Scream VI Review: Ghostface Returns With New Gruesome Kills

Director: Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin

Runtime: 2 hour 2 minutes

The sixth film in the franchise returns the main characters to battle Ghostface (voiced by Roger Jackson), the murdering moniker that’s plagued characters for almost 20 years. 

The highlights of the film are the cramped kills that take place in narrow spaces, specifically some really great scenes in a bodega, apartment, as well as a subway, which you may have seen in the trailer. Overall, the film is a serviceable continuation that most fans and casual moviegoers will enjoy.

Main characters Sam Carpenter (Melissa Barrera) and her younger half-sister Tara Carpenter (Jenna Ortega) have moved to New York City from Woodsboro, along with brother and sister combo Chad and Mindy (Mason Gooding and Jasmin Savoy Brown). 

Scream-VI-characters

Tara is attending fictional school Blackmore University while Sam is working, attending therapy sessions, and avoiding most relationships. Tara is the sister trying to live as normal of a life as possible. The pair has lived in peace for around 3 years, and made a few friends in the community, but a few days before Halloween, Ghostface reappears. 

Everyone the sisters surround themselves with either believe social media and think the sisters are guilty of the past crimes and current ones or want to help track down the new killer. The original four struggle to fully trust anyone, but without trust, how will they survive?

Aside from the great tension created during some of the physically cramped killing scenes, the expected tension of the film as a horror/slasher is beautifully relieved through the actors knowing what movie they’re in. Scream VI doesn’t seem interested in really scaring the audience and instead maintains the air of being meta-textual.

The entire series is based on a universe in which the fictional Stab franchise is one of the most popular movies and leads to an obsessed fan base. There are a few moments where the actors may as well nod or wink at the screen, similar to the Scary Movie franchise. The self awareness of those films, as well as more overt genre breakers like Cabin In The Woods, allows Scream VI more flexibility. This brings a type of relief because the film knows what it is and what it’s doing. It’s almost on the verge of camp and it’s definitely made for fans of the series and casual moviegoers.

Melissa and Jenna, the leads of the film that take over for legacy characters like Kirby Reed and Gale Weathers (Hayden Panettiere and Courteney Cox) carry it well, especially because of the chance that they could be the ones behind Ghostface at any time.

Both actresses return to the series fresh off well received productions like In The Heights and Wednesday respectively. Though their characters are white-washed in the film, they work well together as a family and definitely create a sincere sister bond.

As mentioned, this next film doesn’t break the franchise or the genre by any means. Instead, it leans into what works best for the films. My screening had multiple people laugh out loud at the audacity of the movie as well as the odes to the past works. Scream VI retains the tongue in cheek jabs at itself and the horror/slasher genre that many believe the original Scream revitalized so many years ago, while also keeping the gore and kill count high.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top