For over two decades, the “Scream” franchise has been poking fun and poking knives at various horror movie conventions and tropes, eventually turning itself inside out into the sort of the thing it once set out to parody. This series that once felt so razor sharp has itself devolved into expected cliches and plot beats that, while a bit excusable with 2022’s film due to the nature of its “requel” status, have become far more egregious in this year’s “Scream VI.”
The film follows Sam Carpenter, played by Melissa Barrera (“In The Heights,” “Vida”), in New York City with her sister Tara, played by Jenna Ortega (“Wednesday,” “X”), and their friends Chad and Mindy Meeks-Martin, played by Mason Gooding (“Love, Victor,” “Booksmart”) and Jasmin Savoy Brown (“The Leftovers,” “Yellowjackets”) respectively, when a new Ghostface appears, wreaking havoc and threatening to come the four of them just one year after the events of “Scream (2023).”
There’s nothing inherently wrong with the setup or plot of “Scream VI” and in a way, the basic premise seems to pay tribute to other New York set horror films, such as “Jason Takes Manhattan” or “Rosemary’s Baby.” There’s also effectively nothing wrong with any of the performances either. The main “Core Four” are all still fine, with good chemistry and banter all around and the other new and returning supporting cast members, like Courteney Cox (“Friends,” “Cougar Town”) as Gale Weathers, Hayden Panettiere (“Heroes,” “Nashville”) as Kirby Reed, Dermot Mulroney (“Shameless,” “J. Edgar”) as Detective Wayne Bailey, and Josh Segarra (“The Other Two,” “She-Hulk: Attorney at Law”) as Danny Brackett, are also all fine.
Gore wise, fans will likely also be happy, as this film continues the trend of 2022’s film and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin (“Ready or Not,” “Devil’s Due”) and Tyler Gillett’s (“Ready or Not,” “Devil’s Due”) other directorial works, and ups the blood, gore, and seriousness of this film. Its well-produced and effective in its scares, maintaining a delicate balance between being scary and entertaining that it succeeds with. There are a handful of moments that feel overly mean, but given the heritage of the franchise, it doesn’t feel so out of place compared to other horror films with unexpected mean streaks.
Here’s the big issue: for decades, the “Scream” franchise has been a staple not just for its scares or Ghostface, but because of its skewering of horror movie tropes and cliches. Part of the whole appeal is that Ghostface is a real person and he/she/they ask about scary movies, with the films themselves addressing the “rules” to surviving a horror film. And while those elements were still tengentially in the 2022 film by nature of it being a “requel” (reboot/sequel), “Scream VI” lacks any sort of central identity or satirical elements.
The film’s opening is sharp and excellent, but the ideas established there that seem to be the film’s central thesis quickly fade away and aren’t replaced with anything. Sure, there’s still the “here are the rules/suspects/etc.” speeches and the film is heavily steeped in references to previous films in the franchise, but the edge and bite to poke at both itself and the horror genre at large is gone. What stands in its place is a rather routine entry in a franchise that’s been too reliant on references and self-congratulation for the past two entries now.
A sharper script is what it all comes back to, as a movie can only coast on references to other horror movies and Letterbox’d accounts for so long, and frankly writers James Vanderbilt (“Zodiac,” “The Amazing Spider-Man”) and Guy Busick (“Ready or Not,” “Stan Against Evil”) just don’t give the film the bite it needs. It feels closer to “Ghostbusters Afterlife” in its weird reverence to previous events than a series that at one point was a critique of the entire genre. Even the identity of Ghostface is one of the least interesting in the series, more so because the reveal elicits more of a confused reaction than one of shock or surprise.
While “Scream VI” is objectively fine, if forgettable, it represents a crossroads for this franchise. If it wants to continue with any life or purpose, then the creative team behind the next one (because of course there’s going to be a next one) needs to go back to the drawing board with a goal of either providing a film that’s surprising enough to distract from the lack of satirical edge or cuts sharply and deeply across the entire genre. It’s a genre that’s long needed a new course correction in this age of “requels” and legacy characters coming back, but this “Scream” is not the one to do it; it’s just a decent imitation wearing the same face as the previous, better films. 3/5
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