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Scream VI

The future of the Scream movies seemed uncertain after the 2015 death of Wes Craven, who directed the first four films. Eight years later, the series is as alive and popular as ever. Starting with the fifth installment, the movies are coming out at a much faster pace. While it took 15 years to put out the first four, the last two have been released in consecutive years. The quality, in my opinion, hasn’t dropped, even if there are obvious flaws. For about 75 percent of its runtime, Scream VI is entertaining.

The one big switch is moving the location from the suburb of Woodsboro, California to the buzzing Manhattan streets. You see, Sam Carpenter (Melissa Berrera) and her sister Tara (Jenna Ortega) attend Blackmore University in NYC, but because Ghostface masks can bought in a lot of places, they are no safer than they were in Woodsboro. Sam sees a therapist as she contends with the mental anguish of being the daughter of Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich), the killer in Scream (1996), and ending the lives of her boyfriend Richie (Jack Quaid) and his accomplice Amber (Mikey Madison). Tara feels smothered by Sam’s nannyish desire to protect her. Tara thinks that with a new city she can move on from the Woodsboro tragedies, but Sam knows they’re not safe, especially with the brutal slaughter of their film studies professor, Laura Crane (Samara Weaving).

The opening shows how Crane is teasingly brought out into an alley and attacked. The killer unmasks himself and another person masked as Ghostface slashes him. Sam and Tara are targets soon after, as are their friends Mindy Meeks-Martin (Jasmine Savoy-Brown) and her twin brother Chad (Mason Gooding). The two are survivors of the Woodsboro legacy slayings and see themselves as part of the main group of resisters in this saga, with Chad referring to them as the “core four.”

I like Scream VI a little more than Scream (2022), but I must admit, the screenplay by James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick (who wrote the last one too) does a less pleasing job commenting on the conventions of a franchise. Last year, Scream had discussions that contained nifty takes in an entry that was both a reboot and a sequel (called a “requel”). Here, there’s talk about characters who aren’t safe and friends being expendable, but these opinions are generic, with too little thought behind them. The secondary characters like Sam’s sex buddy Danny Brackett (Josh Segarra) and bed-hopping Quinn Bailey (Liana Liberato) aren’t arresting. They seem to exist to make us wonder if they are behind the fresh set of killings. Quinn’s father Wayne (Dermot Mulroney), a detective, isn’t a great character (he’s decent), but at least he has a better reason for being in multiple scenes, particularly after one of his loved ones dies.

There are inventive set-pieces. Ghostface—meaning, of course, the killer in a Ghostface mask—tracking Sam and Tara in a bodega is anxiety-provoking and exciting. I appreciate the sound: Ghostface gently stepping while Sam and Tara are on their hands and knees, trying to make as little noise as they can. The sequence with a ladder that expends from one apartment to another is deliciously suspenseful. Underneath the ladder, there’s a big drop that likely will kill anyone who falls. The subway-car scene is excellent as well. Sam, Tara, Mindy, and other characters we have been introduces to along the way are crammed in with passengers, many of whom wear Ghostface masks. The lights flash on and off and the stress grows, especially when one Ghostface keeps getting closer to Mindy. It’s very well shot and executed by directed by Matt Bettininelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, who also hustle the movie along at a speedy tempo.

Yet this slasher movie has still other failings. I’m not a fan of the big reveal in the last act. Sure, it’s one of the Scream conventions by now, but there’s way too much talk. Hearing characters explain why they did it and enabling those who listen to conceive plans that will lead to the villains’ demise was played out before the first Scream film. And while it seems to me acceptable to have a little bit of conversation about the whys of it (because the killers are a secret), it shouldn’t take many minutes to do. And that’s exactly what happens. It reminded of me of the even more overblown finale in Scream 3, my least favorite movie in the series. (Spoilers) As in that effort, there’s a character who’s offscreen for most of the section until he or she is needed to shoot a baddie. I mostly like the fast scene where Gale (Courtney Cox), who’s back for another Scream ride, is attacked in her apartment. There are two problems with it, however. She has a gun and seems ready to shoot Ghostface if he comes in. She could stay where she is and call the police. What does she do? She shoots at the door and opens it. I don’t find it fun to watch characters do asinine things. And when Sam and Tara come to Gale’s rescue, Sam unbeleivably lets Ghostface leave without going after him.

Jenna Ortega, as Tara, isn’t as vivacious as she was in the last Scream. I identified with her more there because she has the scene where she speaks to Ghostface on the phone, allowing her to express her appealing personality. She’s still likable, though she’s not as engaging in group settings. Melissa Barrera has improved in the part of Sam. Last year, she sometimes seemed ill-at-ease in front of the camera. She’s more presence and is more natural, which is important since she’s filmed with some frequency in close-up.

If this review toggles back and forth between strengths and weaknesses in close to equal measure, it’s because while I acknowledge the series is wearing close to the bone in some areas (the reveals, the uninspired talk about movie franchises), Scream VI, like its predecessor, contains enough chillingly stressful moments to recommend.