As you might know, I am a big fan of the Scream franchise, but I had some issues with Scream (2022, my review here) besides the title being the same as the original Scream film. Mainly it was way too much in love with itself and patted itself a bit too hard for being meta as fuck. And this one continues this, but… The action sequences were better, I actually cared about most characters in this film, and the meta-ness of it all didn’t bother me until the finale, where they decided to say fuck it, let’s break our own rules. But let’s delve into it properly.
This movie starts with the “Core Four” trying to move past what happened in Woodsboro and live in New York now. I thought the opening was a well-executed subversion of the genre (and Samara Weaving is always a great addition to any film) by revealing two Ghostface killers, only to kill them off instantly. I thought that set the mood well and got me intrigued.
I also enjoyed how we got more of the Carpenter sisters and their dynamic (Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega have such good chemistry). I appreciated the movie showing us how different they are and how differently each of them is shaped by what happened in Woodsboro. We have also gotten more of Jasmin Savoy Brown and Mason Gooding, and that was something I felt was missing from the previous movie. Scream VI does a much better job at the character development of these four people; after all, they nickname themselves “Core Four” and joke about how, in franchise rules, neither of them is safe (more about that later).
My first hang-up with this film is the lack of Neve Campbell. I don’t think that counts as a spoiler to say she doesn’t appear here due to a pay dispute if I am reading IMDb trivia correctly. And it felt a bit weird having a Scream film without Sydney. She has always been the heart of this franchise, and the lack of her presence was noticeable. It wasn’t that extreme that it would make me dislike the film; it simply felt a bit different. Sydney’s character is the original survivor, the one who started it all and not having her here because the studio not wanting to pay her her worth (on a budget of $24 million, the fifth Scream grossed almost $140 million in the cinemas alone, so they definitely made a healthy profit) is fucking stupid.
As mentioned above, the big improvement from the previous film was the kill set pieces. Whether it was the beginning, the metro scene, or the college door room scene, they all had my attention; they were executed well, and there was just the right amount of suspense and not too many jump scares. That’s another thing about Scream VI; maybe it’s just my feeling, but I liked how they weren’t overly relying on jump scares. Sure, you still have some here, but for the most part, they are used well, are effective and don’t feel cheap.
I was really into this movie; I thought I would rate it around four stars, and then, the last 20 minutes happened. I will try my hardest to talk about it without discussing any spoilers, but there might be some hints, so reader discretion is advised. For a movie that (yet again) is so self-aware and makes up franchise rules (how nobody is safe, including the legacy characters)… there were a bit too many survivors at the end. At one point, it genuinely felt like the safest place for you to do in this movie to survive is to get stabbed. I am not talking about a single cut or two on your arm or something; I mean getting properly stabbed like ten times. There were some characters that should have definitely died as a result of… you know, being fucking stabbed multiple times!
Regarding the killer(s) revelations, I thought it was… alright. I might be in the minority here, but I never try to guess the killer in any Scream film because they always make it so everyone is not only the suspect, in most movies, there are multiple killers. So you can’t even rely on any single person who is part of a “kill scene” not being in on it. And in this film, the reveal was… okay. Again, I discussed it in my review for the fifth movie, but this reveal of who it was and how the killers are connected to all of it felt again like a Latin telenovela. We get some new information, so it would all make sense, but yeah… didn’t care that much about it either way.
I know that might sound bizarre to hear, but, honestly, the Scream franchise (to me) was never about: “Oh, I wonder who the killer(s) is this time around!” Nope, I fell in love with the originals because of their meta humour (back when it was still new), balancing it with an actual horror. And whilst I liked Scream VI way more than the fifth Scream, I am not convinced whether we have any new grounds to cover in another sequel that surely will come after all the strikes are over. At some point (and I would argue that point has already been reached in the previous film), you start to run out of “logical” choices for the killer, and instead, you need to retcon many things for your story to make sense. Also, if we really get another Scream film, please bring Neve back, pay her what she deserves, and let her shine, just one more time, giving her character some well-deserved (and earned) closure.
Overall, Scream VI was a surprise. After the mediocre fifth Scream film, this sequel spends more time on character development whilst making the kill set pieces bigger and cooler, and I enjoyed that. What I didn’t like was the lack of Sydney’s character and the number of people who get stabbed multiple times and survive in this movie. But, I would recommend this over the previous film in a heartbeat, despite all my grievances, as it felt like a more complete film overall.
That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!
Until next time,
Luke
