Ghostface is taking Manhattan, as Paramount Pictures has released the first trailer for Scream VI. Starring a bunch of people who aren’t Neve Campbell (strap yourselves in because I’m bitter), Scream VI finds the blander-than-stale-pasta new characters in New York City when a new Ghostface comes calling. Directed by the duo who demolished the franchise (or saved it, depending on your outlook), Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, Scream VI stars Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Mason Gooding, and apparently Courteney Cox is going to be shoved in there somewhere too. Scream VI will hit theaters on March 10, 2023, and you can see the trailer below:
As you can guess, I’m not interested in Scream VI because I hated Scream 5 (Tuggs was right on the money in her review), and this series has been transferred from Neve Campbell’s Sidney Prescott to some generic nobody, so in my book, it’s not really Scream anymore. Ghostface is great, but Sidney is what makes it Scream. The first four films – which means Scream for 26 years – revolved around her; she was the reason Ghostface kept returning, the reason each new killer(s) took on that guise. Scream 5 made it clear that character no longer matters, and these are just more generic slasher sequels to serve as answers to trivia questions. But that’s not what bothers me most about the Scream VI trailer; I’ve made my peace with this franchise being dead to me. What makes me angriest is that I like the concept a lot; moving the story from the small town of Woodsboro to a big city like New York is the perfect way to keep it fresh, and seeing Ghostface slowly make his way through a subway car is cool and creepy. If this had been Sidney, I’d already be on the edge of my seat. But here we are.
This is the bland sequel phase of Scream, where they just shovel these out on an assembly line.
The cast of Scream 5 was bland as oatmeal already. It was a huge mistake to move away from Neve Campbell, and David Arquette who absolutely carried the series..
I will say the lighting of this subway scene looks pretty cool, but it doesn’t feel like Scream.