Scream VI

Perhaps no horror franchise has made it to a sixth installment without material fatigue, but here the fatigue is so minimal and hardly noticeable that it still feels fresh, fun and exciting. The horror sequences are a treat, the whole is laughable, but intentionally so. No Scream has ever really disappointed, not even this one. (15/03/2023)

Ghostface takes Manhattan. The final revelation is again pulled out of the filmmaker’s ass and this time it’s also a bit ridiculous. But the setting in New York City is nicely refreshing. There are a few surprising scenes, e.g. the store (the killer brazenly carries out his attacks in the public space), scenes with great but insufficiently exploited potential (the subway) and more multiple stabs to the gut after which the characters continue to function as if nothing had happened. The successfully revitalized franchise is becoming a strong but not very clever ditto machine for teenage audiences that could run forever. Scream VI is half a star weaker than the preceding instalment. The coolest scene is after the closing credits. (19/03/2023)

Ghostface in the bright lights of the big city. The change of setting revitalized the most notorious horror meta franchise, as did the decent push towards aggressive actions by the killer(s) with dubious motives. However, the bloated length and the smearing of excrement on faces without masks once again revealed the staleness of previous entries. Two things struck me: the fact that some characters get a seven-inch-long Buck 120 hunting knife plunged into their abdomen and then, after a while, act as if they were just having their belly button cleaned, and that Courteney Cox is starting to look like a vampire from The Lost Boys. (03/05/2023)

"Liposuction for everyone!", or looking at Courteney Cox here, I wonder if this wasn't originally made as a sequel to The Mummy. Man, why can’t Hollywood actresses age naturally? And the film itself? Well, it actually it needs a heavy dose of botox, a dose of botox of invention, because this is nothing but a compilation of what we've seen many times before and even breaking the fourth wall in one scene doesn't help. (06/05/2023)

It’s still good horror entertainment between three and four stars. In the end, I’m giving it the lower rating to make clear that the fourth and fifth instalments were much better for me. Plot-wise, it is a compilation of familiar stuff, with similar twists and turns and denouements to what we have already seen in the series, maybe just a bit more absurd. I'm a bit disappointed that the creators didn't take it to another level and offer something more ambitious. For example, to show the cards so that the viewer knows from the beginning who is hiding under the mask (and only guesses the motive), or to make the villain directly out of the main character, especially since both options are implied in this new sequel. Unfortunately, this promise never comes to fruition, so the final form ends up looking rather familiar. But the more significant problem for me is the downright dead meta plane. In the year since the premiere of the previous installment, logically "nothing fundamental has happened" in the horror genre, so there is nothing to respond to, nothing to comment on, nothing to paraphrase (on the contrary, the fourth and fifth installments benefited mightily from longer delays). And "franchise" as the referent to which the latest installment refers is too elusive to base any meaningful meta-games on. I wouldn’t be against another sequel, but I would wait at least five years. (23/03/2023)