Scream
Paramount Pictures | Release Date: January 14, 2022 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
60
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 49 Critic Reviews
Positive:
30
Mixed:
14
Negative:
5
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeJan 16, 2022
While this is the smartest, funniest and stabbiest film since the 1996 original, it does feel as though Scream has come full circle, an ouroboros serpent of a franchise that is destined to endlessly devour itself until those testy toxic fans finally lose patience. Read full review
60
The Irish TimesTara BradyJan 14, 2022
The script is smartly self-fulfilling. Devil’s Due co-directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett deliver jump-scares with mechanical precision. The thrill, however, is gone. Read full review
60
ABC NewsPeter TraversJan 14, 2022
Way fiercer and funnier than a fourth sequel has any right to be. Here's ‘Scream’ for a new generation – so self-aware that it mocks itself for relying on borrowed inspiration (the 1996 Wes Craven original) while squeezing the golden goose for one last payoff. Read full review
60
Screen DailyTim GriersonJan 12, 2022
This clever, heavily meta picture has fun both mocking its own existence and trying to find enough twists to justify itself. The result is a film which is superficially appealing even if it is ultimately undone by the contortions necessary to keep the irreverent sleight-of-hand going. Read full review
60
Little White LiesAnton BitelJan 12, 2022
This is certainly the most stylishly directed of all the sequels. But still, its ironic self-consciousness about how tired its material has become does not ultimately make it any less tired. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawJan 12, 2022
Perhaps there is less zap in Scream nowadays and archly invoking the newer generation of indie horror - Jordan Peele is mentioned, with absolute respect - only serves in the long run to remind you how elderly Scream is. But it’s still capable of delivering some piercing high-pitched decibels. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJan 18, 2022
If Scream is intended to re-start the franchise, things are off to a rocky start. This is what happens when Hollywood refuses to give up on a series that has run its course. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriJan 16, 2022
This new Scream is so determined to be a Scream movie that it forgets the primary, unstated rule established by the original Scream: You can sell anything to us, so long as you make it scary. Read full review
50
Slant MagazinePat BrownJan 15, 2022
It’s at a certain point toward the finale that this Scream becomes almost as drearily repetitious as the reboot culture that it skewers. Read full review
50
The Film StageMatt CipollaJan 13, 2022
Scream is not a bad movie. It is, however, a case of mediocrity being the worst sin. For a franchise all about coping with a media landscape that begets disillusionment to produce something just like this, it especially hurts. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsJan 13, 2022
I wish this movie offered a little less running commentary and a little more running — anything, really, to get itself off the treadmill of self-critique and self-congratulation and actually going somewhere new. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyJan 12, 2022
Sure, there’s some fun in all that meta-playfulness. But there’s also a facetiousness that wears thin and intrudes on the killing spree, making me often wish I was watching any one of the superior movies being referenced. Read full review
50
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiJan 12, 2022
Should a serial killer blood-bath be so comfy and nostalgic for an audience? Not if it wants to maintain our interest. Over two hours, Cinco de Scream-o lumbers along with routine kills and few surprises even when it makes lame attempts at shocking us. Read full review
40
The TelegraphTim RobeyJan 12, 2022
The killings themselves are run-of-the-mill, jump-scare assaults staged with minimal invention or flair, which only makes the film’s box of tricks look emptier: there are even quips about how we’ve seen it all before, at which I found myself duly nodding. It gets almost too meta to function. Read full review
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