Scream VI
| Scream VI | |
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 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | |
| Written by | |
| Based on | |
| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Brett Jutkiewicz |
| Edited by | Jay Prychidny |
| Music by |
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Production companies |
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| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release dates |
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Running time | 122 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $33–35 million[2][3] |
| Box office | $167 million[4][5] |
Scream VI is a 2023 American slasher film directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, and written by James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick. It is a sequel to Scream (2022) and the sixth installment in the Scream film series. The film stars Melissa Barrera, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Mason Gooding, Roger L. Jackson, Jenna Ortega, Skeet Ulrich, Hayden Panettiere, and Courteney Cox, all reprising their roles from previous installments, with Jack Champion, Henry Czerny, Liana Liberato, Dermot Mulroney, Devyn Nekoda, Tony Revolori, Josh Segarra, and Samara Weaving joining the ensemble cast. The plot follows a new Ghostface killer, who begins targeting the survivors of the Woodsboro murders in New York City.
A sixth Scream film was announced just weeks after the successful debut of Scream (2022). Much of the cast signed on to reprise their roles, with Bettinelli-Olpin, Gillett, Vanderbilt, and Busick also returning. Filming took place in Montreal, Canada, from June to late August 2022. Neve Campbell did not reprise her role as Sidney Prescott due to a pay dispute, making this the only Scream film not to feature her. Brian Tyler, who had scored the fifth film, returned to compose and conduct the score, with Sven Faulconer joining Tyler as a co-composer.
Scream VI premiered at the AMC Lincoln Square Theater in Manhattan on March 6, 2023, and was theatrically released in the United States on March 10 by Paramount Pictures. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised the fresh setting for the franchise, the increased violence, and the performances of the cast. It grossed $167 million worldwide, becoming the first installment in the franchise to earn over $100 million at the domestic US box office since Scream 2 (1997). It won Best Movie at the 2023 MTV Movie & TV Awards and ranked #3 on The Hollywood Reporter's list of "The Best Slasher Movies of the Decade".[6][7] A sequel, Scream 7, was released in February 2026.
Plot
[edit]One year after the Woodsboro killings orchestrated by Richie Kirsch and Amber Freeman,[a] Blackmore University professor Laura Crane is catfished and murdered by her student Jason Carvey wearing a Ghostface costume. Jason plots with his roommate, Greg Bruckner, to kill sisters Sam and Tara Carpenter to finish the "movie" that Richie and Amber wanted to make. However, Jason receives a call from a different Ghostface, who has killed Greg and subsequently stabs Jason to death.
The Carpenter sisters now reside in New York City, with Tara attending Blackmore University alongside fellow survivors and twins Chad Meeks-Martin and Mindy Meeks-Martin; their roommate, Quinn Bailey; Mindy's girlfriend, Anika Kayoko; and Chad's roommate, Ethan Landry. Sam attends therapy with Dr. Christopher Stone, and has become a public pariah because of an online conspiracy theory that she was the true mastermind behind the recent killings. Quinn's father, Detective Wayne Bailey, calls Sam in for questioning as her ID was found at the scene of Jason's murder, along with a Ghostface mask worn by Richie and Amber. Ghostface calls Sam from Richie's number, then attacks Tara, kills multiple bystanders in a bodega, and leaves behind another Ghostface mask worn in the 2011 Woodsboro killings.[b]
At the NYPD police station, the Carpenter sisters meet with FBI special agent Kirby Reed, a survivor of the 2011 killings,[b] and reporter Gale Weathers. Gale informs them that Sidney Prescott has gone into hiding to protect her family. Dr. Stone is murdered by Ghostface, who steals Sam's file and leaves behind a mask worn in the Hollywood killings.[c] Mindy theorizes that the killer is following the rules of film franchises, specifically the rule that anyone can die while the franchise will still continue. From his window, Sam's boyfriend Danny witnesses Ghostface stabbing Quinn in the Carpenter sisters' apartment before attacking the group and killing Anika, leaving behind a mask worn in the Windsor College killings.[d] Gale takes the group to an abandoned theater she found while investigating, which has been set up as a shrine to the Ghostface killers, featuring many items of evidence related to previous massacres now displayed like film props.
Ghostface calls Gale at her apartment and torments her about Dewey Riley's death[a] before killing her boyfriend and attacking her. The Carpenter sisters arrive just in time to stop Ghostface from killing Gale, who is taken to the hospital. The group agrees to meet Kirby at the theater to trap Ghostface. Mindy and Ethan are separated from the group and while hopping onto another train, Mindy is stabbed by Ghostface onboard. At the theater, Sam sees a hallucination of her biological father, Billy Loomis. Taking his knife from the original murders,[e] she realizes they have been locked inside. Two Ghostfaces appear and stab Chad. Wayne and Kirby both arrive with guns drawn and he shoots her, revealing himself as a third Ghostface and the mastermind. His accomplices are his children, revealed to be Ethan and a still-alive Quinn, who faked her death to shift suspicion. They reveal their motive is to take revenge on Sam for killing Richie,[a] who was their brother and Wayne's first-born son. The trio were also responsible for the online smear campaign against Sam, having infiltrated her life with the intent of killing her. The Carpenter sisters ultimately gain the upper hand and fight them off, with Tara stabbing Ethan in the mouth and Sam killing Quinn with a shot to the head while briefly rendering Wayne unconscious. Sam then dons her father's Ghostface costume, taunts Wayne with a phone call, and stabs him to death. Ethan resurfaces, but Kirby kills him by smashing the television set that killed Stu Macher[e] over his head.
Sam agrees to let Tara live her life more independently, and Tara agrees to go to therapy. As Kirby and the Meeks twins are taken to the hospital, Sam stares at her father's Ghostface mask before discarding it and following Tara and Danny into the city.
In a short post-credit scene, Mindy, during the scene where she was explaining the rules of a franchise from earlier in the film, informs her friends that "not every movie needs a post-credit scene".[8]
Cast
[edit]
- Melissa Barrera as Sam Carpenter, the daughter of Billy Loomis and survivor of the Woodsboro murders[9]
- Jasmin Savoy Brown as Mindy Meeks-Martin, Chad's twin and a survivor of the Woodsboro murders who is often suspicious of Ethan[9]
- Jack Champion as Ethan Landry, a student at Blackmore University and Chad's roommate
- Henry Czerny as Christopher Stone, Sam's therapist
- Mason Gooding as Chad Meeks-Martin, Mindy's twin, Tara's boyfriend, and a survivor of the Woodsboro killings[9]
- Roger L. Jackson as the voice of Ghostface
- Liana Liberato as Quinn Bailey, a student at Blackmore University, Sam and Tara's roommate, and Wayne's daughter
- Dermot Mulroney as Wayne Bailey, a detective and Quinn's father
- Devyn Nekoda as Anika Kayoko, a student at Blackmore University and Mindy's girlfriend
- Jenna Ortega as Tara Carpenter, Sam's half-sister, Chad's girlfriend and survivor of the Woodsboro killings who longs for a normal life[9]
- Tony Revolori as Jason Carvey, a film student at Blackmore University
- Josh Segarra as Danny Brackett, Sam, Tara and Quinn's neighbor, and Sam's secret boyfriend
- Skeet Ulrich as Billy Loomis, one of the original Ghostface killers and Sam's father who appears in her visions
- Samara Weaving as Laura Crane, a film professor at Blackmore University
- Hayden Panettiere as Kirby Reed, a survivor of the Woodsboro murders in 2011 who is now an FBI agent
- Courteney Cox as Gale Weathers, a talk show host, survivor of the previous murder sprees, and author, whose books form the basis of the biographically fictionalized Stab film series about the Ghostfaces.
Additionally, Jack Quaid reprises his role as Richie Kirsch in an uncredited video cameo.[10] Thom Newell appears as Greg Bruckner, a film student at Blackmore University and Jason's roommate.[11] Tim Robinson voiced Paul 2.0, Quinn's lover, who was killed off-screen, while Matthew Giuffrida portrayed his body.[12][13] Directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett can be seen in the subway scene.[14]
Production
[edit]Development
[edit]Prior to the release of Scream 4 (2011), series creator Kevin Williamson claimed he had already "mapped out" Scream 5 and Scream 6, but would wait to see the box office success of the fourth installment before signing on for any more films.[15] In July 2014, Williamson revealed that Scream 4 was intended to kick off a new trilogy of films, but the film "never took off in a way they hoped". Williamson also said that he would likely not be involved in any further entries, as the series director Wes Craven and his team were "done" with him.[16] In Williamson's initial pitch, Scream 5 saw Jill Roberts being stalked by a killer at her college campus, while Scream 6 would feature Gale Weathers as the main character and deal with her relationship with Dewey Riley.[17]
In January 2022, Neve Campbell, David Arquette, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, and Tyler Gillett expressed interest in making future films in the series.[18] Courteney Cox would later express an interest in a sequel while doing publicity for Shining Vale.[19] A sixth film was officially green-lit on February 3, 2022, by Spyglass Media Group. Olpin and Gillett of Radio Silence would return to direct while James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick would write the script once again.[20] By the end of the month, Campbell was approached to return for the film.[21] The following month, Cox had received the script and was courted to reprise her role.[22] Also in March, the sixth film's release date was set for March 31, 2023.[23] A few weeks later, plot details emerged, setting the film outside of Woodsboro. By June, it was announced the film would take place in New York City.[24] Ortega said the film would feature a more "aggressive and violent" Ghostface than in previous entries.[25]
Casting
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In May 2022, it was announced that Melissa Barrera, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Mason Gooding, and Jenna Ortega would all return for the sixth film.[9] The following day, it was announced that Hayden Panettiere would reprise her role of Kirby Reed from the fourth film.[26] When asked about her involvement in the film, Cox claimed that her contract was not yet completed.