Heartwarming / Scream (2022)

From punches to hugs.

As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.

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• The reference to fan-favorite Kirby Reed having survived the events of Scream 4.
• Sidney and Gale's reunion. It's interesting to look at each of their first onscreen interactions via the films and how they've come:
  • 1: Punch
  • 2: Slap
  • 3: Awkward hug
  • 4: Friendly hug
  • 5: Emotional hug
• Despite all the turmoil they’ve been through, the main trio have more or less been able to move on until the events of the film drag them back to Woodsboro:
  • Sidney has a family now. In fact, they’re her primary reason for why she isn’t going to come to Woodsboro until the new Ghostface is dead.
    • And the father is revealed to be Mark Kincaid, the Implied Love Interest for Sid from the third film.
    • Especially satisfying is that after Scream 4, not only was everyone close (familial-wise) to Sidney dead, but several of them were responsible for killing those close to her. She finally has someone close to her that's alive.
    • In a roundabout way, Sidney not being the primary target this time. Except for when she goes back to stop the new Ghostface, after Jill's killings in Scream 4, she really did get to move on after all.
  • Gale has been able to move past her writers' block, and has become the host of a major morning news show. At the end of the film, she decides to go back to writing, but focuses on Dewey, preferring for the new killers to die in anonymity.
  • Even though he’s seemingly fallen off the wagon, even Dewey isn’t entirely down. He offers advice to the new group and helps them in their fight against Ghostface. He also harbors no ill will towards Gale after their separation, displaying excitement at seeing her on the news.
  • His reunion with Martha is also very touching too.
• Gale is at her most sympathetic in this film. Her scene with Dewey is motivated by wanting to see how he's doing, her grief over his death is genuine, as is her desire for payback, and by the end she even chooses to not write a book about the killers and instead write one honouring Dewey (showing how she's lost the desire for fame as well as making up for unintentionally making the Ghostfaces icons—Stab was based on a book she wrote after all). She and Sidney are on the best terms they've ever been, working together and being there for each other from the aftermath of Dewey's demise. Gale's come a long way, as has her relationship with Sidney.
  • Compare her first major scene in this film with her first major scene in Scream (1996). Both involve her as part of a news team covering a Ghostface attack. In the former film, she is immediately trying to get the story of what happened to Sidney from her, bothers Tatum, and insults Kenny the cameraman for being too slow. Here, not only does she really pay little attention to the camera people (in the sense that she doesn't care about immediately reporting the story), she also goes up to Sam on her own and is rather polite and kind rather than belligerently asking questions. Then she goes over to Dewey, an interaction which, although grounded by their breakup and him just telling her about Ghostface in a text, is still a more sympathetic showcase from her. She shows sympathy towards him and even understands why he ended their relationship. She's clearly learned tact, something that could have come from having a more modest job, having finally achieved enough for herself, regret for how she was and how her relationship with Dewey had ended, or just generally maturing.
  • "You are a lot of things, Dewey, but you are not a coward."
• Sidney's Nice Girl status is still intact, coming to comfort Gale after hearing about Dewey's death, accepting Billy's daughter unconditionally, and helping to stop these Ghostfaces. Her last couple of lines to Sam is to apologise for telling her not to run (since it did lead to a lot of danger) and that things will get better for her "eventually".
• Sam keeps having creepy hallucinations of Billy Loomis, her father, throughout the film. But for the most part, despite being a hallucination of a deranged spree killer, Hallucination!Billy tries to help Sam, encouraging her to fight back and hinting her towards a knife to defend herself against Richie during the final battle. When she takes bloody, violent revenge against the man who betrayed her and caused her so much pain, Billy gives her a proud smile, as if saying, "That's my girl!"
• Sam's positive final interaction with "Billy" on-screen seems to imply that she's starting to make peace with the reality of her situation, regarding both her paternity and her mental illness, and is more accepting of herself. While she may still have some lingering doubts and fears, it's certainly a good first step, and miles better than desperately trying to hide and suppress her problems.
• Sam's genuine care for Tara's friends who she helped take care of when they were much younger, her hugs with Mindy and Wes specifically. Made sadder when Sam learns Wes is killed and sweeter as well when she has a moment of holding Mindy's hand as she's taken away on a stretcher at the end of the movie.
• Mindy giving a thumbs up to her brother Chad as both of them are taken to the hospital.
• Sam and Tara’s sisterly relationship in general. Despite the trials and tribulations they have to go through, even ignoring the killers trying to murder them, the two reconcile as sisters by the conclusion of the film. The fact that when push came to shove, Sam DIDN'T doubt Tara, but trusted her instead and it clearly paid off. Meaning Sam avoided Sidney's greatest mistake—not trusting someone who wasn't Ghostface, as she did with Derek who died as a result—and it turned out to be the right decision since Tara was innocent.
• Despite being twisted motherfuckers, the Ghostface duo, Richie and Amber, never betray each other or even hint towards betrayal, working as equal partners instead of one of them being a subordinate like in the other films. The one scene Amber "betrays" Richie, it's part of a bit to fool Sidney and Gale.
• Even as he’s being killed, Dewey subtly smiles when he realizes that Gale is calling him, further demonstrating even as he’s dying, he still loves her.
• While tracking Sam, Gale tells Sidney in the car that she regrets writing about her mother's murder all those years ago, feeling it's caused nothing but trouble. There's no love lost between Gale and Sidney, but Sid gently reminds her it was Billy Loomis' fault her mom was killed, not hers.
• When Gale finally avenges Dewey, she doesn't call him her ex-husband or even her husband. "You killed my best friend!" So many loving couples can relate to that.
• Judy and Wes appear to have a close mother/son relationship, with Judy being protective of Wes and the two getting along well.
• Mindy and Chad have a memorial home theater in their family's house dedicated to their uncle Randy, with Mindy even giving his picture a good luck kiss.
  • Likewise, Dewey has a memorial for his sister Tatum in his trailer.
  • While not dwelled on as much as the relationship between Wes and Judy, the relationship between Martha Meeks and the twins is clearly healthy and loving, and she's supportive of her kids taking up the torch.
    Martha: (carrying in a plate of snacks) Ooh, suspects! My brother would be so proud!
• Tara doesn't blame Sam for her father leaving their family, pointing out he chose to. Her issue is that Sam left and didn't contact her. For all the issues they have, this shows Tara loves her sister and wants her around.
• One of the last things Sidney says in the film, powerful both in context and as a testament to her enduring status as one of horror's greatest Final Girls:
  "I'll survive. I always do."
• Like all previous movies, there's a brief flash of Ghostface with his blade just before the credits. However, unlike all the others where he menaces the audience for a final Jump Scare, here, he wipes his blade clean and with his head bowed, just after the screen shows the text: "For Wes." Even Ghostface takes a moment to honor the director who gave us this iconic series and killer. As these words appear, the sound of birds chirping in the distance can be heard — a final nod to Wes, who was an avid ornithologist.