‘We have to finish the movie...’
As I write this I’ve just arrived home after seeing the new Scream movie and I’m having so many feelings that I don’t know where to start. THIS is what I love about cinema. Getting so wrapped up in something that it invades your every waking moment. Let me put some minds at rest first of all. This is a great Scream movie. The best since Scream 2 and possibly the best since the original. Do you like scary movies?
Tara (Jenna Ortega) is trying to enjoy her life as a college student in New York but her volatile and unstable sister Sam (Melissa Barrera) keeps her on a short leash. Mindy and Chad return also, as does Gale Weathers (Courtenay Cox), of course. Our new characters/suspects include Chad’s geeky roommate Ethan (Jack Champion), Tara’s slutty roommate Quinn (Liana Liberato) and Sam’s love interest Danny (Josh Segarra). Rounding off a starry cast is Dermot Mulroney as a no-nonsense cop and a returning Hayden Panettiere as fan favourite Kirby Reed.
I’m going to do my best to keep this spoiler free but I will say there are plenty of moments here that long-term fans will love. The absence of both Dewey and Sydney (the latter because Neve Campbell dropped out over a pay dispute) is handled gracefully and with warmth, as are the nods to the other films in the Scream franchise. More than any other entry, this one really digs deep into the lore of the other movies. It also helps that the violence from the last movie is maintained, and I would also argue that this is the most downright frightening Scream film since the original. There are some genuinely uncomfortable moments here and the humour, while welcome when it does arrive, is mostly kept to a minimum. It should also be said that the directing team of Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin have done a great job in ensuring that the torch has been successfully passed from the legacy characters to the new blood. Sam and Tara feel like Scream staples now and while it’s nice to have Gale around for old times’ sake (and because Courtenay Cox continues to be great) it feels like the franchise is in safe hands going forward. A word also for voice actor Roger Jackson who continues to be the series’ unsung hero as the voice of ghostface.
Scream VI is a dizzying, thrilling horror movie that confirms the fact that the Scream franchise is now the best slasher franchise of them all. And I do not say that lightly. It is also packed full of geeky horror references for everyone to argue until the inevitable sequel. God, I love horror movies.