“Who gives a fuck about movies?” asks Ghostface early in Scream VI, the sixth entry in the beloved, referential slasher franchise that was rebooted with 2022’s unfortunately named but mostly well-done Scream. Like the legacy sequels (or “requels” as the film calls them) that Scream VI skewers, the fifth entry in the series helmed by horror icon Wes Craven was steeped in nostalgia, going so far as to return to the site of the original film’s bloodbath for its own climactic conclusion. Scream VI evokes a different kind of nostalgia, taking what made the franchise’s original college-set sequel great and amplifying it to a 10. Scream VI is bloodier, scarier, and funnier, nodding to its past while carving a brutal path forward for Ghostface and the new franchise torch-holders who find themselves at the receiving end of the blade.
