I’m not one to be a massive fan of horror movies, but my mom, the horror-movie fanatic, had managed to hook me onto the Scream franchise. Despite the first movie dating back to 1996, each film holds up to the slasher horror genre.  A multitude of the population can think of Scream when catching sight of the white ghost mask that every killer has ever worn before committing their bone-chilling crimes. While each movie holds a similar premise, each killer seems to don the mask with different motives in mind and has unique ways of maintaining Ghostface’s legacy, keeping the audience on the edge of their seat. 

After nearly 10 years since the last Scream movie was released, horror strikes the town of Woodsboro again in Scream 5 followed by Scream 6 being released on March 10, 2023. Scream 5 takes place 25 years after the 4th Scream movie and follows a group of teenagers with a darker connection to the town’s gruesome past. In Scream 6, the four survivors leave Woodsboro for New York City after the previous bloodbath only for terror to follow them. The story mainly follows Sam Carpenter and her sister Tara Carpenter. Sam Carpenter is still battling her demons as she finds herself hallucinating her father, otherwise known as Billy Loomis, one of the first individuals to have worn the Ghostface mask. While Tara is trying to move on from what they had experienced, Sam is always fearful and tries to protect her sister as much as she can. 

However, that peace is short-lived when the people closest to them are killed by the new Ghostface killer. Now, the Core Four, Tara, Sam, Chad, and Mindy, must fend off the murderous Ghostface in quite possibly one of the most intense and fast-paced cities in the US. 

When asking my mother’s coworker Tim Kubista, a fellow Scream fanatic, he spoke about how the most recent Scream movie had broken away from the “story as established in the original trilogy” and was able to “stand on its own” without being “overly bogged down by the existing Ghostface mythology”. Throughout Scream 6, people including Mr. Kubista found the plot to be complex and almost “convoluted” and yet managed to bring many little hints while creating a resolution that “did come as a surprise”. The Scream movies in the past will hold such a significant role in laying out the foundation for future movies to stay connected with the original films while also paving their own path. In other words, it is important to include “some messaging” about “your past” as “it informs your future, but it does not define you”. Scream 6 exemplifies this sort of idea that truly allows it to be unique while also maintaining that essence that many horror movie fanatics are familiar with. 

I personally felt that Scream 6 had been an amazing movie, staying true to Ghostface while also bringing in more frights and expanding the plot from what the franchise once was in the past. In the beginning, the movie throws the audience off by revealing the Ghostface killer only for that killer to be killed by the actual main Ghostface of the entire movie. You never know who to trust because everyone is a suspect, which kept me on my toes. The killings were far more gruesome but they really matched the ominous vibe of the New York City setting as well.  

The Scream fandom is continually growing as more and more people are discovering the movies through the most recent releases. Not only that, many fans have commented on how Scream 6 not only develops the newer characters but still manages to emanate a slasher film, bringing it to life in new ways while also respecting the past 5 movies. With the many twists and turns from the subway scene to the apartment scene, those in the audience were very satisfied when leaving the theater and found that it “blew” them away.  The Scream movies should most definitely be known as a slasher film that does not rely on “supernatural elements” but rather “based in reality”. Each and every single character has realistic motivations of their own with their crimes actually “being physically possible ”. The crimes almost appear to be impossible, but then they are “explained during the climactic showdown, often by having multiple murderers”. What keeps so many people on their toes is the fact that its setting is very realistic and brings a more natural element as opposed to simply a supernatural one. The Scream franchise offers so much for horror fans and people who are joining the fandom more recently. While they are not the scariest movies, they are “solid reliable films” and “slashers at heart” that are not “stagnating”. It is fresh and it is new. Many people, like me, are excited to see where they go from here in the potential Scream 7!