Film Review: SCREAM VI (2023): Ghostface is Back with a Vengeance in a Fun Horror “Requel” Set in New York City

Scream VI Review

Scream VI (2023) Film Review, a movie directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, written by James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick and starring Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega, Courteney Cox, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Hayden Panettiere, Mason Gooding, Devyn Nekoda, Josh Segarra, Jack Champion, Liana Liberato, Tony Revolori, Samara Weaving, Dermot Mulroney, Henry Czerny, Andre Anthony, Thomas Cadrot, Frank Fiola and Roger Jackson.

Ghostface takes Manhattan in the enormously entertaining and suspenseful new horror movie “requel,” Scream VI. Neve Campbell is nowhere to be found in the new picture except maybe in a still photo featured in the film but Courteney Cox returns to the franchise once again as Gale Weathers-the investigative journalist who has written a book based on the events which occurred in the previous Scream picture from last year. Cox has fun here but Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega (“Wednesday”) run away with the movie with Jasmin Savoy Brown making her fun bid at stealing the show with her great supporting performance. Despite some minor problems, Scream VI is just enjoyable enough to prevent the material from feeling the least bit stale and the New York City setting works tremendously to the film’s advantage especially when we make our way to the underground subway system in the latter part of the movie.

This film begins with the terrific Samara Weaving playing a film professor named Laura Crane who is the film’s first victim. She studies and teaches slasher movies and waits at a city bar for a date to arrive. As per the franchise tradition, Laura speaks to her killer on the phone. She walks to an ally and gets stabbed by a vicious murderer and thus the movie starts to unveil its premise to the audience. The killer returns home and gets killed himself in a twist of interesting events that hints that this new picture will have more tricks up its sleeve than usual.

A cop named Bailey (Dermot Mulroney) finds Sam Carpenter (Barrera)’s license at the murder scene and wonders if maybe Sam is the next target of the new Ghostface. Meanwhile, Sam and Tara (Ortega) have come to New York City for Tara to attend college. She goes to a party where a rowdy guy tries to get with her. Sam and Tara’s friends are Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown) and Chad (Mason Gooding) Meeks-Martin. Sam tries to see a therapist to deal with the events which occurred in the previous movie (if you haven’t seen it, a few people died as you may have expected) but the doctor (played by Henry Czerny) bails after he gets the details of what’s going on in Sam’s mind.

Liana Liberato plays Quinn who is Tara’s roommate who has loud sex in her bedroom with random people. The plot of the new film kicks into motion as Sam is believed to be the one responsible for some deaths as a key character or two get knocked off. Footage gets obtained which shows some aggression from Sam which makes Detective Bailey suspicious of her. The movie’s scene set in a convenience store is terrific as Ghostface appears to knock off some customers while trying to get to Sam and Tara. A shotgun comes into play in this movie and it’s a solid scene within the picture, to be sure.

Enter FBI agent Kirby Reed (Hayden Panettiere) who has a history herself with Ghostface killers and joins forces with our heroes to try to stop the killer who is making his new mark and leaving masks behind from old Ghostface killers afterwards. The killer has a shrine where old Ghostface costumes and photos of his victims (and would-be victims) exist. Can Gale Weathers convince sisters Sam and Tara to accept her help catching Ghostface?

The biggest scene in Scream VI is the confrontation with Gale and Ghostface set in a New York City apartment. That part of the film is so enjoyable that audiences will be rooting for Gale all the way. And, talk about some edge of your seat action. That sequence provides that and a whole lot more. The movie leads to a series of scenes on the NYC subway trains where our crew of heroes must try to find and stop the real Ghostface (or Ghostfaces, to be precise).

Jasmin Savoy Brown makes her typical speech about the rules of horror movies and the dialogue is a lot of fun as she sets out the way sequels in Hollywood get made. The most interesting dialogue in the movie is between Brown’s and Panettiere’s characters as they discuss their opinions on horror movies such as the Friday the 13th films (Kirby loves the one with Corey Feldman) and the new Candyman.

The actor who plays the central killer in the movie gives a bone-chilling and campy performance, simultaneously. His performance makes for a truly deranged Ghostface. This casting was simply inspired. The jury is still out on whether or not we needed multiple Ghostfaces but it’s all in good spirit in a demented way.

Barrera and Ortega have become pros at playing these characters and they are the type of roles that fit the actresses well. They both share equal screen time with a love interest for each– the most interesting one being Sam’s neighbor (Josh Segarra) who she develops a crush on which leads to them having an affair. One problem, though: She can’t bring herself to trust him quite yet.

Scream VI is a good time, for certain, with a last act that is among the best in the entire Scream series. While the new film is a bit over-the-top, it’s all wild enough to keep any horror movie audience watching from beginning to end without getting bored for a second. There are too many plot twists thrown in willy-nilly but this movie is ultimately the perfect roller coaster ride. It’s fast paced fun and it’s great to see Cox working again.

Rating: 8/10

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