Movie Reviews

‘Scream VI’ review: Bigger and gorier entry into the beloved franchise

Can this meta examination of the horror genre be as fresh as it was in 1996?

March 9, 2023

A new Scream not directed by the late Wes Craven and not written by Kevin Williamson seems like a dangerous proposition. However, last year’s Scream, directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett and written by James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick, turned out to be a pleasant surprise. The fifth instalment may not have reached the groundbreaking territory of the 1996 original but maintains the franchise’s relevance of embracing whilst poking fun at the horror genre through its various cycles.

Essentially doing a Scream 2, in which the sequel is released only a year after its predecessor, does the same creative team strike that same lightning in a bottle, or does Scream VI become the declaration like Halloween Ends where the franchise has really its course? In a similar vein to Craven’s 1997 sequel, the main four characters from the previous film are out of Woodsboro and attend college in New York City. As Sam Carpenter (Melissa Barrera) struggles to take care of her younger sister Tara (Jenna Ortega), while trying to get away from her serial killer father’s legacy, the two sisters as well as the twins Mindy and Chad Meeks-Martin (Jasmin Savoy Brown and Mason Gooding) become targets of another Ghostface.

Although the previous Scream centered more on this new young cast, they were overshadowed that the trio of Sydney, Gale and Dewey, who were the heart of the series. With Courteney Cox reprising her role as Gale Weathers being the only legacy character to appear, the script does a better job at making us care about the main cast. From the dramatic sister dynamic between the Carpenters, to the wit between the Meeks-Martin twins, we can simply enjoy the company of these youngsters just hanging out, and we are rooting for them to survive the whole ordeal.

As we are in the era of constant legacy sequels, 2022’s Scream acknowledges how franchises somewhat recycle previous ideas, though very rarely struggle to move forward. Although that instalment and this sequel are still plagued by the awkward fan service, such as Skeet Ulrich’s recurring appearances as the late Billy Loomis, the series has always had a meta sensibility done through sharp dialogue. That is not to say the fan service is all bad as fans of the franchise will be pleased with the return of Hayden Panettiere playing her Scream 4 character Kirby Reed.

Given that the franchise has been defined by breaking the formula of slasher movies and we now have six Scream movies, the question becomes how many times can it subvert our expectations. As always, the killer opening is often the standout set-piece, which plays into the whole idea of subverting expectations. While the movie isn’t particularly scary, at least if you’re well-versed in horror, the two directors ramp up the intensity where characters are running and screaming for their lives, while the kills are some of the goriest we have seen from the series. In terms of other set- pieces, the movie takes full advantage of typical New York locations to ramp up the tension, from a convenience store to the subway, showing that even amongst people, no one is safe.