Scream 6 might be one of the biggest shockers of 2023 for me. It was a film I went into expecting to hate as much as I did Scream 5 and came out throughly shocked.
Following the events of Scream 5, we see our survivors now in New York City, attempting to finally break the cycle and start new. Soon though a new Ghostface killer shows himself and seems even more vicious than ever. Is it someone who followed them, is it Sam who the internet has made seem was the killer from before and she snapped, or who is trying to kill them.
The film does make several attempts at throwing you off. Our opening scene shows gives us a brief but fun twist in the story. We get reminded of what happened in the previous film too with reminders of who these characters are for those who may have forgotten. Fans of the other films will be delighted to see Scream 4s Kirby Reed (Hayden Panettiere) returns here as well as Scream legend Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox). Neve Campbell’s Sidney Prescott is no where to be found here but explained as to where she is and honestly this film (and franchise) doesn’t need her anymore. Having her added in this would have felt like overkill (no pun intended) and the film held its own so easily without needing her.
It helps our main cast here works so well together. Our “core four” are they call themselves have great on screen chemistry with Ortega and Gooding stealing the show here as expected. Cox and Panettiere are comfortable in their roles and feel natural when reintroduced here. Cox even steals the show at times with her characters story arc. Even our slew of side characters here all work so well on screen together and pull their own weight.
We can’t forget that since this is the first scream not set in California that a new location works wonders here. NYC gives us some great set pieces here to have Ghostface in. It helps as well that this is the most brutal Ghostface we’ve had yet. Public kills and even killing random civilians is nothing here as we get more bloody and gory kills than before. Some of the big moments here will go down as some of the best scenes this franchise has had to offer so far.
The big things though that Scream has always went in was the self aware comedy dialog and the films final twist. We get the one liners about the horror genre here and sequels / franchises. Some moments don’t hit the same way others do but moments like Ghostface and Gale talking over the phone show that when they do hit, they really hit.
Screams climactic twist though will be what divides people. It works here and is a throwback to earlier films (as the last film was too) and I believe tries its best to fix the last films horrendous twist. We also end up getting one of the franchises best scenes with the final giant set piece being one to remember.
Overall Scream 6 knocks it out of the park. It fixes the last films downfalls and gives the franchise a fresh kick. With memorable scenes and a great cast fans of the franchise should be thrilled to see a great continuation. If they ended it here (which honestly should be best) it would be a grand finale for the Scream series.
Score :
4 / 5
