Scream VI is a 2023 horror movie directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett. In this chapter the characters are in NYC when they find themselves going against Ghostface. Below is my Scream VI (2023) movie review
The biggest question that comes out of most people is why are they still going with this franchise? While the last installment tried to shake things up a bit, it did poorly in the box office. Even the producers of the franchise said that they milked this cow as much as possible. In the end it all comes down to money. You have a successful franchise and lots of fans, why not shove as much Ghostface content as possible down their throats.
Anyway, in this installment we find ourselves in NYC where Ghostface is once again killing young people that are connected to the last movies. We are introduced to a bunch of young people who are college students that are trying to live a normal life. A lot of them are connected to past encounters with Ghostface, but they are trying to have fun and start a new chapter. These characters are not very interesting but they do have decent chemistry that makes them less annoying than others in modern horror movies.
As with other Scream movies this movie is very violent. There is a good amount of kills and plenty of buckets of blood. However, as others pointed out, being stabbed in this movie is equal to a small cut. Those who get shot or have deep cuts are almost guaranteed to pop up at the end and save the day. Even ghostface takes multiple blunt objects to the face and gets up in a matter of seconds. There are also plenty of examples of 90 pound people going against much heavier ones and still somehow winning. If you can ignore this, the fights are pretty entertaining.
There is so much bickering between Tara and Sam Carpenter characters. One is overprotective while the other needs space and a way to move on from her past. It gets really annoying really fast. I barely know their past and care even less about their struggle. I am here to see Ghostface killing a bunch of people, not a drama about family struggles. Perhaps this is more of a personal complaint, but still. Why bloat your movie with constant bickering when one quick scene gets the point across?
Anyway, this move relies on nostalgia A LOT. Everything from costumes that the characters are wearing during Halloween to the “shrine” they find later in the movie, just about every background has some type of a reference. This could be to past movies, to characters, to movie directors, to past roles of characters, and to anything else you can think of relating to horror movies. At times it can be overwhelming as we scan backgrounds and ignore what is happening in the foreground.
Overall, the movie IMO is just meh. I never cared too much about this franchise past Scream 2. While this movie tries some things that are different it heavily relies on nostalgia and cliches that the other movies used effectively, not just to be meta. As with others, there is plenty of blood and gore but don’t expect to care about any of these characters. With the success of this movie, there will be sequels. However, I myself will not be watching it. Just like the characters in this movie (of which nobody is safe), just let the franchise die.
Thanks for reading my Scream VI (2023) movie review
