Scream VI

In case you just couldn't wait until October 1st....

What drove me to seek out this year's SCREAM VI, the latest in a never ending franchise that probably should've called it quits over twenty years ago?  Curiosity, mostly.  This time, because it was set in New York City, a most perfect milieu for a slasher.  Maybe Paramount wouldn't disappoint again, the way they did with the misleadingly titled FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VIII: JASON TAKES MANHATTAN, which only reached the burrough in its last twenty minutes.  The marketing for this entry really played it up; the first in the series to take place outside of Woodsboro, the small town forever marred with the terrible legacy of serial murders exacted by people wearing the Ghostface mask.

First off, SCREAM VI was shot in Montreal.  Not the first time it has stood in for NYC in a movie but a poor, obvious substitute nonetheless.  This fakery leaves the movie feeling generic, as if its action is unfolding in any undistinguished urban locale.  Returning directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett make no effort to capture that unique, exciting atmosphere of the Big Apple, even during a long sequence on the subway, much of which was revealed in the trailer.  

The story picks up with sister survivors Sam (Melissa Barrera) and Tara (Jenna Ortega), the latter now attending college in the city.  Sydney (Neve Campbell), present for the first five entries, does not return, for reasons you may have read about.   When a film studies teacher and some classmates are knifed to death (the details of how and why you can learn on your own) by a new Ghostface killer(s), the girls and their circle of buds prepare for another round of film discussion and real life terror in this sequel to the requel.  Is one or more of them the killer?  Will we get another long winded analysis of horror movie tropes?  Will aggressive reporter Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox) be there to cover it? And get grief from everyone for writing yet another book exploiting past tragedies?  A good bet, invisible audience. 

All the usual stuff, including a few late fake-outs.   It's no longer clever or fresh, but SCREAM VI is reasonably entertaining.  I did enjoy Jasmin Savoy Brown as Mindy, the purveyor of cinematic lore, explaining how sometimes you gotta kill off the lead to keep a franchise going.  Interestingly, several characters are mercilessly attacked yet still survive, to the point of (purposeful?) absurdity.  Hayden Panettiere makes a welcome return as Kirby Reed, who's become an FBI agent since her previous appearance in SCREAM 4.

The early scenes work best, which inject some fresh ideas into this formula but once the movie settles into the main storyline, it just rides the familiar.  The bodega scene has an energy the remainder of the film lacks, though I did also kinda like the ladder scene.  Fun to finally have Gale take a call from Ghostface.  The reveal at the climax is especially ridiculous and tired, and about as effective as an episode of Scooby Doo.  There is more than one assailant, and one of them I guessed from their first appearance.  

The violence is brutal but those CGI kills mute any real strong reaction.  It baffles me why filmmakers have gotten so lazy.  Perhaps younger viewers, weaned on such artificiality, don't care.   The same ones who made this one another hit and guaranteed another sequel.