To all my Amber Freemans of the world that the lovely Ian wrote about in his latest article, put your “Welcome to Act Three” guns DOWN. Don’t shoot. I like Scream 6! I would go as far even to say it’s a pretty good movie! But it isn’t without its fair share of issues.
As was prominently featured in the promotional material for this film, Ghostface’s mask has been weathered by time and the changing of hands; in a way, this brave new installment also carries the scars of past entries as much as that signature screaming white plastic does, for better and for worse.
WHERE’D I LEAVE THAT MASK?
Scream 6 picks up a year after the last film, and brings us to New York to follow survivors Samantha and Tara Carpenter, as well as the wonderful Mindy and Chad Meeks-Martin as they’ve slowly settled into a life beyond Woodsboro’s horrors…do I even have to say ‘as if’? Soon, the crew is terrorized by Ghostface, hellbent on getting to Sam by picking off her friends and family. Who will live to see another day as Ghostface slashes through Manhattan?
…Oh, also, Gale is there too!
NO MORE GAMES FOR SIDNEY, PLEASE
I kid Miss Weathers, but one of the most important things for fans to get used to going forward, beyond the change of location (something last attempted in Scream 3), is the hotly discussed absence of Sidney. In turn, Gale gets reduced screen time as the new blood of the series takes center stage.
Beyond the controversy surrounding Neve Campbell and Paramount lowballing her (which, studios shooting themselves in the foot, what’s new?), I think the departure of Sidney was for the best. I sincerely hope Radio Silence doesn’t start jamming additional pages into the proverbial Book of Prescott; her saga is completed in a great way.
They are (for now) letting the final girl have the final word with her own happy ending. Besides, focusing on Samantha’s story of inner turmoil and bloodlust in this one is the right choice because it is every bit as compelling as Sidney’s evolution as a character. I can’t wait to see where the Carpenter sister’s tale takes us.
BIG APPLE, BIGGER KILLS
Speaking of Radio Silence (that’s the production team headed by director duo Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett for the uninitiated), another thing I have to give them credit for is a sense of escalation when it comes to how brutal the Scream movies are.
Scream 3 blew up an entire house to kill one person, but when people die in the Radio Silence films, they die hard, and the camerawork forces you to look at it with uncomfortable close-ups. Scream 5 was the bloodiest in the franchise…until this one came along. Every kill has weight behind it, and no one feels safe from a traumatic and devastatingly painful death when the knives come out. It’s all a testament to how good the directing is, solidly the film’s greatest technical strength, and I wonder how they will keep this momentum going into Scream 7.
BUT THAT OPENING…
It all looks great on camera, but this brings us to one of the first things I wasn’t sold on: the opening kill, the tradition that perfectly encapsulates what Scream is about. 6’s opening is a unique “first in the series” but isn’t particularly shocking thinking back to the other inaugural stabs of the franchise. Is it entertaining for a slasher opening? Yes! The most gruesome? Probably, the whole affair is a meat grinder. But does it stun the senses and downright shock like Scream usually does?
No, not really.
The opening will only really get you if you don’t know how these movies operate, which is hard to believe given this series’ fanbase. It certainly could have been cut by a few minutes for that classic Scream opening gut-punch feeling. In isolation, it drags on too long; compared to the other openings, it’s tough to beat 1, 2, & 4’s, and frankly doesn’t dethrone any of them in the top 3.
GHOSTFACE OFTEN STUMBLES, BUT THE PACING AND CAST DON’T
Barring the very lengthy opening, Scream 6 is paced perfectly and very well edited. I felt silly being so worried about the runtime, given how hefty it is coming in at over 2 hours, another first for the series. Nonetheless, they make it work, and there isn’t a minute of wasted screen time. When you’re not being thrilled, you’re being genuinely pulled in by the cast’s chemistry and camaraderie that’s beyond charismatic.
Melissa Barrera gets more screen time than in Scream 5, and the relationship portrayed by her and Jenna Ortega is the dense and well-acted emotional core of the movie. Is it even a spoiler to say the long-awaited return of Hayden Panettiere’s Kirby Reed and her inevitable meeting with Mindy would be wonderful? And if Mason Gooding is in frame, you know it will be a fun scene.
FUNNY LIKE A BUCK KNIFE TO THE GUT
Sadly, that brings me to some of the dialogue these characters share. While it is often endearing with its humor and has two of the franchise’s funniest moments courtesy of Gale Weathers, Scream 6 can also be too jokey for a Screamfilm.
Comedic relief is pretty much thrown out the window by the end of act 2 in almost all these entries, but there is a persistent bug of humor in 6 that puts a thorn in my side; one of our leads gets stabbed and feels the need to make a callback joke as they’re being dragged away for medical attention, which is way too quippy for as late in the movie as it comes, especially when Brett Jutkiewicz’s cinematography sets up the scene in a way that wracks more tension than Ghostface pumping out a shotgun shell.
Some characters also survive in a way that doubles down on deeply, deeply deflating the tension of the film and the would-be great ending. The reveal of one survivor in particular audibly elicited laughter from myself and several other theatergoers, and I don’t think it was the kind of laugh they were going for.
IT’S REALLY THAT SOUND THAT’S KILLING ME
Surprisingly, my most glaring problem with this film is the soundtrack. The music is always too loud and slightly off-tone when it’s not part of the OST. The chase scenes are frenetic, and the musical stings during deaths are bombastic, but during downtime and the moments where we’re getting to watch the cast at ease, the licensed songs chafe the eardrums. They even have the gall to cut off Red Right Hand at one point, which should be a crime against humanity if it isn’t.
Demi Lovato’s Still Alive is pretty catchy, though, so I’ll let that one slide.
WILL THE REAL GHOSTFACE PLEASE STAND UP?
Finally, you can’t talk about a Scream movie without mentioning the Ghostface reveal (still, no spoilers!). Something about the execution this time around just felt dry for the very juicy stage it’s set in. Take this with a grain of salt, given that I am a Roman Bridger fan, but I think the problem with the reveal this time around is that the motivations feel a little too plain and simple.
While the beat drop of who is under the mask is underwhelming, this film ultimately makes up for it with an explosive and enjoyable finale that will have your theater hooting and hollering like Stu Macher losing a lot of blood. Scream 6might have the most stabs in any Scream movie to date, and if you’re looking for carnage to close out your movie going experience, you’ll get your fill here. Scream 6’s ending is a glorious finale of brick lobbing, knife swinging, and deep cutting action that never disappoints in rounding out the runtime.
There’s that old adage about pizza: when it’s good, it’s good, and when it’s bad…et cetera. Scream 6isn’t perfect, but it is totally understandable why this would be someone’s favorite entry in the franchise; its landmark levels of bloody, undeniably funny at points, and it has all the elements you need from a Scream movie. I had a lot of fun watching this in a packed theater, and if you can do the same this opening weekend, see it while it’s still on the silver screen cause that’s the ideal way to experience Scream 6.
