- Directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett
- Written by James Vanderbilt, Guy Busick, Kevin Williamson
- Stars Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, David Arquette
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 54 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beToTslH17s
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
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More secrets, more surprises, more stabby-stabs, more chases and suspense. This one was a cut above the 4th film. And word is there is a 6th on the way. May the upward trend continue.
Synopsis
Tara is home alone. “The voice” calls and asks for Christine who isn’t there. He claims to be in “group” with Christine. The topic of scary movies comes up. Tara’s favorite is “The Babadook.” They discuss elevated horror, which he thinks sounds boring. He prefers the “Stab” series. They talk about girls at home alone talking on the phone. The call starts out civil, but gets creepier as it goes along. Soon, the voice is texting from her friend Amber’s phone. The phone trivia goes badly. Credits roll.
Richie and Sam are a couple. Sam gets a call from Wes, who talks about Tara being attacked last night. Tara is Sam’s sister, and she survived the attack. Richie explains that he’s never seen any of the Stab movies, even though most of them are based on things that really happened there in Woodsboro. They arrive at the hospital, where we meet a whole new crew of young victims– I mean characters. Chad, Mindy, Amber, and Wes are there.
Bully Vince picks on the gang at the local bar, and when he leaves, Ghostface kills him far too easily. Meanwhile at the hospital, Richie is binge-watching the Stab films on Netflix, “I just want to be prepared.” Sam has a psychotic vision of Billy from the first film. He asks, “When are you gonna tell her why all this is happening.”
The Voice calls Samantha and claims to know her family secret. Almost instantly, he attacks. She runs out and grabs a security guard, but Ghostface is gone. Sheriff Judy gets involved at this point. Judy suggests that Sam leaves, as her presence in town is not appreciated.
Sam tells Tara the story. Her mother got pregnant by Billy Loomis. When the truth came out, their father left the family. Somehow, Tara’s attack must be related to that.
Sam and Richie go to see Dewey. Dewey explains the rules to surviving a “Stab” movie, one of which is don’t trust the boyfriend, as he glares at Richie. Also, the killer is part of the first victim’s friend group. Dewey’s been stabbed nine times and doesn’t want to get involved again.
Dewey calls Sidney to fill her in and warn her not to come to town this time. Then he calls Gale, whom he’s divorced from now. Dewey and all the suspects meet at dead-Randy’s sister Martha’s house. The first three attacks were all on people related to the killers from the previous films. The new killer is doing a “requel” which is a sequel that’s not a reboot, but not quite a sequel. They all come to the conclusion that Sam is the killer, which offends Sam just a little bit.
Sheriff Judy gets the call next. He threatens to kill her son, Wes. She hurries home and runs right into Ghostface and his knife. Wes follows very shortly afterwards.
Sam arrives on the scene and encounters Gale there. She argues with Dewey who is retired now. While everyone is busy at the Ludy/Wes crime scene, Tara’s been left all alone at the hospital where the power suddenly goes off. Tara finds the body of the cop who was guarding her. Ghostface calls Sam and asks her to choose between Tara and Richie. Sam and Dewey arrive in time to save them both. Dewey shoots Ghostface and then everyone leaves his body behind. Dewey stays behind to shoot him in the head… because rules. He’s too slow and gets stabbed a couple more times– it looks fatal this time.
It is fatal, and Gale arrives just in time to see them wheel out Dewey’s body. Sidney does come to town now, and there is much angst and drama. Gale and Sidney want Sam to help them track down the killer. Sam, Tara, and Richie plan to leave town, but they have to stop for Tara’s inhaler first.
Amber, Mindy, Tara, and the other friends are having a memorial/party for Wes. They all watch the first Stab movie. Chad gets stabbed just as Sam, Tara, and Richie arrive. Richie says “I’ll be right back” as he goes to the basement for beer. Mindy and LIv give each other the side-eye.
Amber pulls out a gun and starts shooting people. Richie points out that there are always two killers. He suspects the other killer is Tara. Sidney and Gale arrive, and Amber shoots Gale. Sidney pulls her gun and goes inside. Sam finds Tara tied up in the closet, but she has second thoughts about releasing her. The Voice calls Sidney on her cell, “I’m not Amber, I’m the other one.”
Sidney shoots Richie, possibly by accident. Ghostface attacks. Richie then stabs Sam. The killers are Amber and Richie. “Someone has to save the franchise. No one has made a great Stab movie since the first one,” Richie complains. He rants about toxic fandom and how Hollywood is totally out of ideas. Mindy stabs Sidney. Richie points out that Dewey was right on the first guess, it was the love interest.
Tara attacks Mindy; Sam attacks Richie. Gale shoots Mindy and sets her on fire. She’s not getting up again, right? Sam goes all daughter-of-a-serial-killer on Richie. He’s not getting up either.
Sam and Tara finally make up. Gale and Sidney seem to be doing pretty well after both were stabbed. Dewey is still dead. “Can we go to a different hospital this time?” asks Tara.
Commentary
Ghostface seems a lot more violent and vicious this time around. The gore effects are much improved, there’s more than just blood spatters this time. Wes’s knife through the neck is particularly good.
They finally killed off a main character, which was probably a weakness of the series overall going so long with them all repeatedly surviving.
Mindy and Richie stop using knives after a while and switch to guns, which feels wrong somehow. The meta-movies are called “Stab” after all, not “Shoots.”
It was OK, but I’m not sure if it qualifies as a “requel.” Still a lot of characters did survive to be in the inevitable next part.