WE STILL NEED NEVE CAMPBELL THOUGH.
No spoilers in this first section, just a review.
Released on March 10, 2023, Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin take over Wes Craven as the directors due to his death in 2015. It follows after the events of Scream 5 which also has the same directors. In Scream 5, it’s set 25 years after a series of brutal murders in the first Scream film that took place in Woodsboro, California, and a new killer emerges, wearing the Ghostface mask and targeting a new group of victims. Sisters, Tara and Sam Carpenter are the new main characters and Ghostfaces’ new victims. Which replaces Sidney Prescott and Gale Weathers as the main victims. In the 6th film, reprising their roles, Jenna Ortega plays Tara Carpenter, Hayden Panettiere as Kirby Reed, Melissa Barrera as Sam Carpenter, Courteney Cox as Gale Weathers, Mason Gooding as Chad Meeks-Martin, and Jasmin Savoy Brown as Mindy Meeks-Martin. Dermot Mulroney plays Detective Bailey, Jack Champion plays Ethan Landry who is roommates with Chad, Liana Liberato as Quinn Bailey who’s Detective Bailey’s daughter. However, Neve Campbell who is the main star of the Scream films did not reprise her role as Sidney Prescott due to salary issues. In the 6th film, 4 survivors of the killings in Scream 5 move to New York for a fresh start. But all hell breaks loose when new killers emerge and start targeting the survivors. Tara and Sam are the main victims, they find themselves being tracked and followed throughout the city.
Jenna Ortega gives a spectacular performance as Tara Carpenter. Her fear is so genuine and she absolutely KILLS it. Through the fear in her eyes, her performance makes the viewers feel the suspense of hiding from the killer. However, Melissa Barrera’s performance is uninteresting. Her character is bland and underwritten. She moreover comes out as flat and under-expressive at times. Sam’s only personality trait is that she’s the daughter of Billy Loomis (the original Ghostface). One thing to compliment is that Barrera plays Sam with an underlying sociopathy to her. Where at times, you see the coldness bleed through her approachable demeanor. Overall, the characters Sam and Tara can’t live up to the original Sidney Prescott and Gale Weathers. Both Tara and Sam have a vague backstory with not much being revealed about where they came from. The only known thing is that Sam and Tara are half-sisters with the same mother and that Sam’s father is Billy Loomis. We know that their mother left the sisters, yet everything about these two new characters is predominantly unknown. It feels as if they lack depth and complexity. They feel one-dimensional, with no clear motivation or backstory. I hate how in Scream 5, their characters were just thrown as replacements for Sidney and Gale with no backstory whatsoever.
Sidney is a strong and intelligent character. She is both vulnerable and resilient, which makes her relatable and likable to the audience. She’s also a feminist icon who challenges traditional gender roles and expectations. Gale, on the other hand, is a driven and ambitious character who is determined to uncover the truth behind the murders in the Scream franchise. She is both smart and sarcastic, which makes her a fan favorite. Gale’s complex relationships with other characters, including Sidney, also add depth to her character and make her more compelling. Neither of these things are apparent in Sam and Tara. It feels as if they are not relatable or written to be a feminist which is one of the things that stood out in the original Scream franchise.
As for Courteney Cox’s role as Gale, it’s more of a cameo than a role. Her screen time is limited and her character adds nothing to the plot. This factor is ultimately disappointing, as the original Scream characters are only belittled to irrelevant side characters with barely a story to keep up. One new character that gave a performance that stood out was Dermot Mulroney who played Detective Bailey who is investigating the new Ghostface killings. Without giving too much away, he steals the show at many points in the film. The rest of the cast was mostly decent in my opinion. No one was bad but no other performances really stood out to me.
The plot for this film was a lot different than the other Scream films. This film disposes of the cliche of the characters splitting up and reuniting in the end. It shows the full story unfolding within the group of friends which makes it interesting to see who the killer is. The motive of the killer is also interesting. I did not like, however, how the Ghostface killers always seemed so invincible. The whole point of Scream was that it makes fun of typical horror tropes like invincible killers. It feels as if at times, the killers can’t be shot or stabbed. Almost like they’re not human. The killers in the new Scream films don’t trip or fall and they never bleed or die until they get caught. But in the original films, we see the killers get clumsy at times or get knocked out.
The grittiness of Scream VI is like no other in this franchise. The gore and kills are iconic and far from bland. They’re creative and disgustingly cool, yet brutal.
It seems to pay homage to classic 90s bloody horror movie kills.
For example, a character gets stabbed in the eye and there’s a scene where a head is put into a fridge. Scream VI SCREAMS a message that this film is not for the faint-hearted. Another thing that I loved was that the film really ties into the suspense and claustrophobia of hiding from the killer. The cinematography by Brett Jutkiewicz is close-knit and has many close-up shots which give a feeling of being trapped. I love how you can feel what it’s like to be in the position of the character and their anxiety as the killer creeps up behind them. In addition, the score by Brian Tyler is suspenseful and keeps you on the edge of your seat. The score keeps that tension in the horror scenes.
Overall, this film is much better than the 5th one. The cinematography, plot, and score completely stand out. There is a lot of gory creativity with the kills and I love that. Although I loved many aspects, there still needs to be better character development. The main characters like Sam and Tara should be developed more. I also did not like how they replaced the original franchise characters with teenagers in Scream 5 and 6. Neve Campbell’s absence didn’t take away from the experience of the film, but it’s still not the same without her character. Even though there are elements I didn’t like, it was still great to watch and I would recommend it to any fans of the franchise. 3½ stars out of 5.
SPOILER TIME – (STOP READING HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED THE FILM)
Can we talk about the killer reveal for a second??
The killer reveal was pretty good in my opinion. I had a feeling that it was Quinn Bailey and Ethan Landry. Ethan felt too obvious to be the killer because he was never there when the killings happened and he seemed shady. Quinn felt guilty to me because I could picture her being the killer and she acted too innocent, despite her faked death in the first act of the film. The one killer reveal that got to me was Detective Bailey since he seemed so innocent. Which is why I think Dermot Mulroney gave an outstanding performance. He played innocent so well that I couldn’t even picture him as the killer. When he revealed himself, he had such a maniacal demeanor that caught me off guard. The motive was similar to Scream 2 where Billy’s mom was trying to kill Sidney to avenge him. In this film, Richie’s family (one of the killers in Scream 5) are avenging his death and trying to kill Sam for killing him.
I don’t like how in the Scream sequels, the killer(s) are always new character(s). It would be more interesting and have a bigger plot twist if the killer(s) were part of the original characters. At the end of the film, it seems like the killers want Sam to be the next Ghostface and it would make sense if she is. At times during the film, you see hints of her sociopathy. Even at the end of this film and the 5th one, you see how much she enjoys killing the killers. Scream 6 was an enjoyable experience and I definitely want to rewatch it.
