Review by James Lindorf
Ghostface is back for the sequel to the sequel that is also a sequel of the sequel to the original. If that is too confusing, don’t worry, it is a Scream movie, so there will be an explanation of what it means and what you can expect in the sixth and longest entry in the series. “Scream VI” is not playing at theaters everywhere.
After contract negotiations broke down with Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox was the only original star left standing. Gale Weathers (Cox) is joined by the new “core four” legacy characters Sam (Melissa Barrera), her younger sister Tara (Jenna Ortega), and twins Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown) Chad Meeks-Martin (Mason Gooding). After last year’s events in Woodsboro, the group packed up and headed east to New York City. Tara, Mindy, and Chad are all students at Blackmore University. At the same time, Sam works two jobs to cover rent at the apartment the sisters share with sex-positive roommate Quinn (Liana Liberato). Joining the group are fellow students Ethan (Jack Champion) and Anika (Devyn Nekoda), who is also Mindy’s love interest. Sam is in therapy, but the experience has left her hypervigilant much to Tara’s dislike. Life isn’t perfect, but it works until the phone rings, and a familiar voice asks to play a game.
From beginning to end, “Scream VI” is the most energetic film in the series. Attacks that would have ended other films happen in the middle. The scene in the bodega is well-designed and acted. Unfortunately, because it comes early in the movie, you never believe the characters will be in grave danger until they are. A bit of warning, they put 95% of this scene in the trailer, and if you managed to avoid it, keep doing so until you decide the movie is worth seeing. Despite going on for too long and involving too many characters, the film’s best scene is when the fleeing characters board the subway. With so many people in costume, many of them wearing the Ghostface mask out of poor taste, the noise of the subway car and the constant flicking of the lights make it a very dangerous environment to be hunted.
With the return of directing team Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, this latest installment feels perfectly in sync with “Scream V” regarding look and general presentation. Also returning are writers James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick, who provide the story with a consistent tone and character motivations. The strength of this film is in its action set pieces and most of the performances, but it has some noticeable weaknesses. With just 14 months between release dates, there was little time to work on, let alone polish, the script. It relies too heavily on the second film and has some bad dialogue. The worst belongs to Sam’s new love interest Danny (Josh Segarra), who comes off as a blubbering idiot in most of his scenes. Beyond the dialogue, the real problems are Sam and the twins.
Chad has a bit of development in this movie, which is more than in the previous one. Even with that, he still needs to be more developed. As is, he could be completely removed with minimal impact on the story and minimal work on the writers’ behalf. His sister Mindy gets a bit more screen time but still doesn’t go much beyond film-loving lesbian and a poor Randy replacement. She doesn’t own the screen like Jamie Kennedy did when he was the one giving the big speeches. Her delivery is too frantic, and the energy makes the condescending tone overly abrasive. Those two character flaws could be easily fixed, while the one with Sam is baked into the fabric of the plot and may be impossible to fix. Melissa Barrera does a fine job as a formidable “final girl.” Still, whether she lacks the ability or the directors lack the skill to bring it out of her, she is not good at playing unbalanced. They keep pushing the narrative that she is teetering on the edge of becoming the greatest killer in the series. While it could be an exciting twist, it is impossible to believe it would be done convincingly. At least not when movies are being rushed out yearly.
“Scream VI” has the distinction of being a lot of fun for horror fans while failing to live up to its potential. When it comes to tone and kills, this is the best of the series, but the motivation of Ghostface is subpar, and three of the main four characters are underwhelming. If they continue down this line, they should consider shifting the focus to Jenna Ortega’s Tara. She is easily the best actor playing the best character. She is as tough as Sam but has dreams and goals and is not burdened by a terribly CGI-rendered Skeet Ulrich. The best expectation when walking into the theater is to enjoy an above-average slasher, especially in this era of horror films. If audiences expect it to live up to the impact left by the first film, it will ultimately be disappointing and judged too harshly. “Scream VI” earns a 3.5 out of 5 for being the third-best film in the franchise, perfect use of redial, and managing to work in some footage from “Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan.”
Rating: R
Genre: Horror
Director: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett
Producer: William Sherak, James Vanderbilt, Paul Neinstein
Writer: James Vanderbilt, Guy Busick
Release Date: March 10th, 2023
Runtime: 2h 3m
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
