Scream IV Review: A Stab Into the Big Apple!

The wait is finally over! The horror stans of this popular franchise have anticipated the return of the latest Scream installment, and it was definitely worth the wait!!! Scream VI follows our four main Woodsboro survivors, Sam, Tara, Chad and Mindy, to New York City as they start a fresh new chapter and leave the traumatic events behind for good. Terror always has a way of finding them, and it has once again. To take down this new Ghostface, new rules are introduced, alliances are formed, and the past once again is revisited.

The film opens with a young woman, Laura Crane (Samara Weaving) waiting for her blind date at a restaurant in the city. She receives a phone call from her date, Robbie, who is lost. She shares over the phone that she's a Blackmore University professor teaching film studies, and is later lured outside the bar. Once Robbie’s voice switches to Ghostface’s (Roger L. Jackson), she is killed in an alley by someone in a Ghostface costume. Shockingly, the figure removes his mask, revealed to be another new character, Jason (Tony Revolori), who plots with his roommate Greg to finish Richie and Amber’s work of killing Sam and Tara. Once Jason returns home he receives a call from Ghostface, discovers Greg’s dead body in the fridge, and is stabbed to death.

The film transitions to Sam (Melissa Barrera), sitting in a session with her therapist, Dr. Stone (Henry Czerny) as she reveals she has been ostracized by the public due to internet trolls and conspiracies of her orchestrating the Woodsboro killings a year prior. She also reveals how killing Richie “felt right” making Dr. Stone uncomfortable, as the session abruptly ends with Sam leaving. Sam and Tara (Jenna Ortega) are now living in New York City along with Chad (Mason Gooding) and Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown). The film also introduces new characters including Sam and Tara’s promiscuous roommate Quinn Bailey (Liana Liberato), Mindy’s caring girlfriend Anika (Devyn Nekoda), and Chad’s shy roommate Ethan (Jack Champion).

The Carpenter sisters are also processing the Woodsboro events in very different ways with Sam taking more of a precautional approach and going to therapy, and Tara not dealing with what happened at all and often engaging in self-destructive behavior, although her sister and friends are always there to protect her when needed. Tara is also trying to establish independence from her sister, yet Sam can’t let go of being the overprotective big sister. Another character Danny (Josh Segarra), Sam’s secret fling and neighbor, is also introduced when Sam makes out with him in their apartment lobby and tells him she’s not ready for anything serious just yet, due to everything she's been through.

All roads continue to connect to the past and lead to Sam as different Ghostface masks are left at the scene of every crime belonging to one of the previous killers. The Core Four along with old faces including the return of Kirby Reed (Hayden Panettiere) and Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox), and new characters including Quinn’s cop dad, Wayne Bailey (Dermot Mulroney), work together to end Ghostface once and for all.

This latest installment did not disappoint with amazing performances from the Core Four, the notorious shrine, and the introduction of franchise rules taught by our movie queen Mindy. Although our favorite final girl, Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), did not return for this installment fans raved about her still being mentioned in the movie. Scream VI is by far darker, gorier, outrageously fun, and a major thrill ride with creative kills, gruesome attacks, homages to the previous films, and fun horror movie Easter eggs.

Scream VI is currently playing in theaters. Rated R for strong bloody violence and language throughout, and brief drug use with a runtime of 122 minutes.