Going into this I kept thinking to myself "Does the world need another scream flick?" and as I watched it, I realized the world at least asked for one.
Everything can look better in a movie theater, specially if you watch it with your friends. This enthusiastic vibe can affect your perception of the film, of any movie by the way, it has happened to myself. Yet.... I started writing this half way through, in the theater, bored out of my freakin' mind. Reggie fell asleep 20 minutes in. :)
Clearing things out of the way - i love the first "Scream". I was a teenager when that movie came out, and for a one who was and still is a movie buff / nerd, "Scream" was a movie that was on a constant re-watch back then. I was at the right place and at a right time to call that movie a classic today. After the first two there have been 3 sequels which i wasn't a fan of - they were just OK - not bad ones, but not particularly good ones either unfortunately. And here comes "Scream VI - but horror film franchises invariably run stale well before the property reaches its sixth entry. It’s happened to just about every slasher and supernatural screamer in cinema history, from Nightmare on Elm Street to Saw to Halloween.
Sure, a true/blue fan of the Scream franchise may be excited for this sixth installment but more casual fans like me, myself and I - who only dip in and out are not infatuated enough to get on board with a mediocre sequel. Ghostface needs to take a long hard look in the mirror or better yet at Michael Myers and ask "do I want this to be me?" because that's the road Scream hurtling towards.
Another attempt to shake some life into the franchise, the survivors have left Woodsboro behind and pitched their tent in the Big Apple. Yup all the staples of a Scream film has moved their too, from the blonde doing everything wrong(no offence I'm a blonde myself) to people with seemingly mortal stab wounds running around whilst not dropping dead from blood loss. Also in there is the return of some legacy characters, no not Neve Campbell, the other ones. If you care, check out the poster, I'm sure they're plastered onto it somewhere. And of course, there's the resident horror movie buff that lays out the plot for you, all while the movie pokes fun at itself at every opportunity.
Yep you're watching a Scream movie alright, just not a very good one unfortunately.
Scream VI is super underwhelming and annoying with an ending that may cause some viewers eyeballs to roll into the back of your head and stay there. It's nothing close to scary, not funny(to me anywaz) and the characters are hard to care about. For me there's almost nothing working for it; sure the subway scene was decent and the stabs in this actually seems like they hurt in this film - I actually winced during a few of them which is a first - the knife always seemed like a prop before. I will say Melissa Barrera was a lot better in this one, and what it brings for horror fans is enough blood and gore to make you feel like you need a shower afterwards but the plot is terrible.
I appreciate what the filmmakers were hoping to achieve, but Scream VI - it just wasn't ambitious enough as it should have been methinks - not good enough considering we're at the sixth film that pretty much follows the exact same formula each time. Yea I know, if it ain't broke, don't fix it." Well I never maintain anything based on the “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it” attitude. Invariably when some things finally do break it is often so badly broken that it also ain’t worth fixing.
To sum up, I see these glowing reviews and high ratings and I wonder if I saw a different movie than everyone else. But then it dawns on me - the Scream franchise is hardly renowned for its high-brow concepts and deep and intellectual storytelling. So If you’re getting A Ticket to Ride to the theater to see yet another installment of this terror trap don’t expect any new found intelligent dialogue or character development, but there’s plenty of character assassination – in more ways than one.
SO I do recommended for diehard fans of the Scream franchise. And for others' it's watchable, to a certain degree.:)-A