yeah, I agree. I mean, I think that when I said Sydney was a service character, I didn't necessarily mean that as an insult because for the first bit, she is just doing things that get us to where we are at the end. Um, because I agree, I love this new cast. I think that would be the biggest detriment to this movie, is if they didn't pull off the new characters, it would have fallen apart because we would have missed the legacy characters.

But instead, they're like even Scream 4, which tried to do their the sequel, and the new characters are the reboot. And I do like the characters in Scream 4, but even that is a movie about Sydney and Gail and Dewey. This one is I just love that it's not about them, it's about Sam and Tara and Richie. And I love that we get to know them, we get to be intrigued by them. There are new characters that I'm excited to see come back in the next movie, like Mindy Martin Meeks or whatever her name is. Uh Randy's Meeks, yeah. I'm really uh Chad. Oh, I thought they were twins. Yeah, Randy's nephew, I'm saying. Oh, okay.

Chad Meeks is that is that his name, I think. Chad Meeks Martin or something. Um yeah, I'm surprised he makes it out, but yeah, loved him. Uh we forgive because we're excited to see it again. I loved Mindy's character, I thought she was so funny. Yeah, and when she's doing with Richie, well, so she has that moment with Amber in the basement, which is funny, but then funnier when it comes back with Richie, and he's like, I'll be right back. And they do that, uh I will say the first time the my first viewing, I was like, this movie's a little bit maybe too self-referential. It's a little it's getting a little bit too out of hand.

And then now after seeing it again, I'm like, no, they had to do that, they had to be these characters. These characters have seen all these movies, they have to be smart, they have to know everything because they know that we know everything, so they're not fooling anybody. And yeah, it totally works. All the meta jokes were just yeah. I have that thought, especially, of course, about the scene where she's watching the scene in Scream One where he's like, She's he's behind you, and then she's like, No, he's behind you, and then goes face behind her. So, I mean, it's a little bit yaw, like sigh, I'm exhausted, but at the same time, I think that is the one indulgence that we have to give them because it's like any fan would imagine that and know that I don't know, they had to do it, they had to do it, they had to do it, yeah.

I agree, and same thing where we've never really seen stab used to talk so explicitly about scream before in these movies. But you're right that at this point, stab is a 25-year-old franchise, and yeah, I mean, like we said in Scream 4, didn't make a lot of money, not a lot of people saw it in theaters, not a lot of people were talking about Scream when that movie came out, so it kind of makes sense that they weren't at that point in that movie. Some of them were, Kirby was, but uh in in Scream Five, we're at that point, everyone's talking about Scream. It's an and we're at the point of event cinema, like people get so gung-ho about Star Wars and about the Avengers, and you just don't have the niche fans, like it is it's universal now.

So I think it works when you think about it. It can be a little exhausting when you're watching it, but it works. And yes, Sam and Tara, big fan, especially Sam. Julianne, you told me people are not so hot on Sam on the internet. I love there's been a lot of miss mixed reactions, and I don't get it. I think she was totally fine. Yeah, she she you're comparing her to Sydney. I get that. I love Sydney too. She might she's my favorite final girl of all time, so I get that kind of pressure of like you know, looking at her and be like, she's not, she's no Sydney. No, because she's a different kind of character.

You have to give people the chance to like she's just being introduced to us right now, and we'll you know, we'll see what happens. But yeah, I thought she was fine. Like, I don't really get the there's like vitriol with her performance. People were like, Yeah, Jenna or T. Yeah, people are people are kind of more into like the Tara character over her. I I don't know, but yeah, there's I don't know weird stuff online. I enjoyed her performance and that scene with her at the end where her no, no, no, no, we can't talk about that yet. No, that's a big moment for me. She's my favorite. No, but I gotta say that I told you this, Julianne, but Sydney herself is kind of a plain character surrounded by more charismatic characters.

And I think Sam is the same thing, and you're right that people just don't know her as much as we know Sydney. And in fact, I think that Sam gives more uh charismatic performance than Nev Campbell does sometimes. I mean, when she tells Tara about Billy and is like in tears, and I don't know, I think that there are some really powerful moments from her that I'm really confused why people are writing her off. Uh, I do see a lot of people being like, Can Tara be the main character next time? And no, I want Sam to come back and be the main character still. I will say though, she did kind of get on my nerves when she kind of sassed my girl though.

You don't sass the original, she kind of sassed me a little bit. I was like, No, no, no, no, no. Like, I get it, I get where she's coming from, but the original, this is the original. Like, I love that line where they're like, Yeah, you know what I'm talking about the original movie? Here's the original movie. Like, don't miss my girl, but yeah, otherwise she's okay. Yeah, I agree. So finale, people die, pretty good stuff. I wish we got more of the kids in the entire movie because this ending is so fun, like we said, with Mindy and Chad. And the only character I don't like very much is Liv. She just kind of pops in and out.

She's like a throwaway character, I feel like. Well, we kind of mentioned that perhaps she and that guy that was Stu's nephew, the one with the first step, maybe they had more of a storyline there. That she was kind of like an ex of he was an ex of hers or something. But uh her death, her death though, was kind of iconic. Yeah, like getting shot like against the blood splatter, that was kind of cool. So I will I will say she is worth at least that, but yeah, and shocking. I mean, I think that usually the reveal is such a moment and a speech in these movies that for them to just do it is pretty awesome.

Um, but then that just leads us to better moments where uh, of course, Amber and Richie are revealed to be the killers, and Amber's doing like a whole thing that like you see a lot of I'm I'm thinking of uh Mickey and Scream 2, like people do, and even a little bit Emma Roberts, uh Jill and Scream 4. Like uh I I like less the people who are trying to do what they think the the scream killers do, but uh so I'm not criticizing, you know, great performance, good for you, but like just dropping into that voice and stuff. I don't know, I didn't love that so much, but I thought that Richie gave a really good, like kind of unhinged thing.

I do not like that they had to be like hun, babe, darling. Like, I don't know why they have to be that and they can't just be two fans. Yeah, I don't I didn't like that either. Not to mention, like Amber was is what like 17 or 18, and Richie is in his like 25s, late 20s. I was saying at least five years. Yeah, a little gross, a little gross, I didn't like that. Um yeah, but I do love this moment where she's bringing Gail into the room and she holds up the knife and pretends to stab her and goes, like that really tickled me. Psychotic. I think I I did, I will say she's better on the second watch, but I think that like I still needed more from her, I think.

From me personally, I still needed more of like I needed to be like, oh shit, it's her. Like, I kind of was like, I didn't really, I don't know, her reveal. I was like, okay, I'm fine with it, but she's not gonna be one of my most memorable. You saw it coming. I feel like it was pretty predictable that she was one of the killers. I gotta say, I pegged her from the very beginning as the killer. Richie kept me guessing he did. I even found myself suspecting Tara as he wanted us to. Um, but yeah, Amber, I'm not so hot on. I do think that her death, speaking of hot, is very fun. Very fun.

Passing the torch, as they say. Yeah, I was about to say there's also a lot of good lines from Gail and Sydney in her death. They are like really hamming it up, and that's really fun. Um, and then probably oh, something that I love, one of my favorite moments in the whole franchise, is when not when Billy points Sam to the knife, but when she says, Don't fuck with the daughter of a serial killer and just slays into Richie. And there's that shot from behind where you can see like her shoulder blades like moving with the night. It is like, ooh, that's the thing that kind of makes up for me being like, Are they trying to make Billy a good guy?

Is that then that part is so nasty? She does the ghost face blade wipe. She pulls up the blade and she wipes it off. Oh, it's so because it's in a blood. I think it sets her up too for the next ones because it's like, is she evil? Is she like a crazy killer or not? Because they all missed it, like that whole very gruesome, bloody kill scene, and then the knife wipe, they all miss that. Yeah, because like no one really knows who she is. Also, like she was gone for years until she came back into Sam's life. So it's like she's very complicated. I think that's or Tara's life, I guess. Sorry. Yeah, that's hopefully what we're gonna find out more if we get more.

Yeah, she's she's complicated. There's more to her. I think that's more interesting, like you said, than Sydney, where it's like Sydney's just kind of a straight up like a victim, and she just she's a strong victim, but she's a victim. Yeah, well, and she's an an every every man. Like, I mean, a lot of times main characters are supposed to be us. I mean, Julianne, you and I are both Sex in the City fans, and people always say, Which character am I? And I've always been like, of course, I identify with certain characters, but I've always been like, Well, unless you're crazy, you're Charlotte, you're unless you're crazy, you're Carrie, because Carrie's like the most well-rounded of those characters.

The rest are all extremes. And Sydney's kind of the same thing where Dewey and Gail are both such extreme caricatures at points, and she's kind of the level-headed one that we're supposed to connect with. So yeah, I'm really excited to see more about Sam. And I've even seen uh ideas floated around the internet about maybe the sixth movie would be Tara as the final girl and Sam as the killer. I think I think obvious at this point, but would still be fun. What do we think about the motivation? I mean, I think that's to me, it was like perfect. Uh perfect. I don't know about perfect. I mean horror fan. I mean, that what what else could you possibly do right now than have it be like toxic toxic fans?

Like that's so perfect at all time. Like this the whole like the last Jedi thing. I was like, oh god, here we go. Like, I just it was so good, it was so funny. Like well, and you saw that Ryan Johnson directed um the last stab movie, which is the the hated Star Wars uh entry was directed by Ryan Johnson. So I mean, I agree. I think it's really good and really funny that they're able to say, you know, what does she say? Well, and not that she says, like, she's like, these movies mean so much to us, or something like that. And it's like, okay, get over it. It's a movie. You know what I really love too.

Like, I it does make sense of her, like Amber being getting obsessed with like internet obsessed with like Stu's house that she's in, she's in this mind of serial killer. That that all that's all fine and well. But I also kind of liked how Richie is almost like full of shit. I don't think Richie did a whole lot of these killings. I think Richie's just that typical big mouth horror bro who's just running his talking shit, running his mouth, and then she really is the one who's like has the balls to do with a lot of the killing, all the heavy lifting. You know, I I love that. I kind of love that she was kind of behind, I think, more of the physical stuff than he was.

He's just like talking shit. Well, and he's he has more reason to have to be places with Sam. So I mean, I think technically I agree, but yeah, conceptually I like that. What I do like about this is connected to the fan thing, is that they say there hasn't been a good one since the original. So we're going to give them the source material for the next one. I think that's a really fun motive. Where I think it gets messy is them trying to frame Sam uh and do all, I don't know, there's just like things that weaken the message for me. And I wish they would have just been like, we want to be the killers, we don't care if we die because they usually do.

Uh, we want to be in the next movie. And I think that would have given uh even Gail's comment later where she's like, they're gonna die in infamy, uh, not in infamy, in uh anonymity. Uh, I think that even gives that more power because as their motive stood, like they didn't want to be the killers in the movie. Like they wanted Sam to be the killer. So I don't know. I think it's messy, but the concept of it is good. I just think I wish it would have been driven home a little more strongly uh in the movie. Yeah, I agree. And I I appreciated how like this movie, like when Gail says that line, I'm kind of like, I don't know what's gonna happen next because that's how these, that's how these things keep happening, is that these killers are getting the attention that they they want, you know, no matter what happens, they die, but they always die in you know, like this big dramatic fashion and people know who they are.

In this case, I'm like, I love that there's some sort of like finality in this where it yells like, I'm not writing about these guys, I'm not giving them that kind of shit. I'm giving that to Dewey. And I think that that kind of made me go, oh shit, like what's gonna happen now? Because like these guys are, you know, no one's gonna know their names. So I love that. I mean, I think that it's inevitable that there will be a stab movie about this. Um thing. Yeah. I did find it interesting how Richie makes the comment of like, ooh, sexual empowerment, because oh, oh, how he's he kind of digs at her that he got to fuck her that quickly.

Um, I got to meet you and you trusted me, I got to fuck you just as quickly. And I think that was very parallel between Richie and then Skeet and as Billy. Billy's basically a slut shamer and mocking Sydney for oh you gave it up to a murderer, gave it up to a psychopath. Like that's this is all they they took very careful notes of each film and kind of looked at like different kinds of dialogue and different, I mean, even like the the sequence of like the deaths, like in the kitchen, like feel like the grabbing of the knife felt very much like the first one. So there's very interesting details here that I was impressed by.

Yeah, and uh interesting when you bring that up. I mean, uh, it seems that horror movies are trying to kind of reclaim this idea that slashers are morality tales, and that you know, if you have sex, you die. Like a lot of movies over the past decade have tried to reclaim that and be like, that's not true. The final girl can have sex, blah, blah, blah. And so it's interesting that he brings that up. And not only does he bring it up in that way, but then who does who kills him is the one that he slept with. So, I mean, it's kind of the ultimate death of that trope and the ultimate kind of pushback on that uh misogynistic way of thinking.

Yeah. But I do want to talk about this moment where all of the action wraps up and Sam walks out and she's talking to Gail and Sydney, and she says, uh, to paraphrase, because of course I wrote this down after screening and I had to pee really bad. So it might not be exact, but she says something like, Thank speaking basically for us as fans, she says, Thank you both for everything. Will you be all right? And Sydney says, I'll survive, I always do. And to me, I was like, Oh my god, like, is this the last time we're gonna see them? Because this seems like such a nice like farewell, like, thank you for what you've done for us.

Uh, we've loved watching you, and the whole movie seems to be built around building up this new cast to continue, passing the torch, yeah. And so, I mean, I think that this is a really lovely moment of goodbye, but I asked radio silence about this exact moment. So let's hear what they have to say. Well, so I've got to ask what um where are we at on a potential scream six, first of all. Any ideas? We're hopeful, yes. We have we we know Guy and Jamie have a really amazing, another really amazing story up their sleeve. Um, and and and that's all we have to say about that. But we would love to. Well, I would love for that to happen too.

And I've I'm also wondering, um, there are multiple lines in the movie about how ridiculous it is that the trio have been roped back into these shenanigans again. And I felt that there were some final moments uh that could have been a tender farewell. And I'm just wondering uh what the future is for our faves. And um we're not spoiling screams. Like I said, finds an island, my ties. Well, I'm more wondering, do we need do we need Sydney and crew to have Scream Six? I guess is what I'm wondering. I mean, we we think you probably do, we would love them to be in it. We think, you know, it it for us, I think I'm saying this as us about the movie and also just as humans who really, you know, love the lot, like, and they were so wonderful to work with.

And when we were entering this process of like taking over for one of the greatest directors of all time on this franchise, you know, like it was a lot of pressure, and they were all so kind to us and they were all so welcoming, and they gave us great ideas and guided us, and like they made us feel safe doing it, you know. And I that's just we're forever grateful for that. So, like Nav Corney David. Uh, I have one last question for each of you the name of the podcast, the Movie, all of it makes this a necessity. I want to know each of you, what's your favorite scary movie? Um, and mine is Nightmare on Elm Street, the original.

I just I love it, I love it so much. And honestly, I mean, Scream, if it if it wasn't in the top two before, now is because I think I've probably watched it 750 times in the last year and a half. And it's like it it's one of the magic things about Scream is it gets better and better and better every time you watch it. It's the opposite of 90% of movies, right? And that's fucking incredible. But yeah, okay, Nymar and El Street. Chad. I I I am uh I yeah, if it wasn't Scream, the original Scream, which it was, but just to give you something a little bit different, I think I'll go with um I'm gonna go with Dawn of the Dead, just just because of the Pittsburgh connection and everything.

And it's you know, it's the area of the country I grew up in, and it just holds a special place in my heart. Yeah, and for me, I I feel like all of the horror movies that I sort of grew up on, they all they were all a lot. I mean, honestly, and scream scream being one of them, but a lot like Scream were all a horror movie, but also a horror movie sort of shoved into other like really crazy genres. And you know, I mean, Terminator is up there for me as one that I saw, I saw young and um changed, you know, changed everything for me. Awesome. By the way, that answer changes that's what's so great, right?

That's what's so amazing about just the genre as a whole and and certainly where we're at now and the level of appreciation that horror films, new and old, are are are having that you know there really is a flavor for everybody in the genre. Absolutely. Well, thank you guys. Oh, they're on the wall. Carrie screen. Are there more to the left of the screen poster? No, this is my small. Well, actually, over there I have a giant pinhead. So um there are uh there are a few in here, and then the t-shirt collection as well. Uh has quite a few. Yeah, there you go. You guys, oh my god, yeah. Don't even get me like I'm I'll pass out.

So uh so thank you guys so much. You guys are a delight. This is such a pleasure, and congratulations. This movie, I'm I'm I'm so excited to see again because I like can't process it. Thank you, thank you so much. Yeah, thank you. Wow, that was so good. So I asked them about Scream Six, they said basically there are plans in the works, and it depends on what they get the green light for based on this. It has performed well. I think the light the is green, yeah. Um, I would assume Scream Six will be happening, but they were pretty adamant about saying that Scream does not happen without Sydney and Gail. Of course, they did not name names because we were not allowed to, but we know Dewey's dead.

Scream will happen without Dewey, I assume. Um, in the form that he is dead in. But yeah, it seems like they're pretty married to having Nev Campbell and Courtney Cox to make the next one. And I mean, I just hope that it's just I know this is the exact opposite of what I said in the prediction thing where it's like we have to have him back. Um, but I hope that it's a little less and less every time. Um, because I would love to see new people take over. Yeah, I was gonna say, like, is it scream without Sydney and Gail? And at least without Sydney at the very least. And um I think like I just I I'm trust me, I am so impressed of what they're gonna do, like how they're gonna lure them back in again, but like how they're gonna lure them back in again.

Like that they it's just this just seems like you said, so final. And uh I love the fact that Sydney's kind of she's moved on. Usually, like we haven't been getting so many movies of the past few years of like the tr the trauma and like you know, the Halloween movies with Lori being like so traumatized by this that she's still living in it. Trauma. Yeah, yeah, so she always said trauma, trauma, yeah. But like in this case, like Sydney's moved on, like and I kind of love that she's kind of moved on with her life, and it's like, how are we gonna keep blurring her back in? But yeah, I guess we'll find a way.

Yeah, I mean, it took Dewey dying for her to come back in this one, so yeah, yeah. Maybe Gail will die in Scream Six. No, whoa, whoa. I actually saw something online where somebody said, What if Scream Six takes place in New York City? Tara's like gone to college there or something, and it's kind of like Gail's movie. I'm so into that. I want that. So, first of all, Ghostface and Ghostface takes Manhattan. Sign me up. I hope there's a subway kill scene. Incredible, like pushed in front or in the car, stabbed in the back, and then pushed her onto the tracks as the training. Okay, but yes, New York scream. I want also summer camp scream.

If you didn't hear, I want that as well. Also, we heard last week Tara has to volunteer at a summer camp. What'd you say, Julian? I want winter scream. I want I know it's in Northern California, but how cool would that be? How cool would it be to see Ghostface like make his way in that glistening cloak throughout the snow? How cool, like with the blood from the dyke down. How cool would that be? Like, I I think I will say I do think these movies lose a little bit of something they don't take place in Woodsboro. So I don't I don't know what they're gonna do next. If they're gonna go back to where is she from or where's she been living in?

Ooh, I don't think it said it did. It did say it's like monarch. No, it's not monarch, it's something with an M maybe in California. Modesto. Modesto. Modesto. Yeah, I don't know a lot about California. Yeah, I don't know. I think that Woodsboro is where it's the bet where Scream is the best. But at the same time, this movie did not particularly scare me or make me jump or really like, I don't know. I think that a changeup could be helpful, and just I would love for the next one to just be an all-out slasher and like really just go for scary. And uh, I think that switching up the location could be a way to at least try.

I mean, they did such a good job about introducing a new cast. I mean, why not introduce a new setting? Because I mean, scream two wasn't as good, it was very good, but I mean it did lose some of the value, yeah. Not being in Woodsboro. Scream three was not my favorite. Okay, we don't need to do this, we don't need to do this right now. Um, yeah, I don't know. I think that the possibilities are endless. Um, but I'm excited about Sam Tara, Mindy, and Chad coming back and being our our core cast. And maybe Kirby. We didn't mention that Kirby. Yes, Kirby lives. Kirby lives. She lives. Everyone thought that it would be Stuart Kirby that would be showing up in this movie, and neither, but yes, confirmation in that YouTube video, the Dead Meat YouTube video, that um Kirby lives.

Do you think she'll come back and scream six? You know, I think that's a very high possibility. I think they so I actually saw maybe in an article with fandom that Radio Silence had mentioned it. They thought it was a little bit too distracting to have her in a scene. It was like too much where it was kind of like there was too much going on, but they definitely want it for the future. So I'm thinking that might be a green light. Yeah. That sounds, I mean, I'd be down for it. And especially, I know in our predictions episode, I had predicted that perhaps Dewey could die and we could have like a femme fatale trio with Sydney, Gale, and Hicks, which did not happen, but Sydney Gale and Kirby also a good option as like and Kirby seeing Kirby like pass on the torch to Mindy.

Like, how cool would that be? Like these two badass girls who know their shit about horror. I would love to see that. Well, and Julianne herself has written an article that's incredible that you should look up for Fangoria about wanting more female horror fans in in horror in general, but using Scream as the lens. And wish granted, Radio Silence must be a reader of Fangoria. Loved it. Yeah, if we need it. Let's see what other Easter eggs are we missing. Of course, people were disappointed that Rose McGowan was not associated with this at all, but we did see Tatum's ashes in Dewey's trailer, which is like one of the is not the first time we got uh mention of her from Dewey, but one of the first times.

That is one of the franchise's biggest flaws, is like justice for Tatum. Like Tatum is never gets mentioned again, and it's so weird. And I I love it, it's like this huge, like they must have been listening, they must have must have known people were pissed about that because they're there's just like this like huge, like Tatum is right there. We're like, Yes, like finally he's acknowledged. Like, yeah, love that. Yeah, I know that's his sister, and I know in scream three, uh, there's a ghost face call with the voice of Dewey, because of course in Scream Three, Ghostface is able to steal all of their voices. Um, but there is that call with uh Parker Posey's bodyguard where he says something like that he's gonna kill him, like he's gonna kill Dewey just like his sister.

So it's something really mean and yeah, like yeah, awful to say. But that's like one of the only times I feel like I've ever really heard Tatum mentioned. Um, I think there's maybe a brief thing in Scream 4, but I can't quite recall. Um, yeah, Tatum is just like out of sight, out of mind for for Dewey. He got Sydney, so I guess new new sister. Um, so we had that. Uh also this is something that when I first saw, everyone keeps saying to Sydney, how's Mark? And I immediately was like, Mark, that's not the name of Detective Kincaid, is it? And I looked it up. It is the first name. His name is Mark Kincaid, and Julianne was like, Well, do you think that means I think it would be insane for Sydney to have had three love interests total in this franchise, one of them's first name to be Mark, and for it not to be him.

And so I think it is official that Sydney married Detective Kincaid, which of all the fan service things this movie tries to do, I have to say too far. Too far. I think it would have been too much had he shown up. So apparently there's something else that was mentioned, Parker. I don't know if you if you told me or somebody else did, but she's like holding something with like his like his badge or something. No, so I saw on the same Facebook group where I think people are lying to me that when she gets the guns out, that they are engraved with the name Kincaid. And it's the same thing where it's such a fast shot, and somebody must have had binoculars out because I mean, I just can't.

I tried to see, and you cannot, but I think it has to be him. And I always thought their relationship was weird, and he was a weirdo, and that it was weird that he was having movie night with Sidney, Galen, and Dewey at the end of Scream 3. And I just loved thinking that Sydney was a young adult in that movie. She saw a hot guy, they dated for a couple weeks, and that was that. I loved thinking that. And so this is where I think fan service has gone a bridge too far in this movie. Yeah, I mean, I could care less, really. I'm I I just kind of like, I'm like, Mark, Mark, I didn't even hit me.

And I'm like, yeah, I mean, I guess it makes sense that she would rekindle that, but at the same time, like he's not in Scream 4, so it's like Yeah, or was he? Whatever. Yeah, it's whatever. It's it's fine. Yeah, I don't know. The other thing is, of course, the big for Wes, which I thought was very powerful in the first movie when it hits the first in credits as for Wes. I actually totally went over my head the first time I saw it that Wes Hicks's name is Wes and they're having the party for Wes. I don't know how that went over my head. And I gotta say, I think it's kind of weird. You think it's weird?

I just think it's just I think it's weird in the movie. I don't know. I think that they like someone brought up the point that like Wes Craven could never have made this movie because obviously it would have been conceited for him to make a movie that's basically praising and and loving the first one, right? In this case, I think that they're maybe it's heavy-handed to some degree, but I think that they're just like they are those fans that love this this movie so much that they're they're worshiping it. Like they are they're exactly what we are, they're exactly the fans that are in the movie. They're they're like not toxic, but like just like they love this so much that it's meta on meta on meta.

And I think I don't know, I think it kind of works. I don't know. I felt like the men shit, I just no, I think it works. And of course, we knew that was their goal. They've talked about it so much, and I do think it's a good goal. I never thought about that Wes Craven couldn't have made this movie because you're right, and you can feel that there's a different stamp on this movie, I think in a good way that's refreshing. But I think that the for West thing in the actual like like plot of the movie, just I don't know. For me, I thought it was a little like that's where I was like, well, this the meta-ness has really gone, gone overboard.

Uh, because then also you're killing Wes. I don't know, like it is it is a strange the metaphor can go in many directions that I think are I don't know, I was just like, that's a lot for me. But when it says for Wes and the like sad little scream font that they do in the it is that that was like that was touching. That was very nice, very moving. Let's see, that's all of the Easter eggs I wanted to talk about. Do you have anything else? I think that's it. Um, I mean it just was kind of cool to see like the memorial of Randy in his niece and nephew's house in their sister's house.

I mean, that was cool. It's like there's just so much there's so much honor for the first movie and for the people that came before it that I think it's just like again, I don't think anyone else could have made this with such integrity, Liz that. And uh yeah, I'm I'm just very very, very happy and very pleased. Yeah, and when I criticize fan service, I don't mean to say that I think they're trying to feed us some sort of money grab because they think we want it. Like I do think that it's really amazing that they're doing these things because they love it. But yeah. Um, I want to know because we couldn't discuss this last week from Scream 2022.

What's your most memorable murder? I mean, I'm not gonna go Dewey because I think that's too obvious, even though that's probably what it is. But I'm gonna go West, a little West Hicks. I think that was really I again, Dewey is my the obvious choice, but I just man, like that was kind of sad. And I think I just it was well done. The cheek thing was really the way it was shot was awesome, and uh yeah, aside from Dewey, I gotta go West. He was a sweetie. What do you what about you, John? I'm gonna agree with Julianne. It was West. I mean, we didn't get the classic scream chasing in this film, but that one was like the longest of all what we did get is we got like that big build up to his kill, and then just to have it just so slow and like evil.

Yeah, um, I'm going to say that I think Wes's kill is my least favorite movie. Whatever, Parker, Julie, and I will just yeah. I um I loved the build-up with the doors. I thought that was hilarious. And especially in 4D, every time the door would open, the chairs would shake, and then it would be no one would be there and it would calm down. It was really fun. Uh, go see something in 4D if you haven't. It was really fun and shocking. Uh, I did not think it would be like that. But I gotta say, it's a toss-up. I was tempted to say Judy Hicks, not because I got to interview Marley Shelton. I'm not that person.

I really do think that scene is really impactful as the first death in the movie. Um, but I gotta say, Richie, that moment like changed my life. Don't fuck with the daughter of a serial killer, and then just like boom, boom, boom, boom. I have never seen a protagonist of a horror movie treated that way, and it was exciting, it was nasty. I love when these movies are able to have an edge that feels dangerous and like people are gonna not to be one of those, like, oh, it's so woke. I hate Black Christmas, blah, blah, blah, which they do bring up in the space. Um, but I love seeing people do things that might make people mad, and they're just not a they're not afraid to do it.

Like, that's a nasty scene, and I love it. So I'm gonna go Richie's death. But of course, the award goes to West because the eyes have it. Um, I want to know actually. Last week, John and I we ranked our screen movies, did we not? Did we? I don't think we did. I actually don't think we did. Well, I want to hear, having seen it twice, it's obvious that we're all smashes around the room, but I'm more interested to hear what is your current scream movie ranking? Uh why don't uh John, you go first. Julianne, you've had enough. Number one is obviously my favorite, the original. I honestly think Scream 2022 has made it to number two.

After the second viewing, I enjoyed it so much more. And then two, and of course three is last because where's four? Oh, I totally forgot about four. Uh one not promising scream five, scream four, scream two, scream three is last. That's sensible. Julianne, what about you? Uh from least to best, I guess. Scream three is my least favorite. Scream two is my second least favorite because it's just a little too dry for me, even though it's great. Third, scream 2022, and uh second, scream four. I love scream four, and uh obviously number one, the OG. Yeah, yeah. I gotta say, I am like having an internal battle, I'm having a struggle, I am having quite the upset in my stomach right now because after the first viewing, my ranking was the exact same as Julianne's one, four, five, uh, two, three.

And after the second viewing, I am really appreciating the vicious edge that scream five has. And I am actually really tempted to put it in my second favorite slot. It is just so tough because I've seen Scream Four probably a billion times because I love Scream Four and I've only seen Scream Five twice. As it stands in my heart right now, just for the listener for the payoff, I'm going to say my current ranking is one, five, four, three, two. Whoa. For some reason, right now, I'm feeling really high on Scream Three, and I'm like, Scream two is boring, I don't want to watch it. Yeah. So I don't know, that's where I'm at right now.

And the series is last. Not because the first two seasons are fine. The third season, when it moved to MTV, is trash, and something that has some pretty good kills in it, honestly. Something that people have really talked about a lot is that if I'm remembering correctly, the killer is revealed and says something like, I love horror movies. How could I not kill people? And it's just like really a weird thing that seems very anti-scream to say. And so I have to say that Scream 5 kind of is like like redoing the Scream series disaster in a way that's actually respectful to Scream. Because as we know from the first movie, it's not the movies, they just make psychos more creative.

Absolutely. So that's where I'm at. What do you guys think? Anything else to say before we bid the audience a too, a boo. Oh, I mean, you guys gave your scary scale ratings, right? Oh yeah, Julianne, why don't you give us a scary scale one to five? Trying to think, yeah. I, you know, I think I'm gonna agree with John. I think you said 3.5, I believe you said, right? Yeah, I went three point five. Yeah, I think I'm gonna go that route too, because I think it's like this movie's not like pee your pants scary, obviously, but some of the sequence. Of the menacing ghost face, just like I said, looming throughout these shots and like the cameras like kind of pointed upwards, like at panning from the bottom.

Like I just think he he felt more menacing again, which I don't think I've felt that since the original. Yeah, so vicious. Vicious, yeah. And it just feels like threatening. I haven't really felt that in all any of these sequels. So I think I'm gonna go 3.5. Four feels a little bit too high. But yeah, I'm definitely thought this was a scary-ish scream movie for sure. All right. I was gonna say mine's gone down from a three to a 2.5, but that's besides the point. Now, I myself have had a couple of Amber's and Richies on my tail ever since our uh Scream Stravaganza Screamathon episode where me, Caroline, and Ian talked through all of the uh first four scream movies in anticipation of Scream Five, because I said something along the lines of like this movie is so dark and scary because Billy and Stu raped and killed Maureen Prescott.

And I'm sure that everybody, the multiple people who have written in to say, um, most people very kindly, you know, hey, actually, they did not rape her. They framed Cotton, they watched Cotton leave uh the house and they killed her right afterwards. So it only looks like she was raped because she's just had sex. One person said, actually, that's pretty critical to understanding the movie. To that, I say, you can take that sass outside and fall in a hole. Um, but I wanted to bring it up and see what the group thinks because I will not be retracting that statement right now, as I'm sure you're hoping, because I simply cannot imagine a world where they did not rape her.

It's a dark world. Well, it is a dark world, but I mean, okay, I guess I'll just say my case. And then so in my head, I had a I thought that Sydney had said something about that Billy raped and killed her mother. She does not, from what I can tell. I rewatched the scene and she just says you killed my mother. So that was me doing some Bernstein Bear's uh revisionist history. Um, but I just think when you do an autopsy, consensual sex and rape do not look the same. Uh, John, you're a medical professional. What do you think on that? I mean, unless she's having some 50 shades of gray intense BDSM sex, I would say no, it looks very different.

Yeah, and also 50 shades of gray, really disappointing movie, uh, where I was expecting to be scandalized and it was all pretty boring. But I I just Julian, what do you think? I think so. You actually got me thinking about this a lot because I so at the time of Scream's release, right? It was right after the OJ Simpson trial, which is where DNA started to kind of become a thing. And I always thought it was just a mistake of like, how could they have framed like how could they have framed cotton when they could have seen the DNA? Was it was them, it was their semen, supposedly, right? Obviously, they were not that stupid. So either I'm thinking that they you're probably or whoever is right that they made it look like tears in her vagina, maybe, but it was still his semen.

I don't I don't know. I don't know how they could have worn a condom. Yeah, right, right. I don't know. I doubt Cotton would be having raw sex with Maureen because yeah, I mean, unless Maureen um is has had a hysterectomy or something and cannot conceive another child, but I mean that seems reckless to be having an affair and not using condoms. Um be surprised though, but even if they framed it like Maureen had been raped and did something to her, that still sounds like rape to me. So, I mean, I think um, one whoever said it's critical to understanding the movie and tried to make me feel bad about myself. First of all, you could never, I don't think it's critical to understanding the movie because I think whether they raped her or not, it is a sad and dark situation.

And uh, that um think what you want. I don't, I really don't think it's that big a deal. And I think that they raped her, and I just don't see how that changes my perception of scream than if they did not rape her. Um, I think they're just Richie's and Ambers and Amber, so have at me because um what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Wow, I did Google it, and like a lot of people are discussing that. Like a lot of even though I see a lot of people saying, Did they rape Maureen? And then a lot of people being like, No, that's crazy to think. How could you think don't know if it's even confirmed either way?

And I it doesn't like it. How could they not? Yeah, I don't know. I just don't I don't think it makes a difference. Uh, but that's what I've always thought. So I'm just gonna keep thinking it because I truly just don't think it makes sense that they did not rape her. Yeah, because there's that line where Sydney goes, No, caught and raped and murdered my mother to Gail. And she's like, You're not so sure. Are you like she was definitely raped and murdered? And so yeah, because it's in the newscast. I mean, Gail says like the horrific events where a woman was raped and murdered, like it is confirmed that she was raped. Like, yeah, you're not gonna confuse on an autopsy someone who had just had concept like consensual sex and then was killed, right?

Versus someone who was raped and killed, unless she had some bruises on her, but she had to have vaginal tears. Uh yeah, I don't know. I don't know. To all the haters, smell you later, except some people were nice and were like, I want to help you, and like, yeah, do that. I love when people give me input and feedback on things, but to the people who aren't nice, bye. Margaret says, suck it. Don't fuck with the daughter of a serial killer. All right, well, it's been a pleasure, it's been a ball, it's been a romp. Um, we will not be back next week. I think we are going to be gone until mid-February when we return for Netflix's new Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

So stay tuned on our social media for when we're coming back with that. We'll probably have a few fun things around that. So stay tuned at ScaryMovie Pod on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. And of course, you can head on over to Apple Podcasts and Spotify and leave us a rating and a review because that is what makes the um the the podcast. No, it doesn't. We'll continue no matter what, but it's helpful. We would love it if you would do that. And um, of course, you can find me, Parker Heron, on Instagram, Twitter, and Letterbox at Parker Del Ray. What about you, Julianne? You can follow me on Instagram and Twitter at the Jewel Marie. And John prefers to live in anonymity.

So yeah, also my social media is not exciting. I have only have Instagram, and I think the last time I posted was last May. All right, enough about you. Um we have loved doing this uh tonight, and appreciation to John, appreciation to Julianne. I am a fan of yours. Look out for me, sleep with one eye open because I'm such a big fan. Maybe I'll kill you. Oh, my butt is asleep.