I’m gonna cut right to the chase; I’m getting a little tired of talking about classic horror movie sequels, prequels, requels, pee pee, poo poo. Once in a blue moon you’ll get one that’s halfway decent, but more often than not you’ll get a film that either lazily copies the formula of its predecessor without trying to be unique or fundamentally misunderstands why the original film worked as well as it did. I feel like I sound like a broken record each time a new one comes around, but I’m really running out of things to say when movies like this pop up. Last year’s annoying titled Scream, which is actually the 5th installment in the franchise, was a fun enough meta slasher that tried to tap into the self-awareness of the original, even if it never led to anything all that surprising or unique for the franchise. But even then I realized this franchise didn’t have many more places to go from here, and man, is that ever more apparent than this sequel. Scream 6 is yet another tired retread of familiar territory, doing next to nothing to surprise or build upon the foundation of the series beyond what you’d expect. The characters feel flat and unengaging, the scares are lackluster and unoriginal, and the story and its big reveal are quite a mess. I’m honestly a little shocked this film has been getting the kind of praise it has, because in my opinion, there’s nothing in this film that can’t be found better in other movies, including Scream’s prior films.  

So, after surviving a Ghostface copycat killing spree, Sam Carpenter, her sister Tara, and fellow friends and survivors Chad and Mindy relocate to New York city in hopes of moving past their shared trauma. But low and behold, they just cannot escape being stabbed by people in masks, as a new string of Ghostface killings begin to pop up in the Big Apple. This means there’s a new hunting ground, new suspects, and a new murder, or murderers, to have fun with. Well, fun was definitely the intention, but truth be told I found myself bored multiple times throughout the film. The film starts off promising enough with a bit of a return to form, having a relatively big actor appear in one scene just to be killed, with a bit of an interesting twist thrown on top of that. But from there the film is painfully predictable and recycled. I didn’t really feel as connected to the characters this time around as I did before, which could be chalked up to lack of tension, stakes never really feeling heavy, and poor attempts at writing intimate or comedic moments. The writing really bugged me this time around. I can accept the dumb villain monologues and cheesy one-liners; they’re par for the course at this point. But the way the film is written to give the characters depth and personality is just poorly done. There’s a pretty bland romantic subplot thrown in to give the film more emotional weight, but it’s only given like 2 scenes to develop and its full of cliches like “oh, they both reached for the same thing and touched hands”. So compelling. And without spoiling too much, it’s very clear when you meet certain characters that they’re absolutely going to die, which isn’t always a bad thing, but my God does this film have an issue with actually killing anybody. I know Scream has the joke about people not being dead when they really should be, but the amount of fakeouts here just feels way too toothless, leading to a smaller body count and the cheapening of some of the film’s more dramatic moments. 

Speaking on those kills, they’re definitely fairly gory, especially for a film that feels like it’s aimed for a less squeamish audience. There’s ample amounts of blood, guts and non-lethal stabs to vital arteries, but these just started to get boring after a while. I get stabbing is kind of Ghostface’s thing, but I would’ve liked to see some more off the wall kills thrown in, something akin to the garage door or metal pipe kills from previous films. You know, get goofy with it, really push that R rating. Blood and knives are fine but…y’know, we’ve seen it.

That’s kind of the issue with this whole film. We’ve seen it all done before. Is it fun to guess who the killer is? Sure, but I found the twist is incredibly obvious from very early on, and there’s no real fun in deducing who it was to begin with because it all gets revealed through conveniences rather than clues. Are the kills fun? Well, they’re fairly gory, but a lot of them are just boring knife play without any real creativity.Is it a fun subversion or critique of horror tropes? No, it’s the same as the first where it thinks acknowledging the cliches while still committing to those cliches makes it clever. The original could get away with it because it was unique for the time and worked with those characters better, now it’s just playing the hits. Is it witty with a little bit of dark comedy? I don’t think I chuckled a single time. The “comedy” does not work in the slightest, neither playing into the absurdity of the story or lightening the mood when needed. Is it scary? It has some decently tense moments, like the subway scene, but most of the scares and surprises are telegraphed and predictable. 

I don’t think I’m just a jaded film snob who’s too good for slashers and horror movies. I’m into film BECAUSE of horror movies, and there’s other movies out there doing this schtick better. Just look at X and Bodies, Bodies, Bodies from last year. Both took familiar horror archetypes and setups while injecting somewhat unique identities into them. This film just repeats so much of the formula, down to an almost verbatim repeat of its meta takedown on horror tropes. It’s so familiar with the rules of horror, but it forgot the whole point of Scream in the first place, to break those rules. I genuinely don’t see where else this franchise can go without completely jumping the shark. The sixth installment is a predictable, uninteresting, weakly written rehash that plays out like a high budget, straight to DVD slasher refusing to let go of the past because it’s all it has to garner attention.

Rating

Murder in Manhattan

The Manhattan is one of my favorite classic cocktails and my go-to order at a fancy bar when I want to look like I know what I’m talking about. The simple combination of whiskey, vermouth and bitters creates a spirit forward cocktail with a little bit of spice, sweetness and bitterness, with multiple variations existing out in the wild. So because Scream 6’s setting is the Big Apple I figured I would put my own twist on this New York classic. The drink utilizes flavors like apple, coffee and chocolate to create a unique, rich variation on the recipe that I think you’ll enjoy.

Ingredients

• 1.5oz apple brandy
• 1/2oz coffee liqueur
• 1oz sweet vermouth
• 2 dashes chocolate bitters (orange?)
• Garnish: Cocktail cherry

Instructions

1. Add ingredients to a mixing glass with ice and stir to chill.
2. Strain into a chilled coup glass.
3. Garnish with cocktail cherry.