Scream VI - Movie Review

Scream returns again, with familiar legacy characters and in New York too (just like Jason!). However, I feel like this new setting is rather underutilized though, we only get three scenes where New York is used to give us something new/special: The characters living in an apartment building rather than a house, comes into play in a very tense scene where Ghost Face sneaks inside without their knowledge. The neighbour across the street can see the killer stalking around, he tries to desperately get their attention, but the buildings separating them is too difficult for him to get any reaction! This is followed by a very tense scene, the neighbour throws a ladder across his window to their building, with a 50 foot drop between them! It leads into a rather gruesome death where one of the characters falls to the ground, after Ghost Face shakes her off the ladder. Another scene is used at the beginning of this movie, a character wanders down a very spooky alleyway. The New York setting gives this area an overwhelming sense of dread, making us feel tiny against the giant skyscrapers between our poor victim. She gets jumped and killed by Ghost Face, in a rather chilling jumpscare, that ends in a horrific slaying! The last scene is the best and it is in all of the trailers; Ghost Face shows up inside a subway train! This is a lovely nod to Jason Takes Manhattan (which is shown in the movie on a TV, just to confirm this reference); where our killer stalks our protagonists in the train, when the lights start flickering and Ghost Face sneaks up closer and closer, I was honestly sitting on the edge of my seat. These three scenes were a great change to the formula, giving us a new and exciting setting. Unfortunately the rest of the film could've been filmed literally anywhere else, as most of the scenes in this entry look no different than any other Scream movie in my opinion.

The tone is a little inconsistent too in my opinion. Most of the time, Scream VI plays it very straight and serious, which is kind of weird for this series. Although Scream isn't a slap stick parody of horrors like Scary Movie, it has always had a satirical/self aware edge to it. There are still plenty of comedic moments throughout, but it wants to give us emotional moments too, it yoyos between drama and comedy, but it never lands a decent balance. The ending is very sassy and finishes with a joke, but an hour before that our characters were mourning the death of a friend. There are a lot of slow scenes, where characters are talking about the trauma Ghost Face has left upon them, characters often cry and have serious speeches. Then we get fourth wall breaking jokes that say; "This is a silly horror film, we are self aware, isn't that funny?!" It's just a bit messy. I'd much rather the film go full satire and give us a non-stop, over the top, Ghost Face killing spree. Instead, we this weird pick and mix monstrosity.

This review has been quite negative so far, but I think the best thing about Scream VI is the brutal gore and high tension. Although New York is under used and the tone is inconsistent, there is one major thing Scream VI does absolutely right. It is terrifying! Kills are more disgusting than ever before, guts are ripped out of bodies and many die in complete horror and agony. There is plenty of screams and frantic fleeing, as Ghost Face is honestly relentless in this entry. One especially thrilling scene is when the killer picks up a shotgun, only to wildly shoot the gun around the shop, trying to murder our protagonists. It is honestly a thrilling film at times, these scenes really make Scream 6 a truly horrifying experience.

Scream VI is decent entry to the series. It still isn't as good as the original three, but it's certainly a step in the right direction. As the kills in Scream 5 were very underwhelming, also setting this entry in New York really makes it stand out from the rest. A solid 4 star movie in my opinion.