Sommerleigh Pollonais, Horror Head Writer
Plot: In the next installment of the Scream franchise, the survivors of the Ghostface killings leave Woodsboro behind and start a fresh chapter in New York City.
Review: It was just a year ago Scream V came out as not just another sequel but also as a sort of reboot that set out to bring new life and fans to the franchise. The results were a mixed bag and personally I found it to be the weakest outing thus far. The new final girl Sam (Melissa Barrera) was fine but she was no Sydney Prescott (Neve Campbell). The new batch of friends were fine but nowhere near as memorable as the original cast. And not only were Ghostface’s motives for killing kind of “meh”, they were by far the most obvious killers Scream has ever offered up. It was almost like there was a flashing neon arrow pointing at them every time they were on-screen.
After seeing it I figured the franchise might be on its last legs, but you know what? They had a solid run. But something wonderful happened between last year’s outing and now because Scream VI not only proved this story still has life too it, it proved the franchise as a whole may just be the best the slasher genre has ever seen.
Talk about a course correction! Scream VI directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillet, as well as writers James Vanderbilt, Guy Busick and the man who started it all, Kevin Williamson, showed they weren’t just in it to make a quick buck and that they love the Scream movies just as much as the fans do when they made this one. We are once again back with the latest batch of survivors of Woodsboro, who have now all moved to New York to try and start their lives over. While this might be easier for some like younger sister Tara (Jenna Ortega) and twins Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown) and Chad (Mason Gooding), Sam Carpenter is still on edge and struggling with the mental scars left by what went down in Scream V (no spoilers just in case some of you are still catching up on the movies) as well as being labelled the actual Ghostface killer by certain members of the public. Things go from bad to blood-soaked worse when Ghostface pops up once again in their lives but there’s something very different about this black-clad butcher. This Ghostface is a whole lot smarter, meaner and brutal than any they’ve faced before.
Six seems to be the magic number for Scream as not only did this movie amp up the blood, gore and adrenaline-pumping stalking sequences, it also had the trickiest whodunit of the series by far. My friend and I sat in the theatre throwing out theory after theory (quietly – we’re not asshats) and while with the last movie I got it right thirty minutes in, I only got one correct here and it took me almost to the end of the story! The character development was much better as well and while I still give the first Scream points for pulling that off with just one movie, I would be lying if I said I didn’t end up caring for the fates of the whole gang here and wanted to see them all make it out in one piece.
Great pacing, editing acting and screenplay, Scream VI is a definite contender for best sequel of the franchise so far. But I would be lying if I said there weren’t a few things that irked me. The first being a couple of the characters here do end up acting in ways that made me roll my eyes. Not giving anything away so I’ll just say Scream is the movie that perfected meta in horror, so it’s a bit lazy when the same tropes they just made fun of end up being acted out by some of their characters.
The second and last thing (and this one had me laughing) was how most of these people would get stabbed MULTIPLE TIMES and just walk it off like it was a bug bite! I mean, have you ever accidentally cut yourself? Most of us act like we’re going to die from a simple stubbed toe and these people are getting sliced and diced, yet still somehow managing to fight like Wolverine and then walk about having full on conversations while I’m wondering, how are you not unconscious?! The icing on this crazy cake was a certain character getting stabbed at least a dozen times, only to survive in the end. I guess he’s the 50 Cent of stab wounds or something.
All of that aside though, Scream VI was a blast and a half that managed to successfully move locations without slowing things down at all (I’m looking at you Jason Takes Manhattan). I love how much passion and energy was put into this sixth outing, proving without a doubt the Scream franchise isn’t just another cash grab slasher franchise, but one that still loves the genre just as much as we do.
Score: 8 out of 10
Have you checked out Scream VI yet? What did you think of it? And you can check out more content worth screaming about (pun very much intended) below:
Sommerleigh of the House Pollonais. First of Her Name. Sushi Lover, Queen of Horror Movies, Comic Books and Binge Watching Netflix. Mother of two beautiful black cats named Vader and Kylo. I think eating Popcorn at the movies should be mandatory, PS4 makes the best games ever, and I’ll be talking about movies until the zombie apocalypse comes.
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