GENRE | Ghostface Takes Manhattan – Slashing 'Scream VI'

"F*ck this franchise!"

Paramount Pictures / Spyglass Media Group

Scream 5 directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett return for the fast-tracked direct sequel to their successful, self-described "requel". Scream VI escapes Wesbero for New York City in a brutal and entertaining but excessive slasher follow-up stretching the limits of its horror franchise building.

One of the wiser decisions to revamping Scream was its meta refocus on new characters loosely tied to original ones. Once again, Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega star as traumatized sisters and survivors further targeted by the public, media, conspiracy theorists, and a new set of killers obsessed with their infamy. Barrera's Sam is saddled with some tough plot developments while Ortega further proves her earned scream queen stardom as her Tara acts desperate to run away from her trauma.

Jasmin Savoy Brown and Mason Gooding round out the new "core four" of the reboot as Randy's twin niece and nephew all hold up together in NYC when a new Ghostface killer rampages the Big Apple. Courteney Cox's Gale remains the sole returning legacy character as a briefly mentioned Sidney (Neve Campbell) sits this one out. Scream IV exclusively follows this set of characters alongside new ones explicitly set up as new potential killers.

Screenwriters James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick also return as the new creative stewards constantly referencing the previous films and murderers. While many of the victims from earlier films were designed to be dumb and perfect targets, the most frustrating part of the new Scream is the constant string of bad decisions despite the characters knowing and explaining the rules and clear suspects surrounding them. Also, Ghostface seems to be gaining new superhuman powers and abilities to kill anyone in broad daylight or in public.

Scream VI is often cleverly inventive and enthralling to sit through. Its opening subverts audience expectations and sets a new path before needlessly upping the killing, violence, and sheer brutality of the murders. If anything, Bettinelli-Olpin, Gillet, Vanderbilt, and Busick double down on the iconography and familiar elements of Scream to the point of exhaustion. Still, the sequel extends the slasher franchise's durability and formula for on-screen thrills in both new and expected ways. It's clever but almost too much.


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