Are we watching or not? Scream VI, “the continuation of the repeat”
Anticipated ever since the franchise relaunched in 2022, Scream VI tumbles across New York and onto our screens for a lively and quite successful sequel.
What is Scream VI? A year after Ghostface’s last Woodsboro killing spree, four survivors live in New York trying to put their past together behind them. But Ghostface seems to have followed them until now and is determined to make them pay for what happened. Who is hiding behind the mask?
The essential
Driven by the success of the relaunch of Halloweenthe franchise Scream also reissued in 2022 and obviously quite won over by both audiences and critics. This 5th part was an opportunity to start a new generation of characters being hunted by the masked killer while having the support of the survivors (especially Queen Sydney).
This 6th episode nails it by focusing on the new characters introduced last year, specifically the two Carpenter sisters. For the first time in 6 episodes, Neve Campbell is absent from this episode, with only Courtney Cox remaining in a supporting role. This episode is an opportunity to return Hayden Panettiere in the role of Kirby, a character introduced in scream 4.
We love
2022, Scream had managed his revival by creating the Carpenter sisters, new characters associated with the older generation. The original 1996 Scream was revisited in this film as a mirror of the plot. As in one of the Friday the 13th episodes, Ghostface arrives in New York in this episode and seems more at home in the Big Apple than ever. We really enjoyed the relaunch of the franchise that seemed to follow more in the footsteps of the 1st, forgetting in passing the other characters/killers of the previous installments. scream VI repositions itself in the global franchise thanks to the presence of this iconic place presented in the trailer, namely the shrine dedicated to Ghostface. This won’t come across as the “most believable” part of the story because, as Tara points out, all of those items that the killer is carrying throughout the episodes are meant to be police protected seals. On the other hand, faithful to its tradition, the film offers us an opening scene of the anthology and everything new as we have never seen in the saga. We won’t say more, but the scene is both powerful and very surprising!
Another big plus is the dead-end action, with a much more sustained pace than previous episodes. Likewise, Ghostface appears much more savage and much less “second degree” than in his previous incarnations. He acts ultra-brutally, coldly and, above all, always and everywhere, even in a city where one is rarely alone like in New York. There are many moments of high intensity, like that brutal attack in the middle of the street that continues at a neighborhood supermarket, or even that moment hanging between two windows.
Also Read: 10 Things To Know About The Scream Saga | VL Media (vl-media.fr)
Finally, scream VI very successful in surprising us once again in revealing the culprit(s) by proposing an unprecedented solution. And the least we can say is that the perpetrator or perpetrators are particularly tough and seem to thrive on a pugnacity that has nothing to do with a passion for cinema. “We don’t care about movies,” Ghostface even admits just before he commits one of his crimes. On the casting page we see that Jenna Ortega (Wednesday) has grown because she feels much more comfortable there, she even “eats” the screen and much more than Melissa Barrera, who embodies her sister and whose performance nevertheless remains more than convincing. Big crush on Jasmine Savoy Brown as Mindy (Randy’s cousin) as a connoisseur of slasher hands who can’t guess who the culprit is.
While the previous installment seemed to distance itself from episodes 2 through 4 (to better follow in the footsteps of the first), this one repositions itself in a global franchise (with the Sanctuary), if only by mentioning the other culprits. Which hints at a potentially interesting axis when a Scream VII sees the light of day (we’ll talk about that in an upcoming article).
do we like less?
It was one of the flaws of this franchise from the start: the “invulnerable” side of the heroes and not just “the last girl”. As we see the latter surviving stab wounds time and time again, we no longer tremble for them. It’s not that we want to see them die, but that invulnerability borders on the ridiculous (you’ll see it again in this episode). Likewise, we regret that the elements introduced in the last installment (Sam’s troubled personality) are treated with such lightness when there really is material to rebuild the franchise in depth and lift it out of its whonunit status.
