Meta cinema or Meta as we commonly call, it is an approach to movie making that is aware of its fictionality. It blurs the limits between the viewer’s reality and the character’s reality, letting moviemakers indulge in some ironically self-aware humor to divert criticism or to incorporate some commentary on the movie word itself. Either way, it can lead to a very enjoyable viewing experience. The scream franchise, credited for bringing back slashers into the horror game, is a fan beloved because of its mix of horror and humor but also due to its Meta cinematic dimension. It stood out for its self-awareness which often makes known horror tropes the butt of the jokes while simultaneously mirroring the horror trends of its time. To quote what Randy’s niece said on the stab movies, they’re Meta slashers whodunit. Now, with the introduction of Scream (2022) and Scream 6 (VI) now out in theatre, the franchise is officially back with its murderous shenanigans. The first new arrival in this revival of the franchise is the first movie not directed by Wes Craven who died in 2015. It is the product of radio silence, a group of moviemakers consisting of Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett, and Chad Villella who or behind some of the best horror movies released in the later years, such as ready or not. This installation of the scream franchise follows Sam Carpenter, a young girl who returns to Woodsboro after her sister gets attacked by Ghostface. It introduced new interesting characters while bringing back some of the beloved originals like Sid Prescott, gale weather, and Dewey Riley. However, how well does the new Scream (2022) live up to the franchise’s meta-cinematic legacy? we’ll be looking at some of the most telling meta-cinematic moments in Scream (2022), or let’s be honest, Scream 5.
Needless to say, we’ll be delving into spoiler territory from this point forward. If you haven’t watched the movie, go ahead and do that before coming back to this article.
The opening scene: “It always started with a kill scene.”
First and foremost, the opening scene is some of the most important moments in a scream movie, it can make or break it. With Tara played by Jenna Ortega, who also starred in Netflix’s Wednesday, as the first victim, this scene is particularly meta-cinematic, of course, due to the mention of the stab franchise that mirrors the scream franchise. After all, Tara said it: It always started with a kill scene. It’s meta-cinematic in the way it mirrors all the other opening scenes of the scream franchise with familiar dialogues or even familiar frames where Tara talks to the killer on the phone while playing with a kitchen knife. It also mirrors a certain opposition growing in the contemporary horror scene: the supposed feud between slashers movie and “Elevated Horror” that uses Horror as a vessel or allegory for different social and philosophical takes. Tara is a person who prefers the latter, mentioning various movies such as hereditary or it follows, even almost getting killed for her lack of knowledge about slashers and her preference for the Babadook. What makes this even more Meta, is that a lot of contemporary viewers might see themselves In Tara, which was the case for me honestly, and that adds a whole other layer to that opening scene.
Dewey’s return: “Never trust the love interest.”
Dewey literally starts his conversation with Sam played by Melissa Barrera, by questioning her about her boyfriend and listing off the rules to surviving a stab movie, which of course applies to their situation considering the blurred if not non-existent limit between the stab movie and the characters’ reality: the scream movie. Which I find Meta as hell. This listing of the rules to survive a horror movie is a classic throughout the scream franchise, first with Randy Meeks throughout the initial trilogy, here with Dewey, and later on with Mindy, Randy’s niece. This approach to horror movies is a great way to show the movie maker are self-aware of the common tropes they are using and it plays on the humor of the characters falling for these exact tropes despite their knowledge of the rules. Both a criticism of itself and a comedy skit. Although, one thing stands out in Dewey’s speech considering how on the nose it is: “Never trust the love interest.” According to him, despite how sweet and caring they seem, they’ll try to rip your head off in Act tree. Lo and behold, Richie, played by Jack Quaid, did exactly that.
Mindy’s expertise: “Oh my god he’s making a requel!”
Mindy, played by Jasmin Savoy Brown, certainly lives up to her uncle’s legacy in this scene. Not only does she describe perfectly the trends of “Requel” currently happening in the horror genre, citing a list of contemporary movies that fit the trend. She nails the killer’s motive while also reflecting on fans’ and movie makers’ fear alike when creating the Scream (2022). She also funnily enough shows some transparency between the production of the movie and the action of said movies by saying how the purpose was to introduce new characters while also bringing back the originals. She also mirrors the movie makers’ concern when it comes to making a new Scream move that pleases everyone. If that’s not Meta I don’t know what is. She also says something important about the discourse between elevated horror and slasher movies when Amber mentions that there’s nothing wrong with elevated horror: “ Obviously, but that’s not stab”.
The party scene: “For Wes!”
While not necessarily the most loaded, this scene is arguably one of my favorite meta-cinematic moments in that movie and I just had to mention it. In the movie, they are paying tribute to Wes, the character who died earlier in the movie with his mom sheriff judy hicks who is a returning character in the franchise, despite how cautious they were. This party is supposed to be a memorial, a celebration of life and chad does exactly that by taking a shot and cheering in his honor. However, this character isn’t the only Wes being celebrated. In fact, this scene was the movie maker’s way to honor Wes Craven, the director of all previous scream movies, a subtle nod to someone who changed the horror landscape for years to come. This is reinforced by the fact the current filmmakers, radio silence, dedicate this movie to him as is shown in the credit scene.
Mindy’s couch scene: “ No, Randy, look behind you.”
One of the funniest meta-cinematic moments of both this movie and the original scream. We have a character telling another character in the movie they are watching to turn around. Ironically that’s what they should be doing too because Ghostface is behind them. We see Mindy watching randy in the same situation she’s in. Mindy, in a surprising show of self-awareness, does turn around, unlike her uncle, which gives her enough time to be saved by Sam. All around a hilarious tribute to the original. Without of course forgetting the exchange between Mindy and Richi when the latter was going to get some beer from the basement. He even says that he’ll be right back and they share a conspirator laugh over what Randy said one shouldn’t say a few minutes earlier in the stab movie Mindy was watching.
The killers’ speech: “How can fandom be toxic?”
Mindy’s guess of the killers’ motive was spot on: they are fan displeased with the sequel who wants to give Hollywood new material. This mirror the movie industry and toxic fandom culture. They even mention a meeting on Reddit, If that isn’t a mirror of real life I don’t know what is. While it can be funny, this is also a big commentary on the landscape of horror movie fandoms and it mirrors the struggle of movie makers. The killers are also aware of the way they and subsequently Scream (2022) follow the classic scream structure as Amber says: “Third act bloodbath, check. Killers revealed, check! Time for the big finale!”.
Amber’s Finale: “Time to pass the torch.”
Finally, while this scene might not be as full of meta-cinematic content as the others, Amber, played by Mikey Madison, expresses that the old characters’ story is over and that it’s time to pass the torch. This actually mirrors the stage at which this movie stands in the scream franchise. It’s somehow a transitory stage between the old characters and the new characters, between Sam and Sid, the old friend group, and the new friend group. This can be seen by the fact that the new upcoming movie Scream 6 features mostly the new characters for the expectation of Gale weather and Kirby reed. So in a sense, it was indeed the time to pass the torch.
Many other meta-cinematic moments were present in the movie but to keep it brief we limited this article to the most major ones. As such don’t hesitate to tell us what we missed in the comments! But, in conclusion, we can say that Scream (2022) definitely lives up to its predecessor meta cinematic Ambitions, all while adapting it to a new contemporary audience through classic humor, honorable mentions, and well-placed commentaries on the horror genre and its fans. However, will we be able to say the same thing about scream 6 (VI)?
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