With the fifth film winning fans and critics over alike, co-directors Matt Bettinelli and Olpin-Tyler Gillet (aka Radio Silence) return to the Scream franchise with Scream VI. Sidney (Neve Campbell) is out of the picture and the action has been relocated to the sprawling metropolis of New York City, where the core four survivors from the previous installment – Tara (Jenny Ortega), Sam (Melissa Barrera), Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown) and Chad (Mason Gooding) – now live. Their supposed safely in numbers is short-lived as Ghostface soon strikes again, with a killing-spree deadlier and more bloodthirsty than ever before. This not only catches the attention of Detective Bailey (Dermot Mulroney) but also brings legacy characters Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) and Kirby Reed (Hayden Pannettiere), now an FBI agent, back into the fold. In the same way as other entries before it, the opening sequence sets the action and motives in motion – and it’s one of the best and most brutal yet. The switch to the Big Apple works surprisingly well, paving the way for some clever crowd-based kills and chases while also serving as a neat way to explain Sidney’s absence. Noteworthy scenes include a nail-biting ladder escape and Gale’s long-overdue phone call with Ghostface. The fact that Gale’s inclusion is more than a brief cameo is particularly welcome considering Cox’s value to the series. While the film threatens to overcomplicate itself as it heads into an underwhelming final act, what comes before is smart, surprising, and satisfyingly fun. It strikes a fine balance between wink-wink nostalgia and forward-momentum.
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