Film Review - Scream VI

Images courtesy of Paramount Pictures.

Of all the horror movie franchises out there, the Scream series seems like one of the most confounding. The first film existed to make fun of slasher tropes at the time (that original director Wes Craven had helped solidify with his earlier Nightmare on Elm Street films), and then the sequel existed to make fun of… well, sequels. Then the third upped the meta element by satirising the filmmaking process (and also contains a subplot that seems almost too poignant given that the films were produced by The Weinstein Company), and we got a fourth film before Wes’ tragic passing that spoofed reboots and internet culture of the time.

After over a decade in hibernation, directing duo Radio Silence (Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin) brought the series back with the annoyingly titled Scream (2022) to positive reception from the wider public, and mixed reactions from fans. And now, here we are at Scream VI - a direct sequel to the 2022 film, and while I can say I did enjoy this much more than the previous entry, there's a sense that by continuing on this long, the franchise has become the very thing it satirises.

Following the new survivors, Sam, Tara, Mindy, and Chad - whom Chad dubs the Core Four - along with returning legacy favourites Gale and Kirby, we see a new Ghostface let loose in The Big Apple, bringing me to my first qualm with the newest entry. For all the marketing buzz about how this one's set in New York, it rarely feels like it uses the setting to imbue VI with the carnage that a serial killer (or killers, as the franchise's usual M.O. would state) would likely inflict in such a densely populated area. Outside of a scene on a packed subway on Halloween night and a brief convenience store standoff, it's more or less just your usual apartment and dilapidated warehouse chases. Granted, these scenes are particularly exhilarating thanks to just how relentless the current Ghostface feels, however the payoffs are often middling and it feels like the tension is for naught.

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

As much as we were promised "something completely different" from the masked killer this time around, and there are quite a few moments where it truly does feel like anything could happen - thanks largely to an awesome opening that teases throwing the book out entirely - the end result is all of the Core Four along with both legacy characters surviving. After such a ho-hum reveal (don't get me wrong, I was still surprised, albeit because I was hoping for something more interesting than a repeat of Scream 2's motives), it felt like a bit of a cop out that most of the characters who seemed gravely injured were all set to make full recoveries. Like, sure, you subverted my expectations that those characters were dead, but isn't that just robbing the film of consequence? Even last year's entry had the gaul to kill Dewey.

While I definitely enjoyed myself, and found the comedy to be surprisingly well-balanced, I left with a somewhat bland taste in my mouth. We've gotten particularly nasty Ghostfaces two years in a row, but since their creator's passing, the actual films seem trapped in a creative rut, doomed to sacrifice the slick edge that the series was once celebrated for in service of broad appeal.

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Scream VI is screening in cinemas from Thursday 9th March. For tickets and more info, check out Paramount Australia.