Ghostface is back! That’s right there is yet ANOTHER movie in the Scream franchise and it’s premiering this week! Scream VI has already been screened by critics and the reviews are out!
The official synopsis says, “Following the latest Ghostface killings, the four survivors leave Woodsboro behind and start a fresh chapter. In Scream VI, Melissa Barrera (“Sam Carpenter”), Jasmin Savoy Brown (“Mindy Meeks-Martin”), Mason Gooding (“Chad Meeks-Martin”), Jenna Ortega (“Tara Carpenter”), Hayden Panettiere (“Kirby Reed”), and Courtney Cox (“Gale Weathers”) return to their roles in the franchise alongside Jack Champion, Henry Czerny, Liana Liberato, Dermot Mulroney, Devyn Nekoda, Tony Revolori, Josh Segarra and Samara Weaving.
Scream VI is currently 77% fresh based on 106 reviews. Here’s what critics are saying:
Frank Scheck from Hollywood Reporter said, “Ultimately, Scream VI delivers exactly what the fans expect, which is more of the same. To its credit, it seems perfectly happy to deride itself. “Who gives a f**k about movies?” Ghostface exclaims at one point. “F**k this franchise,” says one of his victims before possibly expiring.”
Owen Gleiberman from Variety said, “Scream VI, while it goes on for too long, is a pretty good thriller. It’s a gory homicidal shell game that’s clever in all the right ways, staged and shot more forcefully than the previous film, eager to take advantage of its more sprawling but enclosed cosmopolitan setting.”
Brian Truitt from USA Today had this to say, “Scream VI moves the buzzy young cast of 2022’s fifth chapter from the usual haunts of Woodsboro to the big city. With a pedal to the metal when it comes to nasty kills, VI is an improvement overall on the last installment. However, the new film struggles to mine clever new ground: A great spin on the usual signature opening – the best since Drew Barrymore met the business end of Ghostface’s blade – eventually leads to an underwhelming, familiar finale.”
Zaki Hasan from San Francisco Chronicle said, “There’s a lot in Scream VI to satisfy longtime fans, but it still feels like a step down from the last one. While bolder in scale (at just over two hours, it’s the longest Scream yet), it has less to say. The preceding film served as a perfectly timed commentary on current pop culture, featuring all the same tropes of the franchise. By contrast, this entry is content with simply delivering a calculated mix of jump scares and laughs.
But maybe it’s enough to keep fans on the edge of their seat for the next one.”
Christian Zilko from indieWire said, “if there’s one thing that the Scream franchise has taught us, it’s that there’s always someone new waiting to put on the mask. If they keep making ’em like Scream VI, the future is as bright as it is bloody.”
Dylan Roth from Observer said, “Make no mistake, Scream VI is still an exciting and functional thrill ride, but it could be an ill omen that a series designed to adapt to its times may be blending in too well. For the first time, Scream seems at risk of becoming just another horror perennial, one that fans go see because there’s a new installment, not because it has anything new to say.”
REELated:
It seems the “fresh” reviews are somewhat lukewarm, but some critics outright panned the film:
Jason Zinoman from New York Times said, “It’s tricky business balancing disturbing terror and jokey film criticism, and while this sequel occasionally pulls it off, the weight of obligations to the dictates of the franchise ultimately drags it down.”
Michael O’Sullivan from the Washington Post agreed and said, “What was once refreshing grows stale when it is repeated again and again.”
Joshua Rothkopf from Entertainment Weekly said, “Scream VI ultimately squanders the goodwill of last year’s occasionally satisfying reboot (a rampaging Neve Campbell bowed out of further participation), slackening into a dutiful merry-go-round of returning characters.”
Mark Kennedy from Associated Press said, “Scream VI is less a sequel and more a stutter-step, a half-movie with some very satisfying stabbings but no real progress or even movement. It’s like treading water in gore.”
Nick Schager from The Daily Beast said, “This sixth chapter boasts not a single genuinely unnerving jolt—a consequence of tepid writing as well as the familiarity of Ghostface’s tactics, which have long since become their own genre clichés.”
Scream VI is directed by Scream 2022’s Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett from a screenplay by Scream 2022 writers James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick, and is produced by Vanderbilt with Paul Neinstein and William Sherak for Project X Entertainment. Original Scream screenwriter Kevin Willamson serves as executive producer alongside Chad Villella, Ron Lynch, Cathy Konrad, Marianne Maddalena, and Spyglass’s Gary Barber and Peter Oillataguerre.
Scream VI hits theaters on March 10, 2023.
