Scream VI

While still a far cry from the elegance of Wes Craven’s original, Scream VI is the best installment in the series since the second film. It’s tart and suspenseful and has reignited my faith in a once cherished, then tarnished brand.

With Scream VI, Scream (2022) filmmakers Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett are so interested in reinventing Wes Craven’s saga and keeping audiences guessing and grossed out that they’ve made a film that makes no impact at all.

Don’t be shocked if there are more laughs and whoops in the cinema than there are shrieks and gasps – but Scream has never tried to take itself too seriously which has always been part of the charm.

You’re gonna get your classic killings, the violence of which is three looking-through-my-hands worthy.

There just isn’t enough juice behind the stagecraft. The Scream movies have thrived because they’ve always stayed one step ahead of their source material -- but as the franchise grows more bloated, they risk becoming their own punch line.

Scream VI shows there’s still life in this series, and now that a new generation has been given control of the story, I’m curious to see where things go next.

This latest instalment stabs itself in the foot at the outset by lurching even further into self-parody than its predecessor.

In every way, Scream VI is an improvement from its limp predecessor. Using the franchise’s prolonged nature to its advantage, rather than treating it as an elephant in the room, Radio Silence finally injects real honest-to-god new blood into Scream.

Scream VI stands out in every way from the other Scream sequels that came before it.

It's not that there isn't gas left in the tank of the franchise, there could definitely be more done exploring how violence breeds violence but this film feels so beholden to what came before that the twists don't feel so shocking.