The 'Scream VI' Trailer Suggests This Will Be The Best Ghostface Outing Since The OG
Not to overhype something, but I'm struggling to contain my enthusiasm for Scream VI. I get that many cinephiles and even casual moviegoers are perhaps a touch disenchanted with modern entertainment and feel oversaturated with franchise fatigue. That's why Scream is so awesome and enduring, in my opinion. It's perfectly designed to serve as a meta commentary on those exact issues.
We've seen the main cast leave Woodsboro in the second and third Scream installments to mixed results. Like the trailer implies with the villainous Ghostface, though, this one feels different. The tagline of "New York, New Rules" seems quite fitting.
Frankly I covered a lot of my love for Scream in a previous breakdown of the teaser trailer, which I got a lot of mileage out of even with limited footage of Ghostface intimidating our core characters on an MTA train car. That's where we end this official trailer, and it looks like Mindy is in a world of trouble.
The trailer that dropped Thursday gives us a tense opening sequence in a convenience store wherein Ghostface wields that trademark razor-sharp knife...aaaaand steals the freaking shotgun from the cashier! DAMN. Many of the klutzy predecessors who've gone on a murdering rampage in these movies would've surely been shot dead right then and there. Not this time!!
We get a quick first look at Hayden Panettiere's Kirby Reed, who returns to the fold after surviving Scream 4. Then, we have a couple other elements that are AMAZING: What looks like a storage space — possibly an abandoned theater...? — that serves as a shrine for all the Ghostface killers, and Courteney Cox's Gale Weathers getting that dreaded landline phone call with actor Roger L. Jackson's chilling voice on the other end. She then tries to shoot him during their face-to-face encounter and it doesn't look like that works out well.
Another reason for my immense Scream VI optimism: Kevin Williamson wrote the original Scream, the sequel, Scream 4 and returned to last year's requel as an executive producer. Williamson serves in the EP capacity for Scream VI. Exactly one week ago, an interview with SyFy Wire dropped in which Williamson couldn't have given more of a ringing endorsement to the latest film:
"It doesn’t feel like 'Part 6,' it feels like you’re watching this big, huge, fresh reinvention. I love, love, love, love it. I've watched the movie with a big smile on my face. I think it's everything and more. And going to New York was awesome. The movie feels new, it feels fresh, it feels like a new movie. […] I love Scream VI. It's really good. It's great. There’s no way around it. I'm very happy with how it turned out…I really do have all that enthusiasm for it. I’m really excited.”
Like I know he's creatively involved in the movie. Still, Williamson makes it sound like the late, great Wes Craven would be very proud of it. Williamson also didn't write it. James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick did. They crushed it on the last movie. No reason to think they'll drop off here. I can acknowledge the 2022 revival was a raging box office success while also recognizing how rare it is for sequels to get fast-tracked to this degree. Obviously, the vision co-directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett had was too good for Paramount Pictures not to prioritize.
March 10 can't get here soon enough. Whatever the joint production of Spyglass Media Group, Project X Entertainment and Radio Silence have cooked up, it should be phenomenal. We have such a stacked summer of movies to look forward to, and Scream VI can tide us over till then. This thing is going to be a humongous hit. Gonna slay at the box office. You know, all those fun puns. PS here's the new poster:
OH YEAH. I should probably make some sort of early prediction about who the killer might be. I'm stumped to be honest. However, I'd like to think the "Stu Macher Returns" fan theory gets a little more life upon seeing this trailer. The character Matthew Lillard played in the OG from 1996 was the second killer alongside Billy Loomis. Although Stu got a damn TV dropped on his head, fans have held out hope that he somehow survived.
I could see Stu living in obscurity, building that Ghostface shrine and being the one who comes back to get vengeance on Gale Weathers. After all, it was Gale who stormed the house to buy Sidney a little time and set the stage for Stu and Billy to get caught in the first place.
Beyond the Stu pipe dream, I'm sizing up newcomers Samara Weaving and Tony Revolori as the potential Ghostface(s). Weaving starred in the directing duo's Ready or Not and is a pretty big name to join the ensemble in an undisclosed role. Revolori has played a bully in the MCU Spider-Man flicks, albeit a sort of pathetic one. This would be a fascinating opportunity for him to show off some range, and Revolori would be a shocking reveal as the killer.
For all the praise I'm heaping on this project, I really hope they find a way to bring Neve Campbell back for Scream VII. Give her all the money, and place her into the central, starring role again. It's only right.
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