Scream VI (2023)
When did murdering people become so freakin’ violent?
There are a few things every Scream film is required to include. It has to have Ghostface as the killer; that’s a given. It has to establish early on that no one is safe, something the first film introduced in the opening scene courtesy of Drew Barrymore. It has to be full of twists and turns; the killer has to be obvious, then not so obvious, then implausible. It’s got to be filled with self-aware teens and young adults who understand the rules of the horror genre and still manage to get themselves stabbed. And, especially evident in the last few films, the levels of violence, gore, and blood must surpass the previous films.
All of this happens within the first five minutes of Scream 6. This time, the sacrificial lamb is a film professor and expert on the horror genre who possesses two things required for the role: a smokin’ hot body and a severe lapse in judgement. It only takes a phone call from a potential suiter to lure our professor into a dark New York City alley, and before you know it Ghostface emerges from the shadows to stab her. Violently. Again, and again, and again. It’s an uncomfortably long scene that establishes the film’s level of violence. The days of satisfying horror fans with a few jump cuts followed by a lingering shot of a bloody corpse are long gone. Anything less than a close-up of the knife going into a person’s gut no less than 10 times is unacceptable. Our sacrificial lamb gurgles as all of her blood empties itself into the dirty alley, and finally we can cue the opening credits.
Scream 6 continues the story of sisters Sam and Tara, who survived their encounter with Ghostface in the previous film (2022’s “Scream,” which for simplicity’s sake we’ll refer to as “Scream 5”). Courtney Cox reprises her role as pesky investigative reporter Gail Weathers as do a few members of the sisters’ friend circle because who else would we have to stab? Not returning are David Arquette (who was killed in Scream 5) and Neve Campbell (who wanted too much money for Scream 6).
In Scream 6 we learn the surviving sisters have moved to New York City, and when Ghostface shows up and begins killing the people around them, older sister Sam makes the smartest suggestion of the film and recommends they leave town immediately. But they don’t, because this is a Scream film, and soon we’re back in Stabbyville as Ghostface begins his traditional slaughter. Of course Ghostface isn’t the same “Ghostface” from Scream 5, Tara’s ex-boyfriend Richie, because he was killed. Then again, every entry in the franchise has featured multiple killers and they always get killed, and none of that acts as a deterrent to the next film’s killer. No matter the body count, there’s always just enough of a connection for someone to don the infamous mask and pick up the knife once again. If nothing, it saves the franchise from all the embarrassing hoops other franchises (Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, Halloween) have jumped through to bring back a killer that was “we promise super duper dead this time.”
Like every other film in the franchise, you can’t trust much of what you see in Scream 6. In every Scream film Ghostface has had a partner that allows the killer to throw suspicion away from him or herself. We’ve literally seen people die in these movies only to return — sometimes the wounds weren’t quite fatal, while in other cases deaths were faked. People have swapped masks to make it appear Ghostface was in two places at once. By the time you get to Scream VI, all hope of figuring out who the killer is goes out the window as literally anyone in the film, including our two final girls from Scream 5, get fingers pointed at them. Is it the girls? The boyfriend? The FBI agent? Another film students? Gail Weathers? One of the new characters? A complete stranger? In Scream, the process of elimination happens as suspects are removed from the film in body bags, and even then you shouldn’t use a permanent marker to strike through their names. At some point with these films you have to quit worrying about where the rollercoaster is taking you and just enjoy the bloody ride.
One thing these films never account for is how multiple people of varying heights and often different sexes all pass for the same Ghostface. I suppose when you’re running for your life, estimating a killer’s height isn’t the first thing on your mind. Also, for the record, either putting on Ghostface’s cloak and mask gives people superhuman powers, or there must be MMA-levels of cardio training required as a prerequisite to wield the knife. Compared to his victims, Ghostface is always faster, always stronger, and always more resilient. In one scene, Ghostface shrugs off a hit to the face with a metal frying pan. My memories of wearing a latex Halloween mask as a kid was that I couldn’t breath and I couldn’t see anything. Somehow, the Ghostface mask has the opposite affect. Even characters that appear to be weak become Spring-heeled Jack once the cloak goes on.
I literally laughed when, after the release of Scream 4, everyone involved with the franchise — and I mean everyone, from the production company to the writers and directors to all the actors — said Scream 4 was the absolute, no bullshit, 100% last film in the franchise. After the release of that film, Harvey Weinstein famously said “we’ve milked that cow.” (He said some other famous things, too.) But if there’s one thing I know about horror movies and Hollywood in general, it’s that cows can be milked for a long, long time… and after the milk dries up, those cows can have baby cows which can then be milked. There will always be teens willing to get stabbed and always angry people with just enough of a motive to put on a mask and do the stabbing. There will always, always be milk.
Oh, and blood. There will always be blood.