Jenna Ortega's Scream (2022) character Tara Carpenter is really different from Sidney Prescott. While Neve Campbell's famous final girl is a strong, tough, excellent character, Tara knows a lot about horror movies, similar to Randy Meeks (Jamie Kennedy). Sidney doesn't have much knowledge of the genre as she famously tells her boyfriend Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich) that the girls in these flicks should be smarter and run away from the serial killer. But while Jamie doesn't discriminate between different types of scary films, as he knows as much about Psycho as he does Friday The 13th and The Howling. Tara, on the other hand, is all about elevated horror. She wants a movie to have a strong point of view and to teach her something about the world or help her see a subject with fresh eyes.
Even though elevated horror movies can be beautifully crafted and they can say something important about society, sometimes a horror film can just be plain fun. Scream (2022) is a great requel and proves to fans that not all horror needs to be elevated.
Tara Carpenter loves elevated horror movies and in the opening scene, she stands in her kitchen and talks about Hereditary, The Babadook, and It Follows. But while Tara makes it super clear that she hates "bad" horror movies like slasher franchises, horror fans might not always agree with her assessment. While elevated horror films are something to love, celebrate, and appreciate, there's also something to be said for a movie watching experience that lets people have a good time, get lost in a story, and forget about their busy schedules and problems for a few hours.
Scream (2022) has many elements of an entertaining horror film and fans are, for the most part, happy with it. While Dewey Riley's death in Scream (2022) is sad, watching David Arquette's character chase Ghostface in the hospital is something that fans are used to seeing in these types of movies.
Scream (2022) proves how fun and enjoyable it can be to reference previous horror movies. Fans love the opening scene because it reminds them of Casey Becker (Drew Barrymore) in Scream (1996). It's also great watching the new characters party at Stu Macher's (Matthew Lillard) house in Scream (2022), which Amber Freeman (Mikey Madison) moved into, and which was the setting of the iconic party from the original film. The idea of a "requel" adds to the entertainment factor as this allows the characters to reference horror movies, talk about how much they like being terrified, and also lets Amber and Richie Kirsch (Jack Quaid) talk about hating Stab 8 and wanting to create some real life material for a new film.
There's also a case to be made for how even non-elevated horror movies still have something important, intelligent, and meaningful to say about life, society, and the human condition. As Sidney is a final girl, she experiences loss and hardship throughout every single movie in the horror franchise. Sidney has to mourn her mother Maureen Prescott while knowing that her first love is a killer who went after her and her friends. Sidney has to go through life looking over her shoulder and wondering when this will be over, and by the events in Scream (2022) and the fact that there will be a Scream 6, it's clear that this won't end anytime soon.
The Scream franchise has a lot to say about life, love, survival, strength, friendship, family, and planning for the future. Sidney and Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) might hate each other in the original film but grow to like each other as they learn more about each other. Gale is an interesting character as she is solely motivated by her career ambition for the first few movies and then falls in love with Dewey and starts to care more about other people. There might be a lot of gory deaths in the Scream franchise, but there is also a lot of meaning behind the movies.
The latest movie also shows how sad and disappointing life can be. Fans are affected deeply by Gale and Dewey's breakup and Dewey's subsequent death, as they shared that they couldn't make things work after Gale wanted to host a morning show in New York City and Dewey felt uncomfortable in that world. Tara's relationship with her older sister Sam (Melissa Barrera) is also a huge part of the movie as they haven't gotten along and now they are united against Ghostface, which will help them become closer in the future.
There's definitely room in a horror lover's life for both elevated and just plain enjoyable films, as even the campiest and cheesiest '90s horror movies can have an interesting message that makes audiences think.