Scream 6: What We Want Out of the New Sequel

| February iv, 2022 |

| Comments count:0

Jenna Ortega and Ghostface in Scream — *Photo: Paramount Pictures*

Scream 6 (or any it may exist titled) is officially happening. This is hardly a surprise after the fifth Scream pic, confusingly titled merely Scream , surpassed all pandemic and January expectations past opening to $33.9 million over MLK Day weekend. Nonetheless, it was nice to get a confirmation Th that the 6th entry is greenlit and moving ahead with Radio Silence's Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillet returning to straight, and James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick once once more writing the screenplay.

That creative team did a solid job of filling the shoes of Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson last fourth dimension, and the quartet moving ahead for a fast tracked sequel that volition shoot this summer has echoes of the quick turnaround Craven and Williamson pursued for Scream two —a film we believe to be one of the amend horror sequels ever made. Undoubtedly, this collection of filmmakers have their ain ideas most where the side by side Scream movie (or two) volition exist headed. Withal, we here at Den of Geek are happy to offer our two cents worth of advice about what nosotros could see adjacent from one-time Ghostface as he rises to slash over again.

No 'The' in the Scream Title

Let'due south but go this out of the style, first: Don't go too cutesy with the championship. In the instance of this twelvemonth's Scream v —or "Scream" equally the poster and marketing insisted on it being called—the filmmakers ostensibly were having some fun with the current trend popularized best by 2018's Halloween where a legacy sequel shares the same exact championship as the get-go movie it'south post-obit up. In the example of Halloween , information technology was supposedly to point this was a return to the roots of the original John Carpenter masterpiece from 1978, as the 2018 moving-picture show ignored all the other sequels and retcons that occurred in between. Even so, it seems more probable this title was really chosen not to signify a solidarity with the past, but to avoid turning off younger viewers who had never seen an earlier Halloween motion-picture show.

And it worked! So given Blumhouse's success with Halloween , a number of other horror legacy sequels (or "requels" as they were called in Scream 5 ) repeated the tendency. Hence last calendar month's Scream . Technically, the new pic made fun of itself when several fans of Stab , the horror franchise within a horror franchise, are seen on a YouTube video in the new motion picture whining that Stab 8 shouldn't be called just Stab because it'due south a sequel, not a reboot. Yet the Radio Silence team admitted to Diverseness that that joke was thrown in last minute because they had orders from the studio to call the new movie merely Scream .

"Nosotros all had, I recollect, the same reaction that near people have, which is, 'huh?'" Bettinelli-Oplin said when Paramount selected the championship.

And then to avoid anymore "huhs," we would humbly propose not doing something similarly opaque like calling the new film The Scream . Sure, that could have some fun at recent quasi-reboots only putting 'the' in the title, such as concluding year's The Suicide Squad and this year's The Batman , just we might bespeak out how this ultimately could confuse people, as it did in the example of TSS . Also, as our news and features editor Kirsten Howard pointed out, the proper name Scream 6(66) is sitting correct there!

No Legacy Characters from the Original Moving picture

The other don't we would kindly suggest for Scream 6 is to finally let Neve Campbell'south Sidney Prescott and Courteney Cox'due south Gale Weathers balance in peace—as well equally each existence in ane living piece! While nosotros've enjoyed all the Scream sequels to varying degrees, the killers in Scream 5 astutely pointed out that David Arquette's lovable Dewey Riley needed to die (or at least i of the original trio did), considering the thought of all 3 protagonists from the 1996 movie surviving these shenanigans for a 5th time would beginning "looking ridiculous."

While we are champions of Scream iv effectually here, that flick lacks a sure degree of danger because it was clear that neither Sid, Gale, or Dewey would ever die. Hence the former sheriff'south bitter demise in Scream 5 . Non since Jamie Kennedy'southward Randy got dragged into a van with a knife during the second movie have one of these flicks felt so unsafe and menacing for likable leads!

It's also for that reason that information technology's time to permit Sidney and Gale go. Given Campbell'southward relatively brief reprise of Sid for generally the tertiary deed of the new motion picture, it might exist an open question how much she wants to return to the function. And across grieving the loss of Dewey, it seemed like neither Gale or Sidney had much left to do in their character arcs for the 5th movie beyond putting this latest copycat in the basis. There was a sure thrill with their no-nonsense "we're tired of this shit" energy as they rushed into the last murder house to once over again shoot a couple of Ghostfaces, but it feels like their story is done. Don't keep bringing them back until they too volition have to suffer Dewey's fate or look ridiculous.

… But What About Kirby Reed?

With that said, simply because yous shouldn't bring back the original legacy characters doesn't hateful in that location isn't room for other familiar faces to pop back up. Accept Hayden Panettiere'southward Kirby Reed, for example. Not since the commencement movie had a Scream sequel introduced a new graphic symbol equally entertaining and fan friendly every bit this wiseacre in Scream iv . Signaling a departure between Gen-Xers and millennials, here was a horror movie nerd who was not considered a social outsider like Randy in the original pictures. Instead she was a social media savvy hipster who could steal scenes with her self-aware deconstruction of 2000s horror motion picture tropes, especially when information technology came to all those lazy remakes going on in that era. One imagines she was on the verge of minor internet Film Twitter fame earlier Ghostface struck!

Plus, Panettiere had charisma plenty for days, holding her own in scenes with Roger Jackson's beloved Ghostface growl and original legacy characters from '96. It's the reason many fans were disappointed when she ultimately took two knife wounds to the stomach, and remained hopeful she survived since we saw her bleed out simply not die. Clearly the Radio Silence filmmakers were among those fans rooting for an unlikely recovery since in a tiny easter egg YouTube thumbnail in Scream 5 , it's revealed Kirby Reed is alive and giving interviews about her ain experiences with Ghostface.

Could this be setting upwardly Panettiere reprising her function for some other Scream picture? Nosotros hope so. Not since Randy has a horror motion picture expert survived to deconstruct horror tropes in 2 movies. And seeing Kirby merchandise notes with Randy's niece, and Scream 5 's own horror nerd survivor, Mindy Meeks-Martin (Jasmin Savoy Brown), could be a lot of fun. Also if the original legacy characters don't come back, Kirby's older perspective on a new type of horror sequel might bring some needed insight for what comes adjacent…

'Elevate' Scream

One of the best $.25 in Scream five was how disgusted Ghostface sounded over the phone when his first chosen victim, Jenna Ortega's Tara Carpenter, said her favorite horror movies were The Babadook , It Follows , and The Witch . "Boring!" is what that Ghostface had to say about the new tendency of supposedly "elevated horror" from the 2010s. This makes sense, of form, since Ghostface is a bit of a relic out of the past himself—an old school slasher from the 1990s who fifty-fifty then was intentionally meant to feel like a throwback to the glut of masked killers in '80s horror flicks.

However, the killers in the most contempo movie are revealed to be glorified Scream (or Stab ) fanboys trying to redo the 25-year-quondam movie they loved growing up. Movement on, people! Well, it's time Ghostface did likewise. The new version of the icon should of class remain the phone-calling, pop culture-riffing, and Roger Jackson-voiced menace from the original movies. Just what if in add-on to his knife and mask, the new Ghostface attempted to "elevate" the concept by actually mimicking the type of horror movies Tara loves? She's nevertheless around and fifty-fifty got the biggest cheer line of the movie when she shot one of the tormentors who turned her into a pin cushion and says, "I still prefer The Babadook ."

Well, what happens when she and her older sister are now being pursued past killers who want to savor long, drawn out, and intellectual attacks where Ghostface attempts speaking early mod English, a la Black Phillip?

Okay, maybe scratch that last fleck. How exactly to rest making fun of "elevated horror" while still being a slasher moving picture is a tightrope, to exist sure, and one that could current of air up as misguided as Stab viii plainly turned out to be in the Scream universe. Only if the filmmakers can thread that delicate needle, they could brand Scream as vitally current to younger viewers as the original movies were back in their day, and have fun taking the piss out of what is now considered to be respectable horror.

Meet Sam and Tara's Mother

Speaking of Tara, Ortega ended upwardly being a really sympathetic protagonist in the new movie and will undoubtedly be dorsum alongside the obvious new "final girl" in the franchise, Melissa Barrera'due south Sam Carpenter. The two sisters did the unlikely matter and survived opening and endmost scenes of a Scream motion-picture show while making new "rules" along the way. Only their by is still a significant question mark in Scream lore. We know that their mother slept with Skeet Ulrich'southward Billy Loomis before the events of the offset Scream , hence Sam's internalized demons that come with knowing she'southward the daughter of a serial killer. However, the same female parent likewise hid that parentage from Sam for years, as well as the father who raised Sam and Tara. She also made no attempts to come abode when her younger daughter wound up in the hospital, the victim of a stabbing meant to echo her high school beau's after school hobbies.

That raises a lot of red flags—and a lot of opportunity to have some fun filling in Woodsboro lore as we get to ameliorate understand Sam and Tara's dysfunctional family unit. While the next Scream moving picture should probably get out of Woodsboro, which has been the properties now of three of the concluding 5 Scream movies, your childhood home tends to stay with you wherever you lot may roam. And then imagine what kind of fun the ghost of Billy Loomis, who haunts Sam's head, might accept while playing off the mother of his child?

What Is This Trilogy About?

We've had some suggestions about the meta/comedy side of Scream , also as the continuity elements for returning characters, but what is this larger 2nd trilogy going to exist about? The directors of the contempo pic have repeatedly teased in the printing that they'd like to extend Scream v into its own trilogy. In which case, there needs to be an overarching theme.

The original three Scream movies tracked the influence and cultural touch on of horror movies, from the immature people who abound up with them (the start movie), to the industrialized way they're exploited past sequels (the 2d), and finally how the proverbial sausage is fabricated in Hollywood (the third). What could these new movies be edifice toward?

Obviously, similar the ghost of Sidney Prescott's dead mother and subconscious past, the secrets of Sam's parents will continue to be unfurled across the next two movies. Additionally, Sam's ain personal struggles with manifestly inheriting her father's bloodlust will undoubtedly be developed. Could the 2nd motion-picture show even end with an Empire Strikes Dorsum -like twist where she picks up her begetter'due south mask and embraces her destiny? It'd be an interesting twist. Imagine a sister vs. sis finale?

I affair we might propose, nevertheless, is picking up on an abandoned plot thread which the original screenwriter, Kevin Williamson, had in mind for Scream 3 . The writer behind the offset trilogy, and author of the first two scripts, initially intended for Matthew Lillard's Stu Macher to return equally the surprise mastermind of the threequel, existence alive and orchestrating the murders from prison. Well, this behind-the-scenes story is too well-known by fans to be used every bit a twist surprise in Scream 6 or 7 . So how near the new creatives repurpose the thought and have Stu become a major character in the next motion picture from the start—a Hannibal Lecter similar figure who has vital data about Sam's father that could explain the next spate or two of murders. In fact, it would bring back one legacy character from the original pic—just not one of the beloved heroes—while threading a larger story that connects Scream 5 to whatever comes side by side.

These are just a few of our ideas for Scream six . Only what would y'all like to see?