Over the course of six films and three decades, Scream has quietly established itself as the sturdiest and most reliable of today’s horror franchises. It’s never had to reboot itself. It’s never had to awkwardly sweep its unloved sequels under the rug. Some instalments have certainly been better than others, but the series has only ever slightly stumbled over the years – it’s never dramatically self-combusted. That’s partly because the Scream formula is ideally tailored for endless repetition. All you need is a fresh batch of teenagers and a dose of self-awareness and, voilà, you’ve got yourself a Scream movie.
Scream VI, really, only ever achieves the bare minimum of those requirements. Yet it’s both wholly satisfying and ridiculously fun. Opting for a location switch à la Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan, it sees the four core survivors of the last film – sisters Sam (Melissa Barrera) and Tara (Jenna Ortega), plus twins Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown) and Chad (Mason Gooding) – relocate to New York City. Ghostface, the mantle taken up in each film by new and mysterious killers, resurfaces once more.
