When Wes Craven’s Scream hit theaters in 1996, it forever changed the face of the slasher genre by ushering in an era of self-aware, witty horror films that both basked in and sent up the tropes of the genre. Since then, the franchise has attempted to recapture that magic to varying degrees of success, promising with each chapter to deliver bigger thrills, bolder kills, and twistier twists. Scream VI finally succeeds in delivering on that promise and reinvigorates the franchise with bone-crunching glee.
How does Scream VI pull it off? First of all, it wipes the Woodsboro slate clean by taking the action to a new locale: New York City. The change of scenery offers fresh opportunities for terror, whether they be in eerily dark and isolated alleyways or crowded subway trains and bodegas. Unlike in the franchise’s previous entries, Ghostface doesn’t just thrive in isolation: Wherever you are, this monster is coming for you.
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This speaks to an overall dialing-up of the intensity in the film. Sure, the jokes and meta humor remain, but this entry puts the horror back front and center with a new take on Ghostface that’s relentless, brutal, and ready to jump out of every shadow.
None of this would work, however, if not for a cast of potential victims with whom to identify and care about, and thankfully the film delivers here as well. Roughly a year after the events of Scream (2021), that film’s survivors — Sam Carpenter (Melissa Barrera), Tara Carpenter (Jenna Ortega), Mindy Meeks-Martin (Jasmin Savoy Brown), and Chad Meeks-Martin (Mason Gooding) — have become a chosen family, aka the “core four,” following their traumatic run-in with the masked killer. While keeping one another close, they’re nonetheless seeking ways to move on from those painful experiences.
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For Sam, moving on means lots of therapy, but also hypervigilance over her younger sister. Tara, for her part, is just trying to push the memories away by diving into frat parties and bad decisions — you know, college stuff. The Meeks-Martin twins are perhaps handling their shared history and near-death experiences best, and are thriving in their new lives as college students. Mindy, the franchise’s first queer character (yes, yes we know about the Stu and Billy subtext!) has even found a new girlfriend, Anika (Devyn Nekoda).
It doesn’t take long, however, for all this to be blown apart when Ghostface comes calling, literally. Soon, they and their friends are stalked and picked off in a gruesome fashion by the iconic killer.
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While audiences were introduced to these characters in the previous film, we get to know them in a much deeper and more nuanced way as the actors settle into these roles. Both Brown and Gooding are scene stealers this time around. Gooding brings warmth, likeability, and gentleness to the core four’s resident bro. He’s funny and protective, but also deeply sensitive. His is a different and powerful form of masculinity that the more tongue-in-cheek and archetype-dependent Scream films would either not present, or use as cover for some secretly villainous underpinning.
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Brown infuses Mindy with razor-sharp wit and charisma, with a feminist edge that makes her both a much more contemporary and unproblematic representation of the horror fandom. But then when hasn’t Brown sizzled on screen? Scream VI is no exception.
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While Scream VI is (controversially) the first entry in the series to not feature its original final girl, Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), it does bring back Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox) along with her biting sass and sarcasm that were severely lacking in the previous film. Also back is Kirby Reed (Hayden Panettiere), a Scream 4 survivor and fan favorite. Panettiere proves to be a welcome addition to the Ghostface hunting gang, bringing with her the light spirit and camp of the earliest entries in the franchise. She offers a balancing note to what is overall a much darker and more brutal entry in the series.
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To be clear, however, this movie is brutal. Bones crunch, guts are exposed, and heads roll. This time around, directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett have amped up the tension, made the action set pieces even bigger, and aren’t afraid to let the blood flow. It’s frankly a horror fan’s dream come true.
As always, a big part of the Scream experience is the mystery of who’s donning the killer’s mask and to what end. In this respect, the film does let the audience down slightly as seasoned fans will likely spot its sleight of hand early on. It does, however, offer plenty of red herrings and suspicious new characters to create some reasonable doubt.
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Despite that quibble, Scream VI ultimately lands all of its punches (stabs?), in part because while Sidney may not appear, her legacy — and specifically the way her character changed the final girl paradigm — is very much still present on screen. Or perhaps more accurately, the dynamic between her and Gale, and how their team-ups would ultimately ensure their survival, is represented here. Once again, it’s female solidarity that proves to be the ultimate final girl.
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The result is a Scream that both celebrates its legacy and slashes its way into a new, exciting, and gruesome era that has some seriously killer potential. Just like its iconic villain, we don’t expect this franchise will return to the shadows for long, and we can’t wait to see where it heads next.
