Scream VI: Scream and Scream Again!

With 2022s Scream (the fifth installment) being what is now dubbed a “requel”, a sort of crossbreed between a reboot and a sequel, the sixth film solidly cements the Scream movies as a franchise, and as described by a character in the film, franchises have their own rules, which boils down to two things. One, everything is bigger and more aggressive.  Two, no one is safe, legacy characters are the most at risk, being brought in for nostalgic purposes, but not essential for the continuation of the franchise.  A year after the events of number five, Tara Carpenter (Jenna Ortega) is attending college in New York City, with fellow survivors Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown) and Chad (Mason Gooding).  Tara’s sister Sam (Melissa Barrera) who is also the daughter of Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich), one of the original Woodsboro killers, is smothering her sister trying to keep her safe, while trying to deal with the fact that she might have some murderous tendencies of her own. When people around the “Core Four” begin to get slaughtered, fellow legacy characters, writer Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) and FBI agent Kirby Reed (Hayden Panettiere) come to their aid.  Police detective Bailey (Dermot Mulroney) who is also the father of Tara and Sam’s roommate, Quinn (Liana Liberato) assists in figuring out who is doing the killings.  At each murder, a mask belonging to one of the 9 previous “Ghost Face” killers is left and seems to be a type of countdown to something.  Sam’s secret boyfriend, Danny (Josh Segarra) is also in the mix, but he even tells Sam not to trust anyone, even him.  Can the “Core four” survive this round of murderous rampages?  Watch and find out!

I am a fan of the Scream franchise mainly because it knows what it is and does it well.  It is a slasher / whodunnit parody but takes itself completely seriously, giving it a humorous witty edge.  But also, more importantly, it contains characters that you like and care about often casting actors who honestly are much better than your standard genre performer.  I was most impressed with Jenna Ortega who does such an amazing job as Tara. Her dialogue, particularly with her sister, Sam, conveys a wide variety of emotions like rage, fear and sadness mixed with wit and humor, but never becoming cliched or unlikeable.  All the actors involved bring a level of emotional involvement that endears the audience to them allowing them to root for their survival.

This marks the first Scream movie without the original main character, Sidney (Neve Campbell) being involved.  She is mentioned throughout the story, and her absence is explained, and her character was handled with dignity and care.  Campbell made the hard choice not to join the cast when contract negotiations broke down and she felt she could not return with the feeling of being undervalued.  Unlike a lot of stories like this, her decision to do this was fully supported by other actors, previous Scream cast members and even the production team, mentioning how much they love both Campbell and the Sidney character and that she could return in future installments.  Campbell’s departure happened early enough in the process that it did not greatly change the story or script and allowed the writers to switch focus onto the four younger actors who survived the fifth installment.  I guess only time will tell.