From Woodsboro to NYC, Ghostface Makes a Big Move

Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega, 
Jasmin Savoy Brown, and Mason Gooding
in "Scream 6"
Photo Credit: RottenTomatoes.com

A little over a year ago, directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett brought the “Scream” franchise back to the big screen with its fifth installment.  Although there was some skepticism over how they would handle the series with this being the first “Scream” film since director Wes Craven’s (who directed the previous four installments) passing in August 2015, the duo delivered a highly entertaining entry that took a stab at the latest horror trend, and movie trend in general: legacy sequels.  With a mixture of new and returning characters, it gave us hope that the series was in good hands.

Bertinelli-Olpin and Gillett now bring Ghostface and his victims to the Big Apple with “Scream 6,” a fast-paced, thrilling, and witty continuation of their new trilogy.

After the events of the last film, Samantha Carpenter (Melissa Barrera), her sister Tara (Jenna Ortega), and their friends Mindy and Chad Meeks (Jasmin Savoy Brown and Mason Gooding) have left Woodsboro and are attending college in New York City.  When a new string of Ghostface killings begins, this quartet of survivors have to figure out who’s behind the mask before they become the latest victims.

Barrera and Ortega continue the superb work they gave in the last film, showing a sibling relationship that’s now strained due to Sam’s overprotectiveness of Tara, following their ordeal in Woodsboro.  They provide engaging chemistry that continues to build the emotional center of this new trilogy, offering enough drama that mixes well in between the scares.  Aside from that, the two of them exemplify the fighting spirit that Neve Campbell displayed as former franchise lead character Sidney Prescott, springing into action and showing ingenuity when it comes to outsmarting the killer.  

Despite Campbell not returning as Sidney, the cast proves that they can carry a “Scream” film without being over-reliant on legacy characters, just like in the previous film.  The only returning characters from the four Craven films are Courteney Cox and Hayden Panettiere.  While Cox is still a lot of fun as reporter Gale Weathers and Panettiere is a welcome, long-awaited return as Kirby Reed from “Scream 4,” it’s the returning characters from the fifth installment and the new additions in this film who do the heavy lifting, with newcomers such as Jack Champion, Liana Liberato, Tony Revolori, and Samara Weaving all being given some memorable moments alongside what we see with Barrera, Ortega, Brown, and Gooding.  

As always, Roger L. Jackson is chilling and entertaining as the voice of Ghostface.  The way in which he uses his intonations to be both scary and humorous is what makes his phone-call scenes so unsettling.  Having provided the vocals for Ghostface for all six films, he hasn’t lost his ability to place us on edge as the voice toys with its victims before the killer strikes.

The screenplay by James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick (both of whom wrote the previous film, with the latter also being a co-writer for Bertinelli-Olpin and Gillett’s 2019 horror comedy “Ready or Not”) has a meta angle that feels a little forced, but it makes up for that by offering a bigger scale with its location and plenty of new victims/suspects.  Although the characters are in college, the writers don’t use the college as the main setting, like it was done in “Scream 2” in the original trilogy.  Instead, they do something different and take us throughout the city and use it to stage some pulse-pounding scenarios that are a great break from the Woodsboro setting that’s been used for three of the five other movies.  Aside from the frightening scenarios Vanderbilt and Busick create for the characters, they also make time for some dramatic moments between Sam, Tara, Mindy, and Chad as they try to deal with what happened to them in the previous film, giving us scenes that show the growth of their bond that engages us in what they’ve faced and what they’ve yet to face.

As directors, Bertinelli-Olpin and Gillett take full advantage of the cityscape, staging sequences that rank with some of the series’ best.  Whether it’s a chase through an apartment or an extended sequence on a crowded subway, the filmmaking duo uses their talents to give this trilogy its own unique visuals from what came before.  They re-team with their “Ready or Not” and “Scream 5” cinematographer Brett Jutkiewicz and “Scream 5” editor Jay Prychidny to construct thrillingly shot segments that will make you tense up as they prove that there’s still plenty of creativity to be mined from this 26-year-old series.

If this latest trilogy can close out with as much humor and frights as it has accomplished in these last two movies, then Craven’s films will be able to sit with respectable, and scary, company.

Grade: A-