Scream (2022)

Film and Plot Synopsis

Twenty-five years after a streak of brutal murders shocked the quiet town of Woodsboro, a new killer has donned the Ghostface mask and begins targeting a group of teenagers to resurrect secrets from the town’s deadly past. (Courtesy of Paramount Pictures)

‘Scream’ Movie Summary

The film begins in Woodsboro twenty-five years after the events of the original Scream. High school student Tara Carpenter (Jenna Ortega) is home alone when she receives a phone call from Ghostface (voice of Roger L. Jackson) who begins asking her trivia questions from the original Stab film, the fictionalized film about the original Woodsboro killings. Ultimately, Ghostface attacks and stabs Tara several times, but Tara survives and is hospitalized.

A short while later, Tara’s estranged older sister Sam Carpenter (Melissa Barrera) is informed of the attack by one of Tara’s friends, Wes Hicks (Dylan Minnette). A reluctant Sam returns to Woodsboro with her boyfriend Richie Kirsch (Jack Quaid). Once at the hospital, Sam reunites with Tara’s group of friends which includes Wes, Amber Freeman (Mikey Madison), Chad Meeks-Martin (Mason Gooding), Mindy Meeks-Martin (Jasmin Savoy Brown), and Liv McKenzie (Sonia Ammar). Amber is immediately hostile towards Sam and protective of Tara. Nonetheless, Tara is glad to see her older sister after a long absence.

Later that night, Chad gets into an altercation with Liv’s ex-boyfriend Vince Schneider (Kyle Gallner) at a local hangout. Vince threatens Chad that he will see him again. Vince is the nephew of Stu Macher (Matthew Lillard), one of the killers from the original Woodsboro murders. However, a short time later, Vince is killed by Ghostface. Nearly at the same time, Sam is attacked by Ghostface at the hospital, although no one really believes her since the killer is not found. After the attack, Sam confesses to her sister that she has been hallucinating of Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich), the other killer from the original Woodsboro murders. Sam admits to learning that Loomis was her biological father when she was a teenager and that she confronted their mother about her parentage. Sam informs Tara that their father overheard the confrontation which resulted in their parents’ separating and why Sam ran away from Woodsboro. Tara is overwhelmed by the information and demands that her sister get out of her hospital room.

Despite this, Sam is unwilling to give on her sister and begins investigating who maybe the killer or killers. She and Richie visit Dewey Riley (David Arquette), the former Sheriff of Woodsboro and survivor of several Ghostface attacks. Dewey is also the former husband of Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox), the news journalist who wrote the book about the original murders. Sam and Richie ask Dewey for help, but he turns them down. However, after they leave, Dewey calls Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), another survivor of several of the Ghostface murders, and pleads with her not to return to Woodsboro. Dewey also warns Gale not to return either via a text message as he is unable to talk to her directly.

Sam and Richie head to Mindy and Chad’s home. Dewey meets them there, having reconsidered their request for his assistance. They reunite with Mindy and Chad’s mother Martha (Heather Matarazzo), sister of Randy Meeks (Jamie Kennedy), one of the victims from Scream 2. Mindy theorizes that the killer is making a “requel” – a reboot sequel – and using Tara and her friends as the new generation of victims while using Sam’s connection to Loomis to weave in the legacy characters.

See, we had to bring the legacy characters back to make it matter. Can’t have a bonafide Halloween without Jamie Lee! Amber Freeman (Mikey Madison)

At the same time, Ghostface murders Wes and his mother, Sheriff Judy Hicks (Marley Shelton), in their home. When Dewey arrives at the Hicks’ home with Sam, he encounters Gale who ignored his warning to stay away. The two bicker about Gale’s need to cover the story and how Dewey’s feelings of inadequacy led to him leaving the marriage despite his love for Gale. Back at the hospital, Tara and Richie are attacked by Ghostface, but are saved when Dewey and Sam arrive. Dewey shoots Ghostface several times in the chest, but when he returns to shoot the killer in the head, he is stabbed by the bullet proof vest wearing Ghostface. Dewey dies, but Sam, Tara, and Richie escape.

Sam, Tara, and Richie go to another hospital to have Tara and Richie’s injuries treated. The trio make the decision to leave town together. Sidney arrives in town after learning of Dewey’s death and consoles Gale. Sidney asks Sam to help her stop the killer, but Sam declines, placing her sister’s safety as priority. However, before Sam, Tara, and Richie can leave town for Modesto, Tara insists that they go to Amber’s house so that she can pick up her back up asthma inhaler. Unbeknownst to Sam, Sidney has placed a tracker on her, and Sidney and Gale begin following them.

Sam, Tara, and Richie arrive at Amber’s house where a party is in progress to honor Wes’ memory. During the party, Chad and Mindy are attacked by Ghostface and severely wounded. Sidney and Gale discover that Sam has stopped at Amber’s house which is Stu’s former house, the location where most of the original Woodsboro murders took place. At Amber’s house, Amber kicks out most of the party guests when Tara arrives. Everyone begins accusing everyone else of being the killer, but Amber pulls out Dewey’s gun and shoots Liv in the head, revealing herself to be a killer. Sidney and Gale arrive, and Richie reveals himself to be the other killer. Richie wounds Sam by stabbing her, and then he and Amber take Sam, Sidney, and Gale into the kitchen.

Richie and Amber reveal that they are true fans of the Stab film series who met online, and they are both disappointed with the most recent iteration of the series, Stab 8. The homicidal pair planned to introduce new and improved source material for the film franchise by bringing back the original victims and killing them for a future Stab film. They then planned on framing Sam for the murders believing that her parentage made her the most likely murder suspect.

However, the victims are not willing to go down without a fight. Sam attacks Richie and Tara attacks Amber. However, Tara is quickly incapacitated leaving Gale and Sidney to fight Amber together. Gale ultimately shoots Amber who falls onto a burning flame from the stove and bursts into flames. Richie chases Sam throughout the house. Just when it looks like Richie is going to kill Sam, a hallucination of Loomis directs Sam’s attention to Amber’s abandoned knife which Sam uses to stab Richie repeatedly and ultimately slits his throat. Once Gale and Sidney find her, they point out that they always come back so Sam shoots Richie in the head to ensure that he is dead. At that moment, a horribly burnt Amber attempts to attack the trio but is shot dead by Tara.

In the aftermath, Tara, Chad, and Mindy are loaded into ambulances to be taken to a different hospital. Sam expresses her appreciation to Sidney and Gale for their help. Gale promises to everyone that she will not write a book about the new murders so that the killers will receive no attention for their misdeeds. She tells Sidney that she is going to write a book about Dewey instead. Sam joins Tara in her ambulance as the sisters’ family is finally reunited.