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)
Reviews (11)
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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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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"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.
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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.
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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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Ghostface in the bright lights of the big city. The change of setting revitalized the most notorious horror meta franchise, as did the decent push towards aggressive actions by the killer(s) with dubious motives. However, the bloated length and the smearing of excrement on faces without masks once again revealed the staleness of previous entries. Two things struck me: the fact that some characters get a seven-inch-long Buck 120 hunting knife plunged into their abdomen and then, after a while, act as if they were just having their belly button cleaned, and that Courteney Cox is starting to look like a vampire from The Lost Boys.
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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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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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I was quite surprised, and as a fan of the franchise, pleased that the sixth Scream would be screaming in theaters just fourteen months after the release of the fifth, which came eleven long years after the fourth (Wes Craven's last "slash"). As I've said before, I have a soft spot for Ghostface, so I'm willing to overlook the fact that it's pretty much a recycled version of the previous films. But as a fan, it's that connection between the first and fifth films that I appreciate and (along with the many pop culture references) downright enjoyed. The intro alone, which slyly plays with the rules of horror and stands them on their head, proves that the "screaming franchise" still has a lot to offer. I welcomed the film's setting in New York, where the they managed to take advantage of other locations to offer some truly good scenes – whether it was a chilling sequence from a convenience store or an apartment, or the atmospheric scene in a flashing subway. (Spoiler alert!) The identity of Ghotsface is clear from the first mention of the deceased family member, and then later from the attack in the apartment, but the film isn’t that concerned with a plot twist as it plays with audience expectations and horror rules, creating a hide-and-seek game. The viewer (ideally a fan) then calmly overlooks the immortality of certain characters and just watches the uncompromising destruction of the bad guys with a satisfying smile. (End: Spoiler alert!) In the end, Scream VI certainly didn't feel boring or dull, but if there is to be a sequel, which I wouldn't be opposed to, at least a three-year hiatus would be preferable.
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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
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It's true that you can't expect miracles from a slasher movie, but this one is ultimately a mess. The young and restless, binary-diverse and bipolarly unbalanced characters must confront a villain who effortlessly cooks one after another in front of the public (no, I don't notice that the girl next to me in the subway has a 10inch knife in her belly), while the law enforcement authorities are completely incompetent. Since this is already the sixth vol, the screenplay feels noticeably recycled, and any element of surprise is nonexistent - after the first five minutes, viewers have already explored the 78,000 possibilities of who the villain might be, and at the end, it's one of them. What really bothered me was the superhuman agility of the main eviscerator, who dodges bullets and wakes up from unconsciousness at the exact moment that is supposed to be the coolest and creepiest. But the most puzzling fact is, that after six movies, nobody has explained to them, that when you take someone down and they're lying there, you're supposed to finish them off and not to run away! The repetitive scenario of endless escapes has become tiresome. As a whole, the movie simply doesn't work, and they should give up on it, just like with the 58th Fast and Furious. Please, enough is enough.
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