‘Scream 6’ is the Same-Old Tiresome Franchise Tropes [Review]

I’m actually surprised that I’ve seen all six ‘Scream’ movies. This franchise does nothing for me. Sure, the 1996 original felt fresh, at the time, and the second one wasn’t too bad either, but they sure are milking it every chance they get. Banking on nostalgia.

I had an open mind going into “Scream 6,” the reviews have been good and the youthful cast was promising, but they’re basically repeating the same damn formula. It’s like a Greatest Hits package at this point.

The story goes that the four survivors of the last film leave Woodsboro behind and start a fresh chapter in Manhattan. They, of course, can’t escape the wrath of Ghostface.

There’s sisters Samantha (Melissa Barrera) and Tara Carpenter (Jenna Ortega) and twins Chad (Mason Gooding) and Mindy Meeks (Jasmin Savoy Brown). They believe that by being in Manhattan they’ve escaped murder, but it’s all a fools errand.

Samantha is again played by Melissa Barrera and this talented actress deserves more than this kind of cut and dry stuff. She was the best part of “In the Heights” and I’d love to see her breakout in a better movie. Meanwhile, Ortega is known as the titular character in Netflix’s “Wednesday” and she also has a bright future ahead of her.

Sadly, I guessed almost every twist in this latest instalment: who dies, who lives, who is Ghostface. This time around filmmakers Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett go even more over-the-top with the theatrics. How many times can Ghostface be hit in the head with deadly objects before he dies or, at least, gets brain trauma? He always gets back up, without a scratch.

The truth is that ‘Scream’ has become its own cliche. Whatever felt inventive in 1996, now feels tiresome and predictable. This was a meta franchise before meta was even a thing at the movies; it’s become way too clever for its own good and its exploration of toxic fandom plays now more as exploitation than anything else.

For a film so wholly invested in its self-awareness, it’s quite stunning how it becomes a straight-up slasher movie. Most of the frights here come in the form of Ghostface chasing the characters around apartments, stores, warehouses. There’s no dynamic direction on the part of its filmmakers, the camera is set-up exactly as you’d expect it to.

What “Scream 6” does, in fact, is at the very essence of what’s wrong with today’s big studio movie sequels: fan service.