I thought this was a blast. The original two movies are by no means perfect films but they're easily the best of the post-Scream slashers and this lived up to my expectations - it's actually one of the most fun movies I've seen so far this year. Also, I loved the nods to the original and the cameos were iconic. Don't miss the end credits scene! A-

This was quite horrible, through and through. It was so, so dull, first of all, with a complete lack of tension or build-up to anything.


SPOILERS:


The death scenes themselves were entirely ho-hum, with not a memorable sequence to be found anywhere. Milo not even putting a fight as he's uneventfully strangled from behind was especially lame, as was the horror podcaster who literally stands there in the middle of room and does nothing but watch as the murderer walks up at a steady pace for the kill.

The characters were a bunch of uninteresting human garbage, overall. Just a parade of vapid, moronic, sacks of crap who make all the same stupid choices everyone always makes in horror movies--only this batch is ridiculously wealthy and "pretty" in that generic, airbrushed, magazine-quality kind of way that's seen a lot now. Danica, in particular, is one of the most irritating and insufferable characters to be burdened with throughout a movie in a while.

And the "twist" (which is entirely telegraphed and eye-rollingly predictable due to their filmmaking choices) of having Ray be one of the murderers--because he's a sad old loser who can't let go of the past (while Julie, of course, is a strong, smart, independent lady who lives in the present and helps save the day, ra-ra girl power!)--is another joke in this ridiculous screenplay.

While I'm at it, this is yet another case where every single male character is incompetent and/or antagonistic. All of them. From main characters to random supporting players, every man is portrayed as somehow bad/less than/dangerous/foolish/etc. Alpha loudmouth-types are laughed at for their behavior, meeker "beta" guys are mocked as limp, and no man has any redeeming qualities. The director could only bring herself to kill one woman, too, in a bloodless and quick way that could easily be on network TV, while the men are the only ones who get drawn out deaths where they're begging, pleading, and crying for their lives. The epilogue survivors even mention how this all could have been avoided if men went to therapy (ha ha!), while the female killer's involvement is blamed on Ray poisoning her with his toxic evilness (because men, amirite?).

Also, whatever they did to SMG's face was unwise, and her whole dream scene was simply padding nonsense. I left before the Karla scene, as I could not have cared less by that point. Just awful, and I will certainly avoid this writer/director in the future.

In general, why do so many screenwriters feel the need to crap all over what came before when making "legacy sequels"? If someone's only idea forward for a continuation is to have the main surviving characters from the last installment be on the outs with each other--while whatever they accomplished last time is undone or waived away by new characters as irrelevant--for some go-to "tension" or "conflict," then I consider them a hack with nothing fresh or interesting to offer.