Scream VI (2023)
Director: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillet
Starring: Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Jack Champion
Primary genre: Slasher
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After the forgettable “Scream 5” (2022), the “Scream” franchise has been in creative limbo. The directional duo of Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillet (“Ready or Not” (2019) lacked the finesse of horror maestro Wes Craven crafting telegraphic scares from a script that copied all the important moments of the original with the new generation perspective of “Scream 4” to an underwhelming degree.
Its unexpected financial success however, compelled Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillet to return for a sequel promising a fresh tone and a new setting. Enter New York and a killer (or killers) who refuses to play by the genre conventions. Although the script is tighter this time around focusing mainly on the “core four” (as they call themselves), it is uncertain on what it wants to do. In the bluntest opening of all six films, it seeks to bend the series’ established rules but when individuals make grievous horror mistakes in 2023, you are reminded of the cheap thrills which “Scream” (1996) was making fun of in the first place.
Its meta commentary is unfortunately irrelevant lucking the writing panache of franchise creator Kevin Williamson delivered by either unlikeable or unmemorable characters. The main heroine Sam remains a poor Sydney clone and although Barrera’s acting has improved, she still does not come close to the iconic status and fragile vulnerability that Campbell brought to Sidney.
Using as a blueprint the formula of “Scream 2” (1997) (e.g., university setting, new boyfriend WHO could be the killer, roommate WHO could be the killer, a character surviving miraculously their several stab wounds, main heroine being famous for surviving a massacre, Gale Weathers profiteering from a book and other spoiler heavy elements involving the finale) in a way the sequel trilogy of “Star Wars” (2015-2019) did, this sixth installment is attached to the past for its future success and it shows.
Clearly Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillet are not interested in the subtle ways of melancholia or genuine suspense which Craven brought rushing instead to the knife wielding masked maniac who slices his way through a vastly underused New York unfazed by potentially intriguing elements (e.g., conspiracy theorists frame Sam as the mastermind of the previous film's events, bringing back fan favorite and horror savvy Kirby). What was easily a critique towards the obsession of American cinema and its fans with the idolization of movie killers, their movies’ movie killers (!) and the outcomes of film inspired violence has degraded into a unexplored and pseudo philosophical attack on toxic fandom and the threats of the TikTok culture.
Therefore, we are only left with a display of occasionally entertaining but ultimately hollow on-screen brutality. The duo stages their set-pieces with enough tension including a nasty face off between Gale and Ghostface, yet none can match the power of the more restrained attempts that we experienced during Wes’ creative reign. Add an inconsistent tone, the absurd Billy Loomis hallucinations, lack of stakes (i.e., characters whom we thought are dead come back like nothing happened) and a banal score (Beltrami’s absence is deeply felt), “Scream VI” tries simultaneously too hard to be serious and self-aware.
While it could have been a lot worse, “Scream VI” can be described as ok. Fans of the series should not anticipate novelty here (not everyone is “John Wick” (2014-2023)) but at least it is a step in the right direction after the disappointing number five. Despite its wholly unnecessary long running time, there is mild entertainment to be found due to the change of pacing, setting and a smaller group of characters running amok. Now whether the whole thing breaks new ground, that is entirely a different story.
An improvement over “Scream 5”
+Improved acting, tension and set-pieces
+Brutal
+Kirby is back!
+Setting feels fresher
-…but is underused
-Weakest opening scene in the series
-Weak reveal, motives, meta commentary
-Long running time
-Copies hard “Scream 2”
-Inconsistent tone