Review: ’Scream VI’ is a Terror Trip to the Big Apple
★★★
A year has passed since the most recent massacre in Woodsboro and the younger cast is still adjusting from their first run in with Ghostface. Now calling themselves the “Core Four,” the gang has moved to New York City where Tara (Jenna Ortega), Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown) and her brother, Chad (Mason Gooding) attend college at Blackmore University. Catching up with the characters in the big city, we learn that Tara sneaks out to parties, Chad plays wingman for his college roommate, Ethan (Jack Champion), and Mindy has a new girlfriend, Anika (Devyn Nekoda).
Sam (Melissa Barrera), on the other hand, has a lot going on. For starters, therapy is murder. (Note: a major spoiler for the previous film follows below.) During a session, she grapples with the events that transpired last year, not because she had to stab her boyfriend, Richie (Jack Quaid), 22 times and shoot him in the head because he turned out to be a serial killer. But because killing him felt “right” and she is worried that she has inherited her father’s (Billy Loomis reprised by Skeet Ulrich in visions) lust for murder. Upon hearing this, her therapist (Henry Czerny) begins shaking nervously and immediately fires her, citing that treating her is outside his realm of expertise. (That’s okay though, this is a slasher film, so we know this therapist isn’t long for the world anyway — a fact that the movie he later watches on TV, the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers, seems to be aware of and tries to warn him, “you’re next, you’re next, you’re next…”). Sam is also the subject of some lame-brained internet conspiracy theories claiming she committed the murders and framed her boyfriend, making her public life a living hell. And if things couldn’t get worse, three bodies have been found murdered near campus, which can only mean one thing: Ghostface is in town.
Cue the carnage and screams.
Directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, the team that form Radio Silence, Scream VI is a worthy sequel that takes you on a chase through the streets, subways and high rise apartments of New York City. This scenery change sets the stage for a tense cat-and-mouse chase in a bodega, a nail-biting escape where the characters have to cross a ladder over an alley several stories up and a face-off between Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) and Ghostface in her luxury high-rise apartment. And arguably its best sequence takes place on a subway train where the characters are surrounded by multiple New Yorkers dressed as their favorite killer from the Stab franchise (the movie within a movie that debuted in Scream 2). But lurking among them is the real killer, inching closer and closer to his prey in the cover of flashing darkness until there’s Ghostface in your face. (This movie takes place on Halloween by the way, but that doesn’t really factor much into the overall plot.) How these Stab movies and masks continue to be manufactured and distributed despite their growing connection to multiple serial killers is never addressed. You’d think there’d be lawsuits but whatever it looks cool, I think the audience is willing to let that go.
Tonally, Scream VI feels different. It is more straightforward than previous entries. Starting with Scream 3, the series has laid down the camp fairly heavily (although never again as heavily as Scream 3). Though it still retains the franchise’s knack for satire and meta-commentary, to some degree Scream VI feels less cynical (but also still savage) and while this may seem odd to mention in a horror movie review, has a human touch, particularly with how it handles its main characters.
The way the “Core Four” interact with each other here feels genuine. Their open vulnerability, how they share their feelings and protect one another, the way Sam rescues her little sister from a creep at a party by tasing his balls, not to mention the quiet little moments where Chad flirts with Tara, I’m really rooting for those two. And then there is the scene where Mindy voices her fears of getting stabbed again. In a series centered around the characters knowing they are in a horror film, I can’t think of another instance like that (apart from Duane Martin in Scream 2 who wisely left the film in a taxi before he could die) where a character has weighed their mortality on grounded terms as you and I would. It is a moment that not only feels relatable but also heightens the level of dread in the film’s scarier scenes. For this reason, I’d say it is the most important scene in the movie. You see, what moments like these do is add a certain layer of sincerity and camaraderie that not only sells these newer characters, particularly Mindy and Chad, far more effectively as human beings than the previous film did but also keeps you invested and worried about them in times of terror. This movie wouldn’t be nearly as suspenseful if you didn’t care about the characters.
There are a few things about Scream VI that don’t quite work. Let’s start with the return of Kirby Reed (Hayden Panettiere, reprising her role from Scream 4). It’s now FBI Special Agent Kirby Reed, for the record. As the prey turned predator, the film lays the groundwork to explore her character in fun new ways but seems more interested in pinning her as a potential suspect than doing something meaningful with her. Kirby has a couple good scenes in the movie (a fun little moment where she vibes with Mindy and another scene I won’t mention here) but ultimately her return feels like a gimmick. Likewise, having Gale walk back on her decision not to write another book about Ghostface murders allows the chance for the character to reflect inwardly on her nature and her inability to commit to growth in light of mourning Dewey’s death. But the film isn’t interested in doing any of that and admittedly the audience, who most likely wants to see Gale Weathers just be Gale Weathers, probably isn’t either. And then there is a plot device centered around masks worn by the previous killers left at the crime scenes. It is a compelling idea that drives much of the mystery, but the payoff doesn’t quite land and given the history involved, one might wonder if it would have been better saved for the concluding film in the series.
Some might also argue the film doesn’t fully deliver on the audience’s expectations for its New York City setting. Entrails on the Empire State Building. Guts spilled on Time Square. Beheadings on Broadway. Carnage at Carnegie Hall. I doubt even Ghostface could visit all these places in a couple nights. The audience has a way of dreaming big with these kind of movies but I think the film delivers on its setting with reasonable expectations. These films aren’t known for subtlety but impaling someone on the spikes of Lady Liberty would be several steps too far for the Scream franchise.
There are a few things that I have neglected to mention — including the opening sequence that is rather inventive in more ways than one — but I think these things should be experienced fresh while watching the film for the first time, not here in this review. No, Scream VI doesn’t top the original, nor Scream 2 for that matter, but it is a fun slasher with thrilling setups, plenty of gore and likable characters, what more could you ask?
