Scream VI slashed its way into theaters over Spring Break, releasing March 10th of this year and cut just deep enough to surprise both audiences and critics alike. The film, starring rising star Jenna Ortega and Scream legend, Courteney Cox, opened to a whopping 120 million dollar opening weekend with a 30 million dollar budget. The franchise is no stranger to commercial success as studios have been profiting off the self-aware slasher for four consecutive decades. Placing Ghostface Among horror icons such as Micheal Myers and Jason Voorhees in the horror Hall of Fame.

This time everyone’s favorite meta killer takes the trouble to the “Big Apple”, where Tara Carpenter (Jenna Ortega) and her half-sister Sam (Melissa Barrera) attend college. Both of them struggle to return to their normal lives after the trauma of the Woodsboros massacre. Sam is notably more troubled than her sister, going to therapy early in the film claiming she’s afraid that she will become like her father (Billy Loomis) , the original Ghostface, however, Tara is trying to move on and have a normal life as she holds grudges against her sister for constantly berating her which makes it increasingly difficult to live the normal life that she wants. Tara and Sam look differently at the past, Sam feels partially responsible for causing terror to those around her. Simply through her DNA makes her an idol to the GhostFace cult as she shares the genetic composition of the original. However, Tara does not share that because she is not related to Billy through blood, and as result has an easier time moving on. This dynamic plays into the story well, it adds dimensions of tension and motive. Tara goes as far as telling Sam that she must ¨feel herself¨ amidst the chaos of her father’s legacy.

The Scream franchise has always been about subverting the genre, and that is not different this time around. The new Ghostface is more brutal and self-aware than any of its predecessors. The film introduces this new firearm-wielding Ghostface in a tense gas station encounter with Tara and Sam. Both sisters frantically run into the gas station screaming after they were attacked on the street. Ghostface frighteningly unfazed takes out all of the people standing in his way with the unusual use of a shotgun over the conventional blade. In this sudden break from the typical up close and personal weapon of choice, Ghostface steals the firearm from behind the counter and begins to terrorize the sisters stomping slowly through the store with thick brass military boots, awaiting a sound to fire at. The scene is filmed solely in close-ups and eerie shots through shelves and cracks in the store’s walls adding another level of terror to the experience. Tara and Sam manage to escape with their lives but are more terrified than ever. This Ghostface does not play by the rules.

Tara and Sam’s plans have been officially derailed. They make their way back to their dorms and meet up with the crew, or the ¨core four¨, as they call themselves. Including a buff jock named Chad who is played by Mason Gooding, as well as a quirky film major, Mindy, played by Jasmin Savoy Brown. Tagging along is the core four’s new friend Ethan Landry played by Jack Champion. The five of them talk over all possible solutions. Going over popular horror clichés from iconic films, breaking the third wall as the Scream franchise often does. In doing so they conclude no one is to be trusted, not even friends or family. In doing so the film introduces feelings of perturbation that adds more to the bag of tricks that the Scream franchise is iconically known to work with. This idea enacts the rational reaction out of audiences: is the killer somebody we know?

When directing duo Tyler Gillet and Matt Olpin were asked about how Ghostfaces trajectory is changed this time around they had this to say: ¨I think the city had a lot to do with the approach to the character. It felt like with Woodsboro and Windsor College, those locations exist in a bit of a fantasy land and I think that’s part of what’s fun about what’s heightened about those movies. For this one, setting it in a city that is so familiar to people, we had to treat all of that action and all of the violence in a more grounded and terrifying way.¨ Scream VI is fresh and intoxicating. Its revamp to the franchise is unique, engrossing, and most importantly bloody. While not completely groundbreaking the film establishes a new and fascinating approach to an already saturated genre, if you enjoy a good slasher or action/mystery at all Scream VI is calling to be unmasked earning itself an earnest 8.9/10.