for a movie that pays so much lip-service to franchises taking risks, toxic fandoms, breaking conventions, etc, this one plays it strangely safe? in Scream 4, the teens came of age during the torture porn horror era, and the kills were the most gory of the series because of it. in this one, they watch "elevated horror", so the kills are generally unimaginative and i felt weirdly exhausted by the end. that being said, this is generally inoffensive and i didn't have a bad time watching it or anything. in fact, it's pretty funny just like the first 4. it's just so clear that Wes Craven's abilities behind the camera are what drove the original films — this one doesn't have suspense setpieces, it just has long scenes where people die.