…And we’re back. I just rented Scream VI a couple of nights ago and wanted to get my thoughts down before I forget about the movie entirely. I guess that sentence sums up my thoughts. I thought it was a fine, if forgettable entry into the franchise. It’s not clear to me whether it’s just that we’re six movies in and it’s hard to be original anymore, or whether this was actually a missed opportunity to do something better. SPOILERS ahead.
Positives
1). Scream seems to be a “high floor” franchise:
I’m very into the NFL Draft, and one scouting phrase that comes up with prospects every year is their floor (worse case scenario) vs their ceiling (best case scenario). Some prospects are considered to have a low floor and a high ceiling, meaning they’re boom or bust; they could either stink or be a superstar. Depending on how seriously you take this franchise, I think this entry is proof that all Scream movies have a decently high floor.
There was not a lot that I overtly liked about the movie and I don’t think I’ll ever go back to it, but, it was certainly watchable. All of the movies can drum up interest purely from answering these four questions: How many killers are there? Who are the killers? What are their motives? Who will survive? Other horror franchises, like say, Halloween or Friday the 13th, don’t have as high of a floor since the mystery of who the killer is, and how many there are, have already been decided. So, if nothing else, Scream VI is another watchable entry. It was better than Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends.
2). Setting the movie on Halloween:
Perhaps an homage to Halloween/Halloween II, but it’s a great plot device to give all of the other people in the background a reason to be dressed up in costume. It adds to the confusion of the atmosphere. You can’t really have that subway scene if there aren’t other people dressed up, so it was a good move to do that.
3). Mindy:
I like the character in general. She not only ties back to her uncle Randy’s role in the first two movies but is also the only character that provides the meta aspect of what made the original movie so great. I feel like they could’ve done even more with it, maybe it’s just that she’s the only character with horror movie knowledge. More on this later.
4). Three Ghostface killers:
There’s a lot I didn’t like about the reveal/motives/actors, but 3 is at least a new number of killers, so I appreciate that.
5). The opening scene:
It’s certainly not the best of all the movies, but it was an interesting idea. Having two homicidal people with plans to kill Sam Carpenter get thwarted by a different clan with the same plan. The meta aspect of Jason critiquing the terrible decisions of the film professor who taught a class on slashers is a nice homage to the original opening scene with Drew Barrymore.
Mixed
1). Setting the movie in New York City:
Setting it in NYC was certainly an interesting idea and a cool move that opened up new opportunities. All of the other movies were set in either rural or suburban California, so I liked that move. They did have an attack on the subway. The opening scene had an attack in an alley. They utilized a bodega! However, it felt like they could’ve done even more with the location. Times Square, or a bar/club/lounge, a bridge, etc. Outside of those 3 instances, it didn’t feel a ton like they were in a big metropolis.
2). It wasn’t as obvious who the killers were (compared to Scream 2022):
Like I said in my review of the last movie, for some reason, I knew the two killers in Scream 2022 the second they showed up on-screen. I’ll be honest, I was onto Detective Bailey pretty early, but not the second I saw him on-screen. Also, while the Quinn character is obvious in retrospect, I didn’t immediately suspect her and when she was “killed” I just went with it. The Ethan character isn’t in the movie much, and we don’t really know anything about him, so there isn’t a ton to be suspicious about.
Negatives
1). The “Core Four” surviving after what happened:
I don’t have a problem with the “Core Four” surviving the movie in principle, though they can’t do that every movie or the stakes will be gone. However, Chad got stabbed…a lot, by 2 Ghostface killers…at the same time! I don’t know what is or isn’t possible, but he had more knife wounds than any victim in this universe has ever had, so…he probably should be dead.
Mindy had multiple stabs, including the bad one in the gut on the subway, where the knife was raised up, etc. She could live, I guess, but she seemed fine once she got to the warehouse. Quick bounce-back on Mindy.
2). The Billy Loomis flashbacks:
I guess they’re building toward something in the next movie, but I didn’t like these in Scream 2022, and I didn’t like them now. They’re some measure of contrived/dumb/fan-service. No disrespect to Skeet Ulrich.
3). The revenge plot/plan:
a. They covered the territory in Scream 2, and to a lesser extent, the original and Scream 3 both had revenge motives.
b. Detective Bailey massively oversold the “you mess with my family, you die” line after Quinn was “murdered”. It was very clear he was tied to a previous Ghostface.
c. Detective Bailey was a real police detective who transferred precincts. It’s not unbelievable that he could’ve gotten a new identity, but it seems like something would’ve come up during a background check or questions about his work history, etc. The two kids using different names to disassociate themselves from their brother Richie is far less crazy to me than a cop transferring to the NYPD and not raising any red flags.
d. So, they faked Quinn’s death and Bailey got there first to switch the body out. But, suppose the killings go according to plan, what does she do next? She’s supposed to be dead. Or is that identity fake anyway, so, she could just go back to her original identity? Just not clear on what the rest of her life looked like if this worked out. I guess similar for Det. Bailey, does he just leave NYC and go back to being Det. Kirsch?
e. This sort of happened in the original too, but if the plan involves a specific person, date, etc., then any earlier attacks on said person don’t really make sense. For example, in the original Scream (which I love!), Billy and Stu wanted to kill Sidney and others on the anniversary of her mother’s death so they could blame it on Sidney’s father having a breakdown. So why did they attack her the day before when she was home alone? Were they just trying to scare her but not kill her? Did they want Billy to get arrested and released so he’d be deemed innocent? It’s kind of a plot contrivance.
Similarly, at the end of this movie, it seems the family wants to kill Sam Carpenter at the warehouse and then blame her for the killings. They started the rumors that Sam was really behind the events of the last movie, so clearly this is integral to their plan of pulling this off. So, why attack her at the bodega a day earlier? Or at their apartment a day earlier? Is that just to kill other people? If the specifics of the plan are that important, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to risk exposure, or getting Sam put in police protective custody and limiting your access to her. I won’t call it a plot hole, but it’s a major contrivance.
4). Mindy being afraid of Ethan on the subway:
Again, this just doesn’t make sense within the rules of the movie. Obviously, in real life, if you thought someone was a murderer, you wouldn’t want to stand next to them on the subway. Trust me, I get that! But since Mindy knows all of the horror movie rules, wouldn’t she also know that no one is getting killed by a plain-clothes person in a completely different part of the city?
If she’s standing next to Ethan on the subway, and he’s not dressed as Ghostface, would it be reasonable to expect that he might kill her as is? I guess it’s not impossible since she’s not the “main target”, but it still feels like a bit of a stretch. She also tells him she thinks he’s Ghostface, which seems like a not great strategy. People do dumb things in horror movies all of the time, but she’s Mindy, the horror savant who would not behave as a normal person would. Maybe it’s nitpicky, but it stuck out to me.
5). The details of the shrine warehouse:
a. So, they would’ve had to pay for this. In New York City. That’s gotta be crazy expensive, even if it was an abandoned theater. I’m not saying it couldn’t happen, but it would presumably be a big investment.
b. They put it in the other kid’s names. I don’t own property, but I don’t know how realistic it is to put two 20-year olds’ names on the lease and then sign for them. Maybe I’m just being nitpicky.
c. It would’ve been a terrible place for Kirby (the FBI agent) to agree to meet them. She claims there’s only one way in and one way out, but it’s large space which means there’s too much space for them all to cover. They could’ve just gone to their apartment, which would’ve been a lot easier to manage.
6). Announcing Kirby’s involvement in the movie:
Long before it was announced that she was coming back, there were always fan theories and then confirmations that she wasn’t actually dead. Much like issues with trailers spoiling the movie, it would’ve been a much more fun surprise if it wasn’t announced ahead of time. The silly thing is that the announcement would’ve only mattered to Scream fans, who were going to see this new movie either way, so there wasn’t really a reason to reveal it ahead of time.
7). There wasn’t a lot of time with the supporting characters:
Like I said with Ethan, we just didn’t really know anything about him, so the suspicions that he could be Ghostface didn’t really mean anything. Similarly, the new boyfriend, Danny, the new girlfriend, Anika, there just wasn’t enough time with these characters to ensure their fates would mean anything. If they’re Ghostface, like Ethan was, it didn’t pack a punch, if they die, like Anika, I don’t really care. Scream 2022 did a nice job having them sit in front of the school to kind of get more detail about each of them.
8). Mistreatment of Neve Campbell:
I don’t know what happened, why it happened, etc. I personally am fine if she doesn’t want to be in any future movies. But it sounds like they wouldn’t pay her, or there were issues of some kind. She’s a franchise legend and deserves to be treated as such.
9). It’s less meta than other entries:
As mentioned earlier, Mindy is really the only character with horror movie knowledge. Kirby, a horror expert herself, only really discusses horror movies once in the movie. Part of the beauty of the original is that there’s Randy, but also Billy, and also the killers on the phone. Multiple characters constantly referenced these tropes which made the movie a lot more fun. Scream IV had Kirby and the two film guys constantly reflecting on horror movies and what the logical next step was for the genre. In general, it doesn’t really seem like any of the other characters are into horror movies, which limits the dialogue that can be had meta-textually.
So, that’s it. Overall, Scream VI was fine enough, decent enough to watch, not good enough to re-watch. I’m not super optimistic for the future, but I’m not upset, just kind of not excited.
Movie Opinions 