Movie Man Darian Watching All Night Long

Scream VI 

This is the best Scream film I’ve seen since the 1996 film and that’s a big compliment because the first scream is a perfect film. Now I am a huge fan of the scream franchise I believe it is the best horror franchise put to film as not only is the quality of the stories consistent but they all have something to say about the current social climate at the time along with how the film industry within the horror genre and constantly having its pulse on how much the horror world has evolved  and poke fun at it while also speaking a truth to it all at the same time. Now Scream VI takes the  new characters we got introduced to in the fifth film and expands upon their arcs greatly giving some of the most nail biting sequences in the scream franchise while also delivering truly memorable performances and the most intense ghostface we’ve seen so far. Scream VI is bloody, brutal and brilliant this is by far the scariest one so far and it’s filled to the brim with such fun and fantastic twists and turns. 

Secondly, Now I mentioned how the characters have expanded this time it truly is a high point for the 6th entry in the franchise. Now when I saw scream 5 in 2022 I liked the new characters and how they brought fresh blood to the Franchise while also brining back Sidney, Dewey and Gale that being said I felt like this time around the new characters we were introduced to in the last film really came into their own here. I say that because a lot of people liked the fifth film for being able to see the original characters we came to love and if the last one was the introduction to these new batch of characters for us to get familiar with the follow up makes you really invest into them as they feel more like fully realized characters with great depth and complexity. As since a lot of the last film was spent introducing them and figuring out their personalities the 6th film really gets to now explore how they’ve been dealing with the trauma of what happened to them a year ago and how their all finding different ways of coping. Not only did I feel the writing for the characters was stronger but the performances from the cast were a lot more engaging especially Melissa Barrera who got a lot of backlash for her performance in the fifth film for coming off wooden or very emotionless which I found a bit harsh. As yes these characters are the new core group of people that were following along this journey just as how Sidney Dewey and Gale were the main three these new fresh faces take on that torch of being the new main characters and Melissa can be compared to being the Sidney of the new films for sure and I felt she had so much more to use in terms of her performance. As the last film we find out early on her father was Billy Loomis now that’s a great angle for a character to have the unfortunate burden of their father being a murderer and everyone now looks at their child as someone who they think will turn out like their father and that black cloud that is constantly looming  over her head is the centrepiece of this film. She brings such a raw emotional depth to Sam this time around that really got me to feel for her and root for her the whole way through I feel the arc she goes on was greatly brought to the screen by her and she definitely topped her performance here compared to the fifth film. Then theirs Jenna Ortega the hottest name in Hollywood right now she also delivers once again another solid performance as Tara. Now what I loved about her work in this film is she finally gets to interact with a lot of the characters and be thrust into the action of the story as last time she was mostly either getting injured or in the hospital so she had very little interaction with the cast. Compared to here where she has scene after scene with many characters and really gets to be involved in the whole journey of trying to figure out who are causing the ghostface attacks. In the first film she was very angry at her sister for leaving her for however many years just to come back out of the blue just because she got hurt so their was a lot of emotional strain on their relationship last time we saw them here Tara is more trying to have a “normal” life after the events of what happened to her and leave the trauma she faced behind her. Her way of coping is by trying to just fit in and be a student and enjoy the life of being a young girl and her sister is constantly hovering over here so she doesn’t get hurt and that causes a lot of conflict for the two as she is constantly trying to remind her older sister she can make her own choices and the way Jenna Ortega steps up the plate to deliver that emotional frustration through the character this time around was amazing. You can see the love she has for her sister but wants her to let her do her own thing while still being their for her but just not attached to the hip and her role definitely gets a lot more complex as we see her love life blossom too it just really is fun to see Jenna Ortega dig deeper into Tara this time around and explore places she didn’t get to last time around again another solid performance by Jenna Ortega. The rest of the cast was great especially Mason Gooding who gets to really come into his own in this film as last time we saw him he seemed very much like a jock stereotype kind of character but in this film he shows the audience he’s not a one dimensional character and really expands his emotional muscles and has one of the most emotionally sincere and enjoyable performances of the whole film and also having you fall for his incredibly charming personality. Everyone else all brought their top notch game to this film and even seeing Hayden Panettiere return as Kirby brought such a smile to my face everyone all gave fantastic performances  even Roger L Jackson the voice of ghostface gave one of his best performances as the iconic character we’ve seen so far with amazing one liners. but it’s the sheer complexity by Melissa Barrera that will have you truly amazed by what she’s bringing to the screen. 

Lastly, Scream VI is the best of the scream sequels I’ve ever seen which is high praise as I’m a huge fan of this Franchise. As what made this film really solid to me was the emotional beats that were touched on this time around in such a great way while also going places with the character and even ghostface we have never seen before. We are 6 films into a franchise that’s been around since 1996 and they still are able to shock and surprise audiences keeping the material fresh and fun while still scaring the hell out of the audience and giving them a fun time. Sure some people May say the third act along with the reveal of who ghostface is may of been not the strongest in the franchise but I enjoyed it and the entire ride that they take us on as Ghostface is terrifying in a way we had never seen before it’s a bloody and truly brutal film that will have you on edge the entire time. Scream VI is so much Damn fun the best scream film right next to the 1996 first film I recommend everyone go see this film in a theatre on the biggest screen possible. 

This film centres around Tara Sam and their friends a year after the horror they experienced with Ghostface and move to New York for their education for a fresh start but even after moving to a big city Ghostface lurks around every corner and finds its way to them once again. 

Rated R : Language Throughout|Brief Drug Use|Strong Bloody Violence

Melissa Barrera : Melissa delivers a truly emotionally powerful performance that surpasses her work in the fifth film.  She really comes into her own as the writing for her character is way more stronger this time around and she explores the depths of Sam’s heart in such a gripping way that blows you away. As she got a lot of criticism with how she performed in the last film and if you had any doubt she would be “wooden” which by the way is very harsh to tell someone she proves the naysayers wrong by really exploring the complexity of who Sam is this time around. She was given one of the most compelling narratives for a character to learn her father was a famous serial killer and as mentioned previously for any character that’s such a fantastic angle into what makes them different. As she has to now fight against what everyone believes she’ll become which is sinister, murder filled and lash out and whenever she does lash out even in public she’s being recorded and that is used against her. The sheer emotional weight on her shoulders of going against what people think she will become which is this violent personality and what Melissa Brings to the character this time around is so many layers of emotion that she expresses beautifully though the course of this film. As you can see the sheer sister side of her wanting to protect her younger sister from harms way due to the events of what happened to them a year ago and their is a whole sub plot dedicated to where their relationship is now due to what they went through together. Not only did it seem very fitting for the characters but we got to see how the two of them are dealing with their trauma and one of the ways Sam is by being in a way a helicopter parent and not letting Tara out of her sight and it’s not done in some cheesy hallmark movie Kind of way but feels very genuine. The whole sister dynamic was very fun to see. Then seeing her just finding out more about her dad and her bloodline was fantastic as she’s seeing what her father was and the impact he had on People’s lives and she has to decide will I fall into that psychopath narrative a lot of her family members went into or will she course correct and be whole hearted. That tug of war going on in her heart was greatly brought to the surface by Melissa Barrera who I thought stole the show with her performance as their are times where you definitely feel like she could go down that dark path but she tricks the audience so well with her emotional range as she only shows interest in it due to her wanting to find out more about herself and her using that sinister aspect people think she has in her against them to make a point and nothing more was brilliant. She really shows Sam in shambles in this film as she’s dealing with a ton of trauma from what she went through with her sister, trying to figure out who she is and just keeping the ones she loves alive and she feels so much more flushed out as a character. If you were not fully sold on her work in the 5th film trust me you’ll love her as much as Sidney from her work here as she gives a multi layered performance of fantastic emotional vulnerability that is fantastic. 

Matt Bettinelli - Olpin & Tyler Gillett : These two filmmakers have done it again with one upping themselves with their follow up to scream 5. Now when everyone heard a fifth film was in the works of scream a lot of people were hesitant to know if it was going to be good. Since the passing of Wes Craven who worked on every scream up to his passing in 2015 no one would imagine another director taking over that franchise. When Matt and Tyler showed the world last year their take on the scream brand brining such a stylistic and brutal turn to the film property showing the fans that this film franchise was in good hands. As you can see the sheer respect they have for Wes’s vision and that is never lost in the fifth film and the latest entry scream 6. As they take it out of woodsboro and into the bustling streets of New York which I thought was a great change of scenery for the story. As what makes the setting alone terrifying is that characters could get stabbed followed or worse and no one will notice and that notion is terrifying when you think about it and the way it’s done in the film makes the hairs on your neck stand up. As Matt and Tyler make the city itself a character in the film as what is a huge strong suit for this film is also how the directing duo fleshes out the characters this time around as the first film was the introduction to these new crop of characters and here they establish they are the new faces of this franchise. As the characters are learning from what happened to them the year prior so you get to see what they’ve been up to and how their all coping with the horrifying events of last year and it’s done in such a way that each character gets a moment to shine and really show how they’ve grown and matured over that one year since we last saw them. I not only felt more invested in the characters but the performances from the entire cast felt a lot more solid this time around as they slipped into their parts so effortlessly and gets to explore their emotional depths a lot more which I thought was fantastic. And in terms of the violence and terror of it all Matt and Tyler crank it up to a 11 as how ghostface kills his victims and the sheer intimidation you feel from the character when he pops up is utterly terrifying this is by far the most brutal we’ve seen the ghostface killer and it will shock you at parts of how violent this film does get. Now it never took me out of the film with the amount of violence as you can clearly see Matt and Tyler had more creative freedom to inject their own personal styles more in this film compared to  the previous ones and so their choices to make the killer more cutthroat in a way that the audience wouldn’t expect I think was a really smart move as these films are yes built off meta humour but their also scary and the film definitely leans a lot more into the horror element this time around but never compromise the cheeky meta humour which is what made scream so unique when we first saw it back in 1996. They also explore themes of untreated trauma and one does one do when everyone just thinks your going to follow in the same dark path of your parents how do you go about your day to day life when your constantly being told that what emotional toll does that take on a person and now Matt and Tyler explore that incredibly well through Sam’s character arc. As we were introduced to the shocking revelation in the fifth film and here it is expanded upon hugely and is the centrepiece of the film which I thought was great and something I thought they would also touch on was true crime addiction which now every scream film takes on real world topics in these films the first film was about film fans taking their love for horror films to far, second one was if you had a copycat murderer and the third was the casting couch issue in Hollywood, fourth film discusses torture porn within the horror genre and the fifth was how Hollywood is always now resorting to legacy sequels. So the 6th entry really touches on how true crime is the centre of conversation now and how Hollywood takes lots of true crime stories and put it on the big screen and rehash these horrible events of the past but no one thinks about how traumatizing that must be for the victims to relive again and now the film for the 6th entry of scream shows a fan who has collected police evidence from all the other scream films like some messed up version of a bat cave  for ghostface and showing how emotionally deaf the character is to collect evidence from victims that died because of how wrapped up he is into the real story and that commentary isn’t preachy or very quiet it’s in your face but it’s the audiences job to pick up on it and I think it was greatly done. Matt and Tyler have crafted a film that not only is in my opinion the best out of the sequels so far but takes the scream brand to new heights by bringing it to a new city making ghostface terrifying as can be and also expanding upon the characters while once again giving great real world commentary. Matt and Tyler have delivered another great scream film showing they are so respectful of Wes’s vision and the fans they did such a solid job.