Scream VI Review

Ghostface returns for a sixth entry in the Scream series. This time he terrorises the citizens of New York City.

Since the events of Scream (2022), Sam (Melissa Barrera) and Tara (Jenna Ortega) have moved to New York to escape Woodsboro. Another pair of killers dress up as Ghostface and plan to kill the Carpenter sisters so they can complete Richie’s film. However, they get killed by someone else dressed as Ghostface. That person taunts the sisters by leaving masks of the former Ghostfaces at the site of their murders.

The fifth entry in the Scream series brought new life to the franchise. It focused on a new set of characters whilst bringing back legacy characters. It had some terrific sequences that were filled with tension and had two rising stars in the lead roles. It was a good slasher film and a financial success. The follow-up film was made incredibly quickly. Scream VI was filmed in May 2022 and released just over the year after its predecessor.

Scream VI did start with some promise. The first kill set up Scream VI’s theme of subverting expectations with the first Ghostface killers and showing the Carpenters sisters struggling with the trauma of the events in the previous film. There were some entertaining and thrilling sequences when Ghostface appeared. The attacks in the store, the apartment, and on the subway were highlights because they were tense, and violent and took advantage of the New York setting. The attack in the store worked because Sam and Tara had to stay silent as Ghostface wields a shotgun, whilst in the subway train where the characters were surrounded by people dressed as Ghostface, so they didn’t know where the attack would come from.

There were also some interesting character ideas being explored. Sam and Tara were traumatised by the events in Woodsboro and handled them differently. Sam has been paranoid, which led to her installing numerous locks and she had become overprotective of Tara. Because of this overprotection, Tara tries to rebel and nearly had a drunken one-night stand with a random bloke. When speaking to her counsellor, Sam revealed that she enjoyed unleashing her dark side in the previous film. There was also the idea of trial by media with social media posts claiming that Sam was the real Ghostface and there was an air of suspicion around her.  However, these ideas weren’t fleshed out like they should have been and left a feeling of wanting more.

Some criticised the previous Scream film for lacking humour. Scream VI aimed to rectify this by having more comedy. Scream VI had the Scream trope of a metatextual dissection of the horror genre. Jasmin Savoy Brown’s Mindy has taken over the role of the series’ resident film nerd and it was funny when she referred to Liana Liberato’s character as a slut. Quinn did have a conveyor belt of men come to her room in New York. It was fun to see Tara land a punch on Gale (Courteney Cox).

The Scream series has been known for subverting the slasher genre and its tropes. However, by Scream VI it all seems old hat and thematically, it was too much like its predecessor. Scream (2022)’s target was legacy sequels, or as they called them ‘requels,’ whilst Scream VI was about franchises. Both films said the same thing, it was about continuing the series, drawing on nostalgia, and subverting expectations. Added to this, Scream VI continues the idea of the rules changing every time but in Scream VI it felt like rinse and repeat. The most original moment was the death of the first killers.

Scream VI’s characters pointed out that it had a similar setup to Scream 2. Both films were sequels quickly made after successful predecessors and showed the main characters going to college. It was Scream VI’s attempt to mix the familiar with something new. It wasn’t as clever as the filmmakers thought it was.

Meta and self-aware humour has been a stable of the Scream franchise. Yet there has been a rise in this type of humour in pop culture with this type of humour in films like the Deadpool series and shows like Rick and Morty. Fans of Rick and Morty know that the show has become too reliant on meta jokes for its comedy and in Scream VI this self-referential humour became grating.

Even positive reviews of Scream VI have pointed out that it was one of the silliest entries in the series. The plot points and twists did not stand up to any basic scrutiny. It was closer to Scream 3 than any of the other Scream films.

As a straight slasher film, Scream VI was an effective horror story because of the tension and characters but the need to continue the film’s need to act as a horror commentary was its downfall.