Is it time to shut up the slasher series?
scream VI ★★½
(MA) 122 minutes
Unlike most characters, however, the Flip comes across as gruesome Scream The slasher series has stayed alive longer than anyone could have expected. But do we even care about big screen slashers these days?
According to die-hard crime reporter Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox), “It’s all about True Crime Limited Series TV.” Gale should know that he’s the only “legacy character” to appear in all six Scream Guessing since 1996 – which isn’t meant to give any indication of whether she’ll make it to the end of this one.
Courteney Cox returns as hardened crime reporter Gale Weathers in Scream VI.Credit:Philippe Bosse/Paramount Pictures
What, you might be wondering, became of Neve Campbell as the hitherto indestructible Sidney Prescott, who has spent much of her adult life fending off one gravel-voiced masked killer after another? Fear not, Sidney is sure to be on an off-screen vacation far away from New York City, where this chapter of the saga takes place.
After wearing the last five films, Campbell was reportedly unhappy with the salary she was being offered this time. More power for her, though I could wish for a more convincing replacement character than Samantha “Sam” Carpenter (Melissa Barrera), who was introduced in last year’s semi-reboot and once again refuses to show a glimpse of the script’s dark side, insists that she owns.
Her little sister Tara (Jenna Ortega) is a more vivacious presence that’s easy to picture as a draft horse shouting yet to come. Which again isn’t meant to reveal who survives on this occasion – or who lurks behind the iconic Ghostface mask and cuts through Tara’s college friends.
Tara Carpenter (Jenna Ortega) and her older sister Sam (Melissa Barrera) have a lot to worry about in the latest installment in the scream-slasher series.Credit:Philippe Bosse/Paramount Pictures
This mask remains a nice gimmick that allows the series to maintain some semblance of continuity no matter how many characters come and go, gory or otherwise. Ghostface isn’t a person, it’s an idea, a floating identity that anyone can take on and live out classic slasher tropes.
It’s more in line with the reflexive logic of the whole company, now that a new generation of filmmakers – directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, and writers James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick – have taken the helm Creators Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson quit.
https://www.smh.com.au/culture/movies/sixth-time-s-not-the-charm-is-it-time-to-silence-the-scream-slashers-20230309-p5cqs8.html?ref=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_culture Is it time to shut up the slasher series?
