Sean Marshall Scream VI is the latest entry in Wes Craven’s slasher series. The film stars Melissa Barrera, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Mason Gooding, Jenna Ortega, Hayden Panettiere, Courteney Cox, Jack Champion, Liberato, and Dermot Mulroney. Directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett also return to helm.
The film centers on the Woodsboro Four: Tara, Sam, Mindy, and Chad, the survivors of the Woodsboro legacy attacks from 2021’s Scream V. As expected, a new Ghostface emerges and starts killing people affiliated with the four survivors. It’s up to the Woodsboro Four to try to survive the attacks from this new Ghostface and find out who is hunting them.
This is the second time the Scream franchise has taken us out of Woodsboro. In Scream 3, the killings took place in California, and three films later, we leave claustrophobic Woodsboro for New York City. You would think that having Ghostface hunting people down in NYC would be a great and refreshing spin on the franchise, but it isn’t. The majority of the film takes place in an undisclosed area of Manhattan, which doesn’t feel like Manhattan at all, and this is coming from a born and raised New Yorker. The only time you’re hit feels like the cast is in New York City is when they are on the train, and one of the characters is being stalked by Ghostface. However, this scene felt unrealistic, and the environment wasn’t utilized. New York City was not used as it should have been. The city has five boroughs, and the story sticks with what can only be lower Manhattan throughout the film.
Jenna Ortega, Melissa Barrera, Jasmin Savoy Brown, and Mason Gooding bring nothing new to this entry. Ortega, who plays Tara, brings more life and variety to her character in the Netflix Wednesday series than she does to her character in Scream V & VI. It’s as though the actors are phoning it in throughout the entire film. Even Courteney Cox, who returns as Gale Weathers, doesn’t seem interested in reprising her role. Hayden Panettiere’s return added nothing to the overall story. It’s clear that the only reason she was wedged into this story was to make fans point a finger at her for possibly being the new killer.
Ethan (Jack Champion), a film student and roommate of Chad (Mason Gooding), and Liana Liberato, roommate of Tara and Sam, are the new forgettable faces that join the group.
James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick, writers of Scream V, return to pen the script here and copy and paste the same format they penned for the previous film’s plot. The only highlight this film offers is some bloodier scenes with Ghostface. The Ghostface in this film was more creative with the kills. However, the majority of the kills remained as generic as the deaths in the first Scream. I still think 2022’s Scream had some of the most violent on-screen deaths in the franchise.
Scream VI is bloody, but its story once again falls short. There were so many ways they could’ve gone with this story that would’ve made this feel refreshing, especially with the opening of the film, but the writers were afraid to step out of their comfort and instead fed us another wacky Ghostface film.
