Following the latest Ghostface killings, the four survivors leave Woodsboro behind and start a fresh chapter in New York City. – (Source)

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 76% (Critics) / 92% (Audience)
Letterboxd Rating: 3.9 based on 94,436 ratings
Directed By: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett
Written By: James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick
Starring: Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega, Courtney Cox, Hayden Panettiere
Studio: Paramount Pictures

The Good:
The Ghostface in Scream VI was so freaking brutal and that is saying something considering the franchise we are talking about. Every stab, chop and shot that Ghostface did seemed to be done with a little extra oomf that made me fear for the safety of the characters in this movie.

The Core Four is a sappy name that only a charming goober like Chad would come up with but I have quickly grown to love this group of survivors and probably care more for their well-being than I ever did for The OG Three (except for Dewey who was an instant favorite). These four actors have a really easy chemistry with one another as friends, family and, in the case of Chad and Tara, a romantic couple. The casting agent who selected them needs a raise because they captured lightning in a bottle.

Tara and Samantha Carpenter are amazing co-Final Girls and have gamely picked up the torch from Neve Campbell’s Sidney Prescott and are carrying it effortlessly. Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega each bring a different energy to their roles but those energies mesh well and makes their sisterly bond very believable. Ortega’s Tara is a bit closer to the archetypal Final Girl even with her having trouble dealing with the trauma of what she’s been through while Barrera brings a lot more edge to Sam that has the audience questioning just how close to going over to the dark side she really is. The two of them are just wonderful.

The returning diva survivors were great too. Gale Weathers was still every bit of Gale Weathers but there was a tinge of world weariness to how Courteney Cox played her that was to be expected after losing Dewey and Hayden Panettiere slid back into Kirby’s skin seamlessly while also bringing an air of mystery to the character that played well with the Giallo-esque murder/mystery guessing game that is always a fun part of the Scream movies.

I loved the opening scene and the way it seemed to flip the central conceit of the Scream films on its head by revealing who the audience assumed were the villains of the film at the beginning instead of creating multiple suspects and throwing red herrings at the wall at a breakneck speed. While this was short-lived I really would love to see a Scream where the audience knows from the start who the killer or killers are and we get to watch as the hero characters try to put together the clues to their identity.

The Bad:
The Meeks-Martin Twins are beginning to be more Wolverine from The X-Men than humans in a slasher movie with the way they continuously bounce back from multiple, brutally violent stabbings. Now the selfish part of me is really glad that Mindy and Chad keep surviving these Ghostface massacres because I love the characters and the actors who play them and look forward to their continued usage of their mutant healing factors to avoid certain death. However it does kind of stretch the limits of credulity for them to keep surviving like they have been. At some point The Powers That Be behind this franchise will have to either stop hacking away at Chad and Mindy or actually kill them off after they are attacked.

The Ugly:
Kirby’s wig (at least I hope it was a wig and they didn’t do this to Hayden Panettiere’s real hair) is a crime against hair. It is a full on blown out helmet bob that looks like something a Fox News host or random busybody Karen would sport. It joins the Hair Hall of Shame with Gale’s crunchy shamble bangs from Scream 3.

Final Verdict: A really fun and thrilling 2nd installment of the new generation of the Scream franchise that I thought was actually better than last year’s Scream. It definitely has me very excited for the next installment.

Loomis Rating: Scream VI gets 3.5 out of 4 Gun-Totin’ Dr. Loomis’