Original Scream Star Shares 30-Minute Dissection of New Sequel, Says It’s “Done Perfectly”

The latest entry in the Scream franchise could arguably be seen as its most ambitious yet, as it marks the first film in the series that wasn’t directed by Wes Craven, who passed away in 2015. Given that this latest film saw the returns of long-running stars Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, and David Arquette, one would assume they all endorsed the adventure, though audiences would surely wonder what some former members of the series would think about this latest outing, with former star Jamie Kennedy taking to YouTube to share his thoughts on the adventure in a sprawling 30-minute reaction video, which you can watch below.

The actor expresses early on in the video that he is recording shortly after his first viewing of the latest sequel, and admits that his goal isn’t to review the film, but notes how many feelings he had about the experience and goes on to note that it is “fantastic” and “it’s just done perfectly.”

Kennedy became a beloved component of the series thanks to his breakout role in the original 1996 film, playing a video store employee whose obsession with horror films allowed him to offer advice to his peers to potentially avoid being a victim. Randy returned in Scream 2, despite having been injured by Ghostface, yet he failed to survive that follow-up outing. Interestingly, because his murder took place in a closed van, audiences never actually saw him get killed, only knew that his body was discovered. The character did make an unexpected return in the form of a video message for Scream 3, but given his unseen death in a previous film, theories persist that he may have somehow survived the ordeal. 

While Kennedy clearly isn’t in the latest Scream himself, the actor previously detailed how, in some ways, he feels the character being dead makes him an even stronger character within the franchise.

“If I was in the mythology, I think my mythology is strong because I’m not in it, you know what I mean? So if I came back, it could bastardize it. But if there was a plausible way that wouldn’t piss off the audience, it might be interesting to entertain,” Kennedy previously confirmed with ComicBook.com. “But, as of right now, I believe I’m deader than dead, and I think that’s what makes it good is the fact that you are dead and that’s why it’s strong because you died. You were one of the good ones and maybe you shouldn’t have went, but that’s what life is. It’s pain. Sometimes things happen, you can’t explain. And that’s why it resonates so much with people because of that.”  

The new Scream is in theaters now.

What did you think of Kennedy’s reaction to the new film? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things horror and Star Wars!