If you don’t know me and have somehow just stumbled onto my writing thanks to an incredibly forgiving algorithm, the one thing you need to know about me is that I adore the Scream franchise and every film in it. I remember getting the first movie on VHS because one day my dad said I could get whatever movies I wanted from this Columbia Record Club type deal. I got three movies from that interaction, and Scream was my first pick. I was 10. Parenting was different in 1997. Some might say it was better.
Ever since, the Scream movies have been my comfort watches. For decades, if I didn’t know what to watch, I would just pick the Scream movie that I’d watched less recently than the others. It was never a bad decision. Does this make me a biased reviewer? Yes. Does that matter? No, because no one is paying me for my opinion (Ko-Fi link at the end of this review).
But this review isn’t about me, even though the whole first bit was about me. This is about Scream VI: Ghostface Takes Manhattan, and boy do I have a lot to say about this one… But I’m gonna say it all weird and dodgy so I don’t ruin the movie for anyone.
Last year saw the release of Scream, the long-awaited requel sequel from genre darlings Radio Silence (Southbound, Ready Or Not). It was the second time I’d gone to a theater since COVID began, and my friend Kellee found tickets to a showing with almost no other people. Ideal. I’m there. At the time, people seemed up and down on the film, with a lot of the heat falling on Melissa Barrera as the franchise’s new protagonist ‘Sam Carpenter’. Why? Well, you know how it can get on the internet when you’re a woman and you have the audacity to do or say anything. None of it really came as a surprise because we’re so accustomed to the horrors, but it still sucked to hear all that bitching when all you wanna do is celebrate another Ghostface outing with other like-minded slasher fans.
There was also understandable hesitancy from the fandom to welcome a new protagonist. Neve Campbell’s ‘Sidney Prescott’ is one of the greatest final girls of all time, and that’s a fact. She’d been in every single installment, killed an awful lot of Ghostfaces in a variety of fun and exciting ways, and she did it all while existing on a single, non-branching timeline, which surprisingly few final girls can say. We love Sidney.
However, when the dust finally settled, Scream was an enjoyable return to form from creators who obviously loved the originals. They created a film that knew exactly what it was, and as far as I’m concerned Melissa Barrera owned her performance as Sam. Despite what the haters said, she gave us a protagonist that I was more than happy to root for, even though I was also keenly aware of the dark, hidden nature within her that took the form of her dead serial killer father, Billy Loomis (played to perfection once again by the incomparable Skeet Ulrich). There was a lot Barrera needed to convey, and I think she succeeded with flying colors. Pair that with a downright lovable cast and a brutal pair of Ghostfaces (one of which basically did all the heavy lifting), and you have another jewel in the crown of the genre. The meta-slasher had returned in full effect, and Ghostface was once again eagerly thrusting his knife back into the waiting entrails of the pop culture zeitgeist.
Enter Scream VI.
Bigger and badder was always going to be the direction this film was headed in. They gave us the fan-centered requel in the previous film, but they couldn’t just keep rehashing the original movies. No one wants that. A requel is a good jumping-off point, but after that, you need to build something new. You need an understanding of what people loved about the previous films, as well as an astute understanding of how society has shifted and changed since their initial release. I’m pleased to announce that Scream VI showed that kind of care and respect.
Melissa Barrera (Samantha Carpenter), Jenna Ortega (Tara Carpenter), Mason Gooding (Chad Meeks-Martin), and Jasmin Savoy Brown (Mindy Meeks-Martin) have survived their horrifying ordeal in Woodsboro and moved to New York, which is pretty understandable. If I were in that particular friend group, I’d feel pretty justified in moving across the country too. I’ve never had my high school bestie go on a killing spree with her groomer boyfriend she met on Reddit, but if I had, I’d probably pack it in. That’s fresh start territory. Tara and her friends are attending school in the empire state and Sam has followed along to make sure that she’s safe and taken care of. Overprotective? Maybe, but can you really be overprotective if you and your kid sister recently survived a heinous massacre? I don’t think so.
It’s also worth noting that in going to New York, they’re going to the safest place they could possibly be. Why? Because they’re living in the same city as Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox); the person who knows more about this particular brand of bullshit than anyone. Honestly, Gale isn’t the reason they moved there, and to be honest, they’re not all that thrilled about her proximity, but I like to think that deep down, Gale Weathers is to them what she is to me: A security blanket in a brightly-colored power suit.
We love Gale Weathers. All my homies love Gale Weathers. And in Scream VI I am pleased to announce that she is still that bitch. Courtney Cox is still that bitch.
But I digress…
Melissa Barrera dominates this film with her character Sam Carpenter. Any doubts that the squawking anime profile pictures had after Scream V will be washed away with her performance in Scream VI. She’s an absolute force of nature, and her continued involvement promises a franchise that will only grow stronger with each installment that has her in it. Jenna Ortega does what Jenna Ortega always does, which is make us wish we could be Jenna Ortega. Her performances are commanding, she takes no prisoners, and while Tara may have been at a disadvantage in the last film, she’s ready to take on all comers this time around. She’s a badass, and we should all take notes. Start making your friendship bracelets now. WWTCD: What Would Tara Carpenter Do?
I don’t know if I’ve ever loved a couple of horror movie characters like I love the twins, Chad and Mindy. Jasmin Savoy Brown took the torch from Jamie Kennedy’s ‘Randy’, and ran with it. Sprinted away. No looking back. The torch no longer provides light in your area. She’s long gone. Mindy’s meta-slasher diatribes are unrivaled, and while we’ll always love Uncle Randy, it’s clear that his niece has an understanding of horror that not even he could match. Her every line is delivered with perfection, and I just want to be her friend, honestly.
Mason Gooding excels as Chad, and his character grows in complexity and heart throughout the film. He’s introduced in Scream V as the horny jock of color–which is not a great place to be in terms of your ability to resonate with an audience and your overall longevity in a slasher situation–but Scream VI makes it clear that Chad is the heart of the group, and that he’d do anything for his friends. The man never wavers, and when you’re in the middle of a killing spree and finding yourself at your lowest, he’s going to be there with an encouraging word and an arm around your shoulder. We should all be so lucky to have a friend like Chad. Mason Gooding taught me to trust again, is what I’m saying.
The Core 4 is lived-in, warm, and you can feel their kinship in every scene… They’re a family, and when they’re around each other, you can feel their joy just as much as their sorrow. They’re the found family that we all deserve to find when the world turns on us… Which is why you worry about them. Jesus, you worry about them SO MUCH the WHOLE TIME.
The movie also brings back fan favorite Kirby Reed played to perfection by Hayden Panettiere. The original “New Randy™”, Kirby fans have long held out hope that she survived her brutal stabbing at the hands of Charlie Walker (Rory Culkin) during the 2011 Woodsboro Massacre. When a few little easter eggs in Scream V finally confirmed that she was still up and walking around, we knew it was only a matter of time before she faced off against Ghostface once again. Well, sports fans, we need wait no longer. Kirby Reed is back, baby! Kirby hive RISE UP! She’s still snarky, still cool, and… a cop now? Oof. Like, I get it, but… Really? It’s okay. It’s fine. I’m fine.
Anyway…
From the opening kill (this is not a spoiler, grow up) it’s clear that this is going to be a very different beast than we’re used to. Our beloved masked killer has returned with a shit ton more audacity and viciousness than we’re used to seeing. Like, Jesus Christ. And with our freshly christened Core 4 now in a massive, unfamiliar city that has a shit-ton of shadowy corners for a motivated Ghostface to hide in, this film is fucking stressful.
This film builds tension like beavers build dams. There are so many excellent set pieces that are perfectly utilized in order to fill the audience with dread. Everyday locations where you’d normally feel safe are left bloodsoaked by a brutal Ghostface who stabs fast and stabs hard, so no matter where our heroes are, they’re at risk. This movie was like cardio. I felt like I went for a run. When I’m scared, I have a tendency to cover my ears, and reader, those puppies were covered quite a bit.
What I think the movie does well is purposefully exploiting a fear that a lot more people have developed in the past few years: Agoraphobia. The strategic use of closed, crowded spaces made me unable to feel comfortable in my seat for the length of the runtime. If my only transportation option is a subway car packed wall-to-wall with humans that are breathing, then I’m walking. I don’t care how far it is, I’m hoofin’ it. This film puts inside that already horrendous situation and then puts Ghostface in there also because fuck you.
It’s a fear that I’m now all too familiar with. Living in the country I do, crowded places give me a general sense of unease. Even before 2020, when I would enter a venue housing a large number of people, I would always make sure I knew where the exits were. This was because–say it with me now–you never know when someone is going to walk in and casually start killing people with a slaughter rifle. That’s the American nightmare, baby. Check your exits, and take stock of anything that has the potential to become a makeshift weapon. When you’re in a crowd like that, you’re at the whims of potential maniacs. It’s not a debilitating fear I have, and I manage to live my life in a mostly frictionless manner despite it, but it’s always in the back of my mind. That complete disregard for human life.
Then after 2020, it was a different kind of disregard. People not letting a worldwide pandemic (or the fact that they were showing actual symptoms of the aforementioned pandemic) stop them from going out and partying it up. That shit didn’t need to spread like that. So many acquaintances still try and hug me. Sorry, but I don’t know you like that. That closeness; that proximity to death is what Scream VI highlights within you.
So often when you’re watching a horror movie, a character will wander off by themselves, and you worry for that character because you know that solitude puts you in the most vulnerable position to be picked off by whatever evil stalks you. This isn’t true in Scream VI. Crowds don’t help you, they only restrain you. You can’t even back yourself into a corner because the walls are lined with flesh. This is a Ghostface you can’t escape. The unfeeling black voids where the eyes should be can always perceive you. The mask is one-size-fits-all, and when the “all” is one of the most densely populated metropolis in the world, that’s a lot of ghosts, a lot of history, and a whole lot of terror.
Scream VI is a strong entry in a franchise filled with iconic performances, legendary kills, and a profound awareness of the genre it resides in. It has predominantly POC characters (thank god) fighting their way through horrors and homicide in a film that Wes Craven would be proud of. It has some of the best direction I’ve seen in the genre and is a brutal and beautiful sight to behold. I can’t wait to sit my happy ass back in a theater seat to do it all again… After I check where all the exits are, of course.
This movie is the screen on your phone suddenly lighting up with the words “Unknown Caller”, and if you’re smart, you’ll answer.
Scream VI is in theaters now.
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Au Revoir, Fingernails 
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