‘Scream VI’ is the series’ best sequel | Non-spoiler review

Ghostface in Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Media Group's "Scream VI."

The survivors of the latest Ghostface killings try to escape their pasts in New York City in Scream VI. Unfortunately for them, Ghostface follows them to the Big Apple.

Making perfect use of its New York City setting, Scream VI is bigger, bolder, and scarier than any of its predecessors. While it sticks to the tried and true tropes and references that film fans will love, it pushes the boundaries of its story and, most importantly, kills to exciting new territory. Ghostface takes Manhattan and I couldn't be happier.

Scream VI, a sequel to the 2022 requel of Wes Craven's original 1993 slasher classic, is bigger, bolder, and scarier than any of its predecessors. That's in large part because of its New York City setting. While the city has always been ripe for horror, I mean it's a claustrophobic concrete maze filled with 8 million highly stressed individuals (I'm a New Yorker, I'm allowed to say this), making one that captures its full potential has largely alluded us (I'm looking at your Jason Takes Manhattan). Scream VI uses the city's potential to magnify almost every element of the franchise — the lore, the kills, and, of course, the potential identities of Ghostface.

After a requel that knowingly remakes the original film while also moving the story forward, Scream VI catapults in an entirely new direction as we focus in on the “core four” as Mason Gooding's Chad puts it. The movie picks up months after the latest Ghostface killings centered around sisters Sam (Melissa Barerra) and Tara (Jenna Ortega). They along with Chad and his twin sister Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown) have gone off to start a new life in New York City. However, it wouldn't be Scream if the world wasn't obsessed with the recent string of murders perpetrated by horror-obsessed serial killers—and why wouldn't they? This is the world of the internet, though, and as with any news story the dark corners create a conspiracy.

The most horrifying thing in the world, a subreddit, is convinced that Sam perpetrated the latest Woodsboro killings complicating the sisters' lives in the Big Apple. Thankfully, something comfy and familiar pops up to remind them of home — a Ghostface killer! But this is the sixth movie in a franchise of movies that know they're movies in a franchise. Horror movie geek Mindy breaks it down for us. Now that they're deep in the franchise the rulebook is out the window. That means that no one is safe, even legacy characters.

From the classic cold open that plays with our expectations to the final reveal, Scream VI constantly surprises with its ability to be more brutal and menacing (Ghostface with a shotgun? Horrifying.) while maintaining its winky film nerd charm (complete with a shoutout to Letterboxd). This time, the movie takes aim at how franchises slowly lose reverence for the source material in an effort to keep the themselves relevant. Its criticism of the genre isn't nearly as incisive as previous installments, even last year's less successful Scream “requel” had more to say about current state of horror. Instead directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett lean into the iconic horror elements that make up the series — i.e. the kills.

Often horror movies portray New York City as long concrete blocks of shadowy corners and urban emptiness. Scream VI does the opposite and uses its crowdedness to its advantage — the two most impressive set pieces take place in public on a bodega and the subway. In a city of millions, no one can hear you scream. It's that expansion outside of suburban interiors that make this installment so exciting. Classic elements like the chase scene and horrors lurking behind closed doors remain, but new elements bring new life screeching back into the series.

The mystery is perhaps the most twisted — for better and worse — while legacy characters like Courtney Cox‘s Gale Weathers and Hayden Panettiere‘s Kirby Reed add to the movie's plethora of easter eggs.

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Hey! I'm Karl. You can find me on Twitter here. I'm also a Tomatometer-approved critic.

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Karl Delossantos

Hey, I'm Karl, founder and film critic at Smash Cut. I started Smash Cut in 2014 to share my love of movies and give a perspective I haven't yet seen represented. I'm also an editor at The New York Times, a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, and a member of the Online Film Critics Society.