Scream VI

         If the town you lived in had the habit over the years of a masked-killer showing up and taking out random townspeople, maybe staying in said town is not the best move. Woodsboro has such a problem and for such a small town, it seems to have a high rate of killers living within its borders. Although not good for its residents, especially the younger ones, for us the audience that town has given us a great franchise in Scream. Well someone thinks they got it beat and has moved to New York City, but it turns out, they may not be safe there either.

 Sam (Melissa Barrera) and Tara (Jenna Ortega) are trying to move on from the nightmare that just happened to them and decide to move. They choose New York, where Tara is going to school,  as their friends Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown) and Chad (Mason Gooding) follow along, since the tragedy they experienced has really brought them together.  Tara though is trying to live her life, but Sam is always watching her, fearing that something bad could happen, and it turns out ‘bad’ has found them. There has been another Ghostface kill that seems to have the purpose of getting to Sam and Tara. Sam wants to run, but because of a video she is a person of interest and is not allowed to leave the city. Sam, Tara, and their friends don’t seem to be safe anywhere, as the killings continue and get closer and closer to them.  Not helping the matter is it is Holloween and the city is filled with Ghostface’s, but there is only one who wants to kill Sam and Tara, as well as everyone they care about.

Written by James Vanderbilt, Guy Busick, and Kevin Williamson, who do a stand up job on juggling the rules, as well as balancing the history of the series. Placing the story in the Big Apple also give directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gilbett a bigger canvas to paint their story on, as there are  larger set-pieces that really hit their mark. Larger though they may be once would think it would be less personal and intense, but that is not the case as all as there is plenty of tension to be milked. This version of Ghostface seems to be more overpowering and aggressive, but like the past films, he has plenty of mishaps as well. What impressed me the most was how Scream VI kept the pace so consistent, as you can hardly catch your breath, which makes the just over two hour runtime fly by.

 It seems the Scream series is getting better with age, as Scream VI nails hits what it’s going for. The series seems to “grow up”, with its new setting, as it is darker and unique tone . A lot of what works for me is because of  Barrera and Ortega, who have graduated to badass heroines,  but the while cast is pretty picture perfect. Some will love it for its kills,  but you should know this is a rock-solid slasher that maintains the momentum that its predecessor got going. I know films seem to lose their way as they get further and further into sequels, but the best thing I can say about Scream VI, is that it’s the closest thing to the original Scream, in the best ways possible.