Cinematography:
Brett JutkiewiczComposer:
Brian TylerCast:
Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega, Courteney Cox, Mason Gooding, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Hayden Panettiere, Dermot Mulroney, Samara Weaving, Tony Revolori (more)VOD (5)
Plots(1)
Following the latest Ghostface killings, the four survivors leave Woodsboro behind and start a fresh chapter. (Paramount Pictures UK)
Videos (12)
Reviews (9)
Perhaps no horror franchise has made it to a sixth installment without material fatigue, but here the fatigue is so minimal and hardly noticeable that it still feels fresh, fun and exciting. The horror sequences are a treat, the whole is laughable, but intentionally so. No Scream has ever really disappointed, not even this one.
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This time, Ghostface is on the rampage in New York, where he takes on the surviving heroes from the previous film and plays with the rules not of sequels or remakes, but of entire franchises. After a terrific opening 20 minutes, the pace slows down a bit, but the murders themselves are pleasantly uncompromising this time around, with Ghostface as a total exterminator. The meta overlaps work, too, except that the entire sixth installment unfortunately hinges on not very interesting heroes who already were quite stale the last time around. Still, it's fine, and the Scream IV is more or less exactly what you'd expect. Whether that's enough or not enough is up to you.
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The new environment did not entirely benefit the series, but fortunately there is still something to build on. Courteney Cox is still great, we even got Hayden Panettiere back, and from the new party from the previous episode, the clear number one is Wednesday Jenna Ortega. If the creators keep their word, then I am already looking forward to the seventh film in the series.
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Ghostface takes Manhattan. The final revelation is again pulled out of the filmmaker’s ass and this time it’s also a bit ridiculous. But the setting in New York City is nicely refreshing. There are a few surprising scenes, e.g. the store (the killer brazenly carries out his attacks in the public space), scenes with great but insufficiently exploited potential (the subway) and more multiple stabs to the gut after which the characters continue to function as if nothing had happened. The successfully revitalized franchise is becoming a strong but not very clever ditto machine for teenage audiences that could run forever. Scream VI is half a star weaker than the preceding instalment. The coolest scene is after the closing credits.
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A strong addition to an already pretty consistent franchise. Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett have already shown in Ready or Not that they're a great choice to formulate the horror genre and they're making very audience-friendly genre films, I'm curious to see what's next. For the first time in the franchise, we leave Woodsboro and move to the big city of New York with a group of survivors who want to forget. But Ghostface returns more brutal than ever, this time, he doesn’t mind killing in public. The opening cameo with Samara Weaving is fine, and the unexpected twist right at the beginning is intriguing. It would be interesting to watch Scream from Ghostface's point of view, so hopefully we'll see it sometime. All of Ghostface's attacks are properly ferocious and intense, even quite brutal (although not much blood spurts when he's slicing with the knife, which bothered me slightly). The attack in the apartment is nasty, the attack in the shop is uncompromising, and the subway is nicely suspenseful and atmospheric with a wink to other horror icons. The reveal of the killer works in the finale, which again isn’t predictable. This is something the whole franchise has done very well. I also enjoyed all the familiar horror clichés and poking fun at franchises - I found that very entertaining. On the other hand, the fact that most of it is surviving the impossible is a bit of a bummer; that's about the only criticism I'd have. Otherwise, this is the best mainstream horror film of the year so far. 7.5/10.
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