A cut above.

As horror franchises go, there are few more bullet- (or should that be stab?) -proof than Scream. In the twenty-seven years since it first slashed its way into our hearts, the Scream series has slowly but surely grown to become one of the most durable horrors going.

Make no mistake, when Scream hit cinemas back in 1996, it was a true genre game changer. Combining comedy, whodunnit mystery, and every slasher cliché in the book, Wes Craven had created a subversive horror classic that honoured the traditions of the genre while blazing a trail for its future.

But where do things go when that very future is staring you square in the face? Well, you make a “requel” of course. All the rage these days, the bastard son of a sequel and a reboot has resurrected many a long dead franchise – which is precisely where last year’s Scream enters the chat.

Eleven years on from Scream 4’s tepid release, Scream looked to do what the very first film did and reinvent itself for a new generation while keeping one eye firmly fixed on the past. And, despite being far from perfect, its decent box office returns meant, against all the odds, the franchise’s future looked promising once again.

However, can Scream VI follow this up and deliver on this promise? Or is this instalment one stab too far?

One year after the events of the 2022 Woodsboro Murders, Sam (Melissa Barrera) and Tara (Jenna Ortega) Carpenter, together with their two surviving friends, Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown) and Chad (Mason Gooding), have moved away from their hometown to make a new life for themselves in New York. Yet, when their old tormentor, Ghostface, resurfaces to bring his murderous ways to the big city, the group are dragged back into his sadistic world of blood, guts, and meta mayhem, and are forced to use every trick in the slasher book to put an end to the carnage once and for all.

While it certainly achieved its mission of resurrecting the entire franchise, last year’s Scream brought with it many of the problems that plagued its predecessors. Desperately attempting to be its own thing, 2022’s Scream is certainly well intentioned, however, much of it felt just as formulaic and predictable as any other entry in the series.

Had it not been so financially successful, it would’ve been hard to see any way back for the Scream franchise, however, those box office dollars talk, and now the responsibility of carrying things forward rests squarely on Scream VI’s shoulders. And, you know what? For the most part, it positively embraces this obligation.

It’s quite an achievement for a series that had looked all but dead not too long ago, and despite it not particularly breaking the mould, Scream VI does what it must do to keep things moving, as it looks to serve its hardcore fanbase while expanding just enough to retain the engagement of wider audiences. To this end, the bold decision to switch Scream VI’s action from small town Woodsboro to New York City is certainly a risky one, yet it pays off handsomely.

As the film itself is all too eager to let us know, the modus operandi for any franchise worth its salt is to expand and Scream VI is more than happy to indulge in its own meta-commentary, however, such growth comes with the real risk of watering down your own product. It’s a thin line to walk, and VI comes precariously close to falling into its own trap, however, it comes out the other end relatively unscathed.

By expanding on the Ghostface lore, touching on the insidious nature of conspiracy theories, and showcasing just how far the iconic serial killer’s influence has gone, VI expands on what went before and handles it all pretty damn well. While this broadening does struggle under the weight of its own ambitions at times, when it clicks, it clicks, resulting in the most visceral, brutal, and yes - scary - Scream entry since the original.

For any aspiring slasher movie, the ultimate key to success will always be in presenting your murderous antagonist in the most imposing way possible, and while that sounds so obvious on paper, in reality, it really is surprising just how many miss the mark completely.

In all honesty, such a factor really isn’t a guarantee with the Scream franchise, especially given the transient nature of the Ghostface moniker, however, VI gets the threat levels just about right. Depicted as vicious, violent, vindictive, and constantly one step ahead of the game, this version of the killer poses one of, if not the, strongest threats we’ve seen in half a dozen Scream instalments.

Through a terrifyingly pertinent manipulation of public opinion and an almost Michael Myers-like aura, this feels like Ghostface’s big return to form and to the kind of infamy that made the mask and cloak such a pop culture mainstay. This kind of renewed threat doesn’t come by chance, however, so it’s to the credit of VI’s writers James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick, together with directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett that both the villain and the film around him work as well as they do.

Thanks to some solid writing, Ghostface is undoubtedly imposing, yet the effort put in to ensure the film’s protagonists are both more likeable and more believable than last year’s Scream helps things immensely. Mildly objectionable at best and downright obnoxious at worst, this collection of characters were pretty unappealing, however, with personality tweaks here and there, they are a much improved, and much more sympathetic, prospect this time around.

Overall, it’s a big improvement on the relentlessly disagreeable group of new faces we were told to care about last time out, and while much of their meta-heavy dialogue continues to irritate, and their actions feeling as implausible and detached from reality as they’ve ever been, it’s just so hard not to root for them.

Afforded a little more time to bed into their roles, Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega are especially excellent, making for a pair of incredibly charismatic leads, and it’s through them that the film finds its heart. Ortega, in particular, carries large chunks of the film all on her own, managing to elevate even the shakiest writing and instilling it with a level of star power so often absent from the Scream series.

Together with a few returning faces, the core group do a thoroughly solid job levelling-up a film that could have easily descended into the kind of lazy slasher farce we’ve seen so many times before. The result, while predictable, silly, and utterly implausible, is never less than engaging and about as enjoyable a time as you could hope for from a franchise that’s hurtling towards its third decade in existence.

While the franchise is nowhere near as piercing as it once was, this sixth instalment in the Scream series still has more than enough murder, mystery, and meta mayhem about it to get by and to offer something for new and old fans alike. Going big was always likely to be a risk, however, Scream VI’s move to the city works, which, together with a collection of likable protagonists and a clever setup that emphasises Ghostface’s brutal new threat, makes for one of the sharpest Scream entries to date.

Scream VI is in cinemas now.