Scream VI

"Liposuction for everyone!", or looking at Courteney Cox here, I wonder if this wasn't originally made as a sequel to The Mummy. Man, why can’t Hollywood actresses age naturally? And the film itself? Well, it actually it needs a heavy dose of botox, a dose of botox of invention, because this is nothing but a compilation of what we've seen many times before and even breaking the fourth wall in one scene doesn't help. (05/06/2023)

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. (03/15/2023)

I’m a moron for always expecting any kind of basic logic in these movies. That's as naive as believing in Santa Claus at 24 or that vaccines cause autism. In terms of the slasher genre, it's certainly a good piece – the murders, the blood and the body-count, which by no means essential, innovative or devastating, are all pretty much okay and not offensive. Likewise, the occasionally built-up atmosphere (subway...), the attempted twists and turns, or the on-again, off-again "guess who the killer is" game can keep the viewer entertained, and the New York setting is a decent change. But for God's sake the rest is one big mess and shitfest. I'm literally amazed that any sane person puts this out into the world and no one is surprised at the overall stupidity. The characters? Total idiots over and over again. Logic? The director left that in his living room before coming on set. In short, nothing outside of the slasher genre works here at all, everyone does one f*ck up after another, running around like confused chickens and charging at Ghostface with open arms, and if anyone counters me with the "you're being an asshole again and not enjoying a slasher flick" argument then sorry, but even this has its limits and to have all the characters running around with 20 (yes, 20) stab wounds, smiling at each other like they're on a moonlit walk and pouring their hearts out with adorable dialogue, that's just odd and it’s unfortunately becoming more common in this franchise and getting worse from generation to generation until I'm actually curious where this will eventually end up. From a purely entertaining slasher standpoint, it’s a passable 4*, but everything surrounding it drastically spoils the experience, and when you laugh at the comical aura around the murders, something is wrong. Purely on the basis that it's thankfully a good popcorn movie for the cinema, I give it a merciful 3*, but objectively I won't remember the film tomorrow and it's just stupidly below average. Now go on, go to the cinema and pour your biased five stars here, so the sheep have something to cheer about (03/09/2023)

It’s still good horror entertainment between three and four stars. In the end, I’m giving it the lower rating to make clear that the fourth and fifth instalments were much better for me. Plot-wise, it is a compilation of familiar stuff, with similar twists and turns and denouements to what we have already seen in the series, maybe just a bit more absurd. I'm a bit disappointed that the creators didn't take it to another level and offer something more ambitious. For example, to show the cards so that the viewer knows from the beginning who is hiding under the mask (and only guesses the motive), or to make the villain directly out of the main character, especially since both options are implied in this new sequel. Unfortunately, this promise never comes to fruition, so the final form ends up looking rather familiar. But the more significant problem for me is the downright dead meta plane. In the year since the premiere of the previous installment, logically "nothing fundamental has happened" in the horror genre, so there is nothing to respond to, nothing to comment on, nothing to paraphrase (on the contrary, the fourth and fifth installments benefited mightily from longer delays). And "franchise" as the referent to which the latest installment refers is too elusive to base any meaningful meta-games on. I wouldn’t be against another sequel, but I would wait at least five years. (03/23/2023)

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. (05/31/2023)