With the fifth installment of the saga Screamits scriptwriters (James Vanderbilt y Guy Busick) and directors (Matt Bettinelli-Olpin y Tyler Gillett) not only picked up the baton from the creators of the saga (Kevin Williamson y Wes Craven), but they gave the franchise a certain reboot, rescuing the basic elements of the saga, but conditioning them for the new generation. If the deliveries of Craven they had been nourished by the horror movie cult of the 70s, 80s and 90s; the new generation turned “Scream” itself into the cult object. This component is reinforced with this sixth installment in the general computation, second in this new stage of the franchise, where it seems that they have just realized that they are precisely that, a franchise.
metafiction
As in the previous one, the metacinematographic references point in two directions, not so much in what refers to past horror movies, but to genre cinema in its entirety, especially those films that have had multiple installments and that have been released. spanning decades in time. The other metafictional referent, as we indicated before, is the saga itself. Screamsince here the plot itself is fed by a succession of winks and explicit quotes to the five previous installments, including the immediately predecessor and initiator of this new journey.
It must be said that the usual list of house brand rules, this time they are more taken with tweezers and seem forced to justify plot twists or pose scenarios of possible loss of main characters that maintain tension and concern for the future of the protagonists. As differentiating elements of this sixth installment, we have that it is the first that does not take place in Woodsboro, but instead takes the action to New York, and that it is also the first that does not have the character of Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), making Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) into the only character to have appeared in every installment of the franchise.
Scream VI It does not intend to innovate or take the saga to unexpected terrain. Knowing the rules of any franchise, she prefers to stay in her comfort zone and offer fans another serving of the same dish. The dressing may change, but the basic structure of the recipe remains the same. Not even the change of scenery to New York offers much play in the film, except for some isolated sequence. In this sense, the entire block in the New York subway is perhaps one of the most attractive parts of the film.
The script intends to continue taking the viewer by surprise, with twists and resolutions that seek to be unexpected, although to do so, on many occasions, it falls into the implausible or tricky. However, despite this, the story works and maintains the parameters of the saga. Matt Bettinelli-Olpin y Tyler Gillett They offer an effective and careful staging. Ghostface’s attack sequences are very well planned, with just the right doses of violence and gore. Obviously, part of the interest of the film continues to fall on how playful the murder scenes are, although these, in general, are limited to curling the loop with respect to the previous ones, which, in a sixth installment, makes the level of filigree is becoming more and more baroque, but not for that reason more elaborate.
Casting
discarded David Arquette and with the absence of Neve Campbellthe classic cast is represented by a Courtney Cox of little relevance to the plot. Everything focuses more on the new quartet of protagonists: Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega, Jasmin Savoy Brown y Mason Gooding. His characters continue to lack the weight of those created by Kevin Williamsonat the same time that Sam’s bond with the presence of his father or the new stardom of Jenna Ortega (in this case, fame for Wednesday surely it is after the filming of the film).
Of the new characters, little relevance in general. The return of Hayden Panettiere it serves more as a nostalgic hook for fans of the series than as a determining element in the plot. The participation of Samara Weaving y Tony Revolori is satisfactory and the seniority of Dermot Mulroney it always adds up, although here it falls into a certain artificial histrionics. The rest, more than likely cannon fodder, go through the film with more pain than glory.
Scream VI It ends as an effective (and gimmicky) film, which moves on familiar ground so as not to discourage fans, with an impersonal but attractive invoice. The metafictional value that was the basis of the saga already has little weight, in exchange another much more effective ingredient has been chosen, nostalgia, with a succession of inexhaustible winks, as well as leaving the door open to more deliveries and more returns of characters from the past
Perhaps there is not much more thread to pull, but everything points to the fact that we are going to have Scream for a while.
