The Scream franchise debuted in theaters in December 1996, bringing Sidney (Never Campbell) and company to our lives for the first time, and since then, presents us unconditional fans of slasher with many scares and mysteries, each new film always had the certainty of new deaths and a mystery with a surprising ending.
But with the arrival of Scream 6 in theaters, a doubt and a concern took me, they will be the franchise is coming to an end, and is there still breathing room for Scream as it has done so many times in the past to surprise us with original stories, authentic and worthy of giving us a good scare or is it that after being close to complete its thirty years of history, the franchise unfortunately is getting tired and giving air of who has nothing more to add?
Look I sincerely hope not because, although, my heart slasher is the Friday the 13th franchise, yes, Jason Voorhees is my guy, when the theme is killer badass, but going back to Scream, I like the suspense, the scares and not knowing when the killer will appear and not knowing who he is, until the last moment can be literally anyone, and this and one of the elements that make this franchise so exciting.
And the reason that makes me worry that the franchise is losing steam is the latest film in the Scream VI franchise. The movie continues the story started in Panic V that after a hiatus of more than ten years came reviving and revitalizing the franchise and making us hope that we had back the slasher in its version, but Scream VI, came at least in my opinion, to cause a disappointment in the enthusiasm of the crowd.
Accompanying Tara (Jena Ortega) and Sam (Melissa Barrera) to New York, the movie shows right away what it has come to with an absurd sequence where several Goths faces appear on the horizon, only to be murdered soon after, and I confess that this left me a little lost in the story, but after some deaths and the Gosth face, runs after the girls in the middle of the street in New York and stops at a convenience store, which I admit was an innovation that I liked, we have the surviving group of the last movie all together and scared, and that whole sequence with the girl talking about the rules of horror movies, trilogies and franchises, honestly after more than five movies this comic relief is not funny anymore, and that whole scene in the police station with Tara beating Gail, clearly trying to reproduce the iconic scene from the first Scream where Sydney hits Gail in the face when she approaches her at the back exit of the police station, was pathetic and forced because even if the two were upset with Gail, she was there doing her job, they should just ignore her and left, my God, why so much drama.
In the sequence we have Mindy (Jasmine Savoy Brown) explaining the rules of a horror franchise and pointing out suspects, clearly a reproduction of the scene where Randy (Jamie Kennedy) does the same in Scream I, II, frankly I think this reference has been reproduced so much that it is no longer funny. When Kirby (Hayden Panettiere), now an FBI agent, shows up to get involved in a case that is clearly not in her jurisdiction, just because she has a personal interest in the case, frankly they have forced the issue here.
Another rather forced situation and when Mindy and Ethan (Jack Champion) get separated from the rest of the group in the subway, how come none of those who managed to get in were able to hold the door for the other two to get in, convenience is the answer here.
SPOILER ALERT:
And at the end when the killers are the father and brothers of Richie (Jack Quaid), this is a shameless copy of Scream II where Billy Loomis's mother (played by Laurie Metcalf) and the avenger of children of the time and on her side Mickey Altieri (Timothy Olyphant), which in the film was one of Sydney's college friends, same motivation avenge the death of his son, same speech "you killed my son, and now you will die", it was even looking like they gave a CTRL + CTRV.
But despite all these blatant and even boring repetitions, the movie managed to innovate in some things, such as bringing a bolder Ghost Face who attacks his victims even in daylight, the suspense scenes still leave you stuck to the screen, not knowing where the Ghost Face is going to attack from, the ghost face museum was wonderful, and the fact that they brought Ghost Face to the big city was also a great audacity.
In summary, I do believe that the Scream franchise has everything to live on for many years to come, and as a fan, I hope so, but I think this will only happen if they finally decide to leave aside the old references and formulas and create new and authentic stories, for example, if Sam would become the Ghost Face, if a new gosth Face would emerge, without desire for revenge and without any connection with Osdboro and his victims, simply a maniacal killer copying the Ghost Face methods, and Sam and Tara, decided to go after the guy, or even if Tara herself decided to become the Ghost Face of the time, I don't know, I think the possibilities are endless and if well explored can make the Panic franchise go to infinity and beyond to the joy of the fans, including me.
