Scream and scream again

Maybe it still feels like a novelty to enjoy movies at the theater again, but I enjoyed the new Scream.  They dropped the numbers after the title, but it's still the same Scream characters from the other films, though a handful of new ones are along for the ride, too. Some of the reviews haven't been kind, using words like "retread" and "nothing new here" but, I don't know, one person's dull repetitiveness is another person's comfortable familiarity.

So, yeah, I went in expecting the usual tropes of this series: Pretty people, sharp and quick pacing, decent suspense with bursts of graphic violence, and a serviceable whodunit. And I got all that. If I can think of one criticism, the movie went a little heavy on the "rules of horror movies" discussions, but then all the movies in this series give you a little more of that than you need.

Anyway, it was fun to see this in a theater with other people, as scenes with knife-wielding maniacs always are more fun in a crowd. And in a couple of years, sure, I'll be ready to sit through another Scream movie. Because, while I'm certainly not against new elements and some updating, I'm also perfectly fine with having a pretty good idea of knowing exactly what I'm gonna get.