2022's Scream continued the franchise's grand tradition of having Ghostface murder the residents of Woodsboro, but only one death can be the best.
The cult classic horror series Scream came out with a fifth installment in January 2022. Following the format of the previous four films, none of the characters in 2022's Scream, from the new teens to the original heroes Sidney Prescott, Gale Weathers, and Dewey Riley, were safe from Ghostface's knife, and the film has a pretty high body count.
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2022's Scream keeps the audience guessing, especially since the victim in the opening phone call scene survives - a first for the franchise! But there are still plenty of bloody kills for gore hounds to look forward to, because - as usual, no one in Woodsboro is safe, but some victims faced far more painful deaths.
The main characters, Tara and Sam, seem to be the main targets, since they've been attacked multiple times. After an attack that left her badly wounded, Tara is moved to a private hospital room on a vacant floor with a security officer outside her door for protection.
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Unfortunately, Ghostface is pretty crafty. The killer attacked Sheriff Judy Hicks and her son, ensuring that all police units would rush to the home of their beloved boss. This allowed Ghostface to get onto Tara's floor and kill the single security guard with ease. It's a shame when someone gets killed for doing their job, but it is Woodsboro, and this is a new Scream movie.
Once all the main characters are introduced, we are introduced to a disposable character in the same scene. That character is Vince Schneider, who is an ex-boyfriend of one of the girls in the friend group.
Vince comes across as an abusive partner, although it is never explicitly stated. He appears a few times in the beginning, but the eventual confrontation happens when Vince pulls a knife on Liv's current boyfriend, Chad, and gets thrown out of the bar. Vince is seen peeing against a wall when he is suddenly lit up by headlights. This was just a distraction, though, because Ghostface stabs him from behind.
Sheriff Judy Hicks is a great character to have in a movie like this, although she was much more resourceful in Scream 4. She's kind of annoying in this film and comes across as arrogant and a know-it-all, but she is the classic mother, abandoning every other errand to save her son.
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Ghostface calls Judy while she's driving to taunt her that they are going to kill her son. This causes her to fiercely speed back home. Ghostface was simply baiting her, though, because when she arrived, the murderer ambushes her, surprising the audience and killing the face of law and order in Woodsboro.
As Sheriff Hicks races home to save her son, Wes, he is unaware of the danger around him. Wes is getting ready to take a shower, seemingly setting up a classic horror movie shower kill ala Psycho.
But Wes doesn't get killed in the shower. That was just a ruse to make Judy more vulnerable. Judy wasn't the only one experiencing fake-outs, though. The audience is treated to a tense scene full of mirrors, closing doors, and opening cabinets as Wes sets the table for dinner. The teen eventually notices the front door is slightly open, and when he opens it fully, he sees his dead mom just before he is promptly stabbed by Ghostface.
The least fleshed out of the new teens in 2022's Scream, Liv isn't a super memorable character in the film, but her death certainly was. Liv doesn't even get knifed by Ghostface. Liv's death comes seemingly out of nowhere in the climax of the film, when the still-living characters all gather together at Stu Macher's house, where the climax of the original Scream took place. To rid the audience of any doubt over who the killer might be, Amber pulls out a gun and shoots Liv in front of everyone, setting the stage for an epic battle. It's also the first kill made by Ghostface without the mask and costume.
Richie is a great liar, but Dewey clocked him as the killer immediately, and any smart audience member would know to trust Dewey. We know his death is imminent, but killing Ghostface is always going to be an iconic moment.
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Richie was dating Sam, who was recently revealed to be the biological child of Billy Loomis, one part of the original Ghostface killer. Richie was smart to try and use that as psychological warfare against her, but it eventually backfired, and Sam was able to brutally kill him with ease. Sam tapped into her killer roots and stabbed Richie multiple times before cutting his throat. Sam then shot him in the head just to be sure.
No question, Amber's death is the most brutal killing the Scream series has seen in a while. This is the best death in the movie, and it's not even a victim, it's the killer herself. Mikey Madison is great at playing an antagonist, and she is wicked even in death.
Amber has a four-part death, and she deserved nothing less. She is first beaten bloody with Tara's crutch, then she gets shot by Gale Weathers a few times before Sidney throws a glass bottle of hand sanitizer at her. But Ghostface always has a second wind, although Amber's is short-lived. Amber falls back on the stove, accidentally lighting it, and goes up in flames since she is covered in alcohol. Mikey Madison also burns to death in Once Upon a Time In Hollywood, so she seems to have found her niche.
Now is the time of heartbreak. The Scream series follows a specific formula, and audiences knew that a legacy character had to die. That character was, sadly, the always lovable Dewey Riley, who dies halfway through the film in a real tear-jerker of a scene.
Dewey's death couldn't be simple, which is a blessing and a curse because it's hard to watch Dewey be torn open, but he deserves an epic death. Ghostface shows him no mercy as they plunge the knife deeper and deeper, gutting Dewey as blood spews from his mouth.
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