There is something spine chilling about watching a horror movie on your own. That sensation gets a lot worse when you are the only person in a cinema screening watching a horror movie.
That is exactly what I experienced last week when I took myself off to see the newest Scream movie. I spent a good portion of the movie checking there was no one hiding in the seats behind me because I could hear them creeking. Yeah, that was a whole other level of paranoia induced by the franchise.
I love the Scream movies. I always have done, and the first instalment will always have a place in my heart. I love Matthew Lillard and his performance as Stu will always stay with me, especially the scenes following his reveal as one of the killers. Of course there is high speculation that his character survived and will hopefully be brought back later in the franchise, and I am both on board and not about this. While I'd love to see his character reprised I also dont want his original performance to be altered by his future self in any way. I am digging all the references to him since though, especially in the newer ones.
We need to address the big Sidney shaped hole in this movie before I move on though. Scream without Sidney just didnt feel right. They mentioned her, so she hasnt been severed from the franchise completely, but we need her back asap. It just isnt the same without the main lady, even as a mentor. Of course it makes sense that with a franchise the mantel is passed onto a new generation, it wouldnt make sense for the same woman to be plagued for over 20 years with psychos in a mask, but not to have your legacy character make an appearance when everyone else did was just wrong.
However, I liked the approach of having the two main targets try to deal with the aftermath differently. Jenna's character, Tara, is intent on living her life and not letting last years ordeal be her defining moment. I think this is really inspiring for trauma survivors and a sort of healthy way to look at moving forward. Of course Tara may not have been so healthy about this as she might have been a little naive thinking she could just drop it and move on. I mean leaving the house on halloween with no weapons, cutting off contact from your sister to go to a house party and then get black out drunk and give in to the first guy who wants a bit. Not smart.
Sam, the big sister, goes about recovering completely differently. Unlike her sister she is taking the whole thing a little badly, but cant be blamed for this as the entire internet is either fetishising her or placing her in a conspiracy. Either way it is going to take a toll on her mental health and she is completely unable to move on with her life as it haunts her at every turn. I mean this gal killed someone, self defense or not. What with her father being Billy Loomis she is rightfully worried that it will end up a pattern. This girl is a survivor though, and is well prepared for the eventuality that the history will repeat- and of course it does. Sam knew from the Sidney debacle that the Woodsborough murders would keep happening and tried to move away to prevent it, but she knew it would find them and she became a bad bitch. Inspiring also.
What I liked about Sam is that she is aware. She knows that this shit will keep happening, she knows she has a mental health problem and addresses this. She seeks out therapy. She doesnt want to turn into her dad despite these horrid events basically making her a serial killer too. The difference is she is doing it to survive and save her sister, Billy Loomis was doing it for fun. She has turned the tables and it is very interesting.
I felt like with this movie Jenna's Wednesday kept rearing her head. Last Scream movie she cried a lot, survived a lot, and go on with it all the same. This movie she also cried, survived, and got on with it, but she was a bit more cynical. Tara seemed more calculating and bloodthirsty this time round, much like Wednesday talk quickly came round for the only option to be murder and this was delivered completely deadpan. Dont get me wrong I liked this, but I dont want her to be typecast as Wednesday in everything. Yes Jenna is our new scream queen, but that doesnt mean she can be a one hit wonder in all of them, her characters deserve variety. Jenna deserves to be able to showcase her talents with challenging roles.
I'm not gunna lie, I missed Dewey. Gale and Dewey always brought the heart to scream. They were a genuine love who you wanted to be together, the light at the end of the tunnel kind of deal. Of course they were married in real life and that sort of dissolved so it made sense the characters did the same, and maybe it wasn't so great to have them keep going together. But Gale just seemed so 2 dimensional without him. She sort of backtracked into bitch mode. I understand her work is her life, but she is a survivor too and she should have had more sympathy. She also lost the man she loved to Ghostface last time and while the movie shows she is still hurting over this, she also moved on fairly quick. I know Gale and Dewey weren't together when he died but they were looking at rekindling, and she lost the humanity he brought out in her, I think they could have elaborated on that a little more in this film.
I liked the tie ins to all the previous Ghostfaces this movie. It was the ultimate homage to what came before. I also liked the fact that Kirby came back and didnt die, that was nice. The Core 4 were relatively unharmed this movie despite an awful lot of near-misses. You can almost bet on it that one or all of them will die in the next one. I just really hope they never kill off Sid, she should be the one to break the mold and be the only legacy character who ever survived.
Scream 6 was very different to the previous movies. Ghostface was more ruthless, no more sneaking away, they werent afraid of any public killings this time round and broke the rules a lot more. Of course despite being dead, Richie played a massive part in the outcome of this one but I shan't spoil it. All I can tell ya is it is messed up.
I personally cannot wait until Scream 7. I want Sidney back, I want to see where we go next. The subway scene in this movie was *chefs kiss*. The idea of an abandoned cinema as base was beautiful, the attempt at turning the tables and having no one trust anyone only added to my paranoia as I watched the movie, but that made it better. Experience is everything. I just wish that the hot guy Sam is seeing on the sly turns out to be genuinely lovely, of course he has been so far and he has been with her for survival mode. But I want them to be end goals, the new Dewey and Gale. He was meant to be sus, and we have let our guard down a little, but I really hope it isnt a predictable twist in the next one where he too becomes a Ghostface. It is too obvious, a little boring, and just not right.
Overall then, before I bore you to death, I'm giving Scream VI a 8/10. The jumpscares weren't as present this time, or maybe I'm just hardened to them? The gore was unmissable and the plot was great. The CGI Skeet Ulrich was a little sketchy as per last time but I wont complain too much, the Sidney shaped hole wasn't a massive distraction, and Gale didn't die. SPOILERS SORRY. I think it was a pretty good movie. Very modern, very real, very enjoyable. I like the direction Scream is heading.
What did you think? Share your thoughts on my socials!
Ps. 400 likes and counting for Lockwood & Co! Thank you, I know it is just the fandom liking the picture, but regardless it means a lot as it's the highest anyone has interacted with my reviews so far so I'm taking the wins where I find them <3
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