141. Scream VI; movie review

 

SCREAM VI

Cert 18

122 mins

BBFC advice: Contains strong bloody violence

Good grief. Scream VI is as lame as a three-legged donkey.

The same old slashings, the same old movie-within-a-movie premise and, in some cases, the same old characters.

Perhaps fans of horror movies feel comfortable with familiarity but I am struggling to understand how franchises such as this, Halloween, Friday The 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street deserve such a long run.

But there is bound to be more to come because the superficial storyline and lashings of fake blood in Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin's movie have helped it notch up a $130m profit in the first month at the cinema.

Anyway, the killings begin early with an attractive college professor's gruesome slaying in an alley.

It turns out her murderer has links to Sam and Tara Carpenter (Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega) who thought they had finished off Ghostface in Woodsboro.

But, as anyone who has had the misfortune to watch a Scream film knows, there ain't just one masked murderer.

So, before protective Sam can throw a blanket of cotton wool around Tara, folk are being bumped off, left right and centre.

Inevitably, Courteney Cox returns as Gale Weathers, the TV journalist who has literally survived all six Scream movies.

Meanwhile, Jasmin Savoy Brown and Mason Gooding return, as does Hayden Panetierre as another legacy character.

And the crazed slashings go on and the inevitable deaths and improbable survivals make up part of one of the dullest films I have seen in quite a while.

If it were its first or even the second outing, I just might have appreciated Scream - but the sixth is taking the joke way too far.

Reasons to watch: If you are a Scream addict

Reasons to avoid: If you are a discerning film fan

Laughs: None

Jumps: Two

Vomit: None

Nudity: None

Overall rating: 3/10

Did you know? Every actor who auditioned for Scream VI had to read a Ghostface monologue to make sure the killer's identity wasn't leaked.

The final word. Tyler Gillett: “I think we always felt like this was going to be a spiritual sequel to the original sequel in a lot of ways." Bloody-Disgusting

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