Ghostface Protocol

A mystery killer is once again terrorising Woodsboro in the fifth instalment of the groundbreaking Scream franchise. Total Film meets the filmmakers and cast to find out how, 10 years on, certain rules still apply…

- MATT MAYTUM

There are rules one must abide by in order to make a successful legacy sequel. You have to have a certain amount of reverence for the original movies. Key cast members need to return in their defining roles. Essential creatives must give their blessing. But you also have to update the series for the present moviegoing moment, while still retaining a recognisable tone.

That’s what directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett are looking to adhere to with the confusingly named Scream (5cream was right there…). The fifth instalment in the celebrated slasher series picks up 10 years after the events of Scream 4, and more than a quarter of a century since the original reinvigorated the genre, spiking the suspense with humour, a fiendish whodunit mystery, and metatextual commentary on horror movie tropes.

Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett - who make up the Radio Silence collective with producer Chad Villella - are best known for a segment in V/H/S and the convention-skewing 2019 horror hit Ready Or Not, which starred Samara Weaving as a new bride hunted by the wealthy family she has married into, who are trying to break a curse. That film was fresh, funny and full of surprises, suggesting BettinelliOlpin and Gillett might be a smart choice to inherit the franchise that has previously only ever been directed by maestro Wes Craven; Scream 4 was Craven’s final film before he died in 2015.