Berlin 1893. Norwegian artist Edward Munch after a long artistic gestation he painted what would become his masterpiece: The scream. No one could imagine that about a century later, from the directorial genius of Wes Craven, a new horror mask would have been born which fully drew from that immortal work of art, itself becoming the material of which eternal works are made. We are talking about the saga of scream, which in a critical period for genre cinema, has managed to revive the fortunes of slasher films with a subtle irony alternating with parody jabs that have now become a cult.
6. Scream 5
After the death of Wes Craven which took place in 2015, the helm of the saga passes to the directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin And Tyler Gillett. On subject left by the same Craven (to which the entire work is dedicated) the two shoot a film that parodies the requels of the cinematic sagas, also discussing modern horror cinema, from the more sophisticated to the more commercial one focused on jump scares and the false construction of tension. So we have the debut of the new protagonists, the star of Wednesday Jenna Ortega as Tara Carpenter and the Mexican actress Melissa Barrera as Sister Sam. Like any good self-respecting requel, the story comes full circle in the small town of Woodsboro, with a Ghostface who may still have some unfinished business to settle. This fifth chapter between ups and downs will be able to give a couple of big twists, but pay the inexorable price of not being directed by a sacred monster like Wes Craven.
5. Scream VI
In the sixth and final chapter of the saga released in 2023, the vicissitudes of the Carpenter sisters move to the New York metropolis away from the ghosts of Woodsboro. Little changes because obviously there will be a new Ghostface waiting for them. Matt Bettinelli-Olpin And Tyler Gillett, having returned to directing again, they direct a film that, net of a couple of sequences of truly directorial depth, and a terrific prologue, almost completely sets aside the meta-narration, opening up more to teen entertainment as already happened in the previous chapter. However, this work works in terms of tension, resulting in more violent murders and more enigmatic in the discovery of the new or new Ghostfaces. A round of applause for Courtney Cox, the only actress present in all the films of the saga; instead the absence of the mythical legend should be noted for the first time Ship Campbell.
4. Scream 2
A few months after the success of the first film, Wes Craven returns to direct a new chapter, certainly weaker than its predecessor, but which will nevertheless remain in the hearts of all passionate historians. We find our protagonists, the students of Windsor College in Ohio, when during the film screening of the first Stab, mysterious and heinous murders restart by a new Ghostface. The film, albeit fallacious at times, offers us an interesting meta textual reflection on the sequels of the films in the sagas, parodying everything in a very fresh way without sparing itself in sensational twists.
3. Scream 4
In 2000 Wes Craven believed to have closed its trilogy with Scream III, but in 2011, after various production vicissitudes, he decided to return to his creation, this time criticizing the “new” rules of horror cinema, based on political correctness and mainly on the more violent reboots of the originals, but decidedly without the soul of the work from which they are drawing. A brilliant film that will obviously be more violent, acting as a reboot and sequel. The story returns to Woodsboro and in addition to the historical characters of the saga here we find Emma Roberts, Hayden Panettiere And Rory Culkin. It should be noted that Scream IV is the final directorial sendoff for Wes Cravenwho died a few years later.
2.Scream 3
Probably the least appreciated chapter of the saga by the public is actually the emblem of the genius of Wes Craven, who here decides to highlight and criticize the cinematographic mechanisms underlying all the trilogies, without sparing a strong criticism against a Hollywood system rotten to the core. This third chapter is certainly the most comedic of the saga, it is set in Los Angeles on the set of the first film Quarter yourself in a crazy and explosive meta narrative. As with all the final chapters, even here the rules of the game become more difficult for our protagonists, with a Ghostface who is ready to do anything to get his revenge with the sound of heinous murders.
1. Scream
It was 1996 when on a screenplay by Kevin Williamson certainly the most influential genre film of the 1990s was born. Wes Craven, aware of the decadent period, decides to make a parody of the whole horror and slasher context with a film that is still a real absolute cult today. With Scream a new parody genre is born, all about meta storytelling, making fun of modern slashers and at the same time paying homage to the great cornerstones of the past. Set in the small town of Woodsboro, the film starring Sidney Prescott (Ship Campbell), Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox), Linus Ryley (David Arquette), Randy Meeks (Jamie Kennedy), Skeet Ulrich (Billy Loomis) and Stuart Macher (Matthew Lillard), is a succession of iconic scenes, starting from the fabulous prologue with the first phone call between Ghostface and Drew Barrymoreup to that wonderful final bloodbath that remains etched in the memory of all fans.