Movie Review: Scream VI (2023)

Synopsis: Seeking a fresh start after the latest round of murders in Woodsboro, Sam, Tara, Chad and Mindy move to New York. The move doesn't change anything, both because of the internet notoriety that followed Sam to the Big Apple and a fresh new Ghostface seeking to finish what the previous incarnations failed to do.

Who's in it? The movie stars Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega, Courteney Cox, Mason Gooding and Dermot Mulroney. 

Review: My wife and I recently celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary and my gift from her was two tickets to see this movie. We used them earlier today and I wasn't disappointed.

Movie reboots often don't work out the way the filmmakers intended. But the Scream franchise has managed to do this in a way that I feel does work. There's a great new group of young actors in the lead roles with just enough reference to the original movies to connect them. This movie wasn't an exception.

I think the thing I like most about movies from this franchise is, in addition to being decent horror/slasher movies, there's usually a good mystery too. That was definitely the case with this installment. There were quite a few intense scenes with very little downtime between them and the mystery behind who was wearing the Ghostface costume this time around just made it even more interesting.

In fact, I think this might have been even harder to figure out than some of the earlier movies. For one, the franchise is still in a stage where the new killings could either be related to the previous movie or one of the earlier films (or both). Plus, since most of the characters in the film are relatively new (introduced either in this movie or the last movie), it could arguably be any of them. Not to mention, every time I seemed to have a good idea who would be the killer(s), something would happen that would derail the theory, such as having them all in the kitchen at the same time as someone is being killed or being across town when the killer is setting his or her sights on Gale Weathers (Cox).

I also have to admit I am beginning to really like the direction the movie is taking its primary protagonist, Sam (Barrera). Her connection to Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich) seemed like a novelty at first but that dark side of hers seems like something that could provide some interesting twists in later installments (assuming there are some) and I'd be interested to see how that plays out because I feel like she has the potential to be one of the scariest characters from this franchise.

Final Opinion: Movies like this tend to fizzle out after the first couple sequels. However, the franchise's reboot has breathed some new life into this series of films and I'm glad I had an opportunity to see this latest installment in the theater.

My Grade: A