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Scream VI Trailer & Thoughts

Thirty-four years ago Jason (Friday the 13th franchise) took Manhattan… for about 15 minutes… now Ghostface is back for another installment of the Scream franchise and is taking on The Big Apple with a shotgun in hand!

  The Scream VI trailer has dropped fairly quickly after the original teaser showed multiple Ghostfaces haunting some of the Scream 5 alum on a New York subway train on Halloween night. The train included a gaggle of costumed passengers dressed as several horror movie characters. The scene featured a familiar looking Ghostface and brought a familiar feeling of dread, cornering fear and a splash of IYKYK humor into a totally different setting for Scream.

The new trailer jumps into action with the returning characters of sister Sam (Melissa Barrera) and Tara Carpenter (Jenna Ortega) begging for help in a New York corner store. A now slightly worn looking Ghostface, boldly follows them and dispatches a store patron with the familiar hunting knife we all know so well… Then seemingly takes out the store clerk with a shotgun while the Carpenter sisters hide. Add some suspense and cut to the studio cards.

The rest of the trailer highlights Sam as being our apparent antagonist again. More of Tara taking on the original Kirby role as the strong character we’d rather be following and rooting for. The return of Gale Weathers telling Ghostface they ain’t shit (again) and Ghostface creepishly telling Gale, “There has never been one like me…” and that is pretty much it… I mentioned Kirby right?

#JUSTICEFORKIRBY

That’s right! Hayden Panettiere is reprising the role of Kirby Reed, which in my opinion was the only saving grace and lore additive of the glossy, boring Scream 4 sequel. In the trailer she seems to be taking on the link to the past role of Sidney Prescott (don’t get me started on where Sidney is in this film). There isn’t much Kirby in the trailer which frightens me as I would love to see her and Tara (Jenna Ortega) teaming up throughout this film as the new Gale and Sidney.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, I was not and am not a fan of the Sam character. Notice I said “character”. She seemed to fall flat in comparison to her sisters opening scene from Scream 5 that brought back that terrifying feeling of someone in the house. That scene brought my love for the franchise back and it slowly faded as the film went on. Though I do like the film. Sam’s backstory was a reach with ties to her father being Billy Loomis and her seeing his ghost (oof). Besides those oddities, I don’t know where the character of Sam went wrong. Whether it was writing, acting or directing I just never cared for her and yet it seems we’ll be following her journey against Ghostface again.

Apparent story elements include, a serial killer shrine with a lot of Ghostface paraphernalia, Tara gathering the troops to set a trap for the new Ghostface and some clips of New York. Remember that Scream is notorious for filming extra scenes and different endings to throw the cast and crew off of spoiling the films surprise reveal endings. This started back in 1997 when the ending of Scream 2 was leaked online at the beginning of the internet blog age. So, we as fans know, whatever they are showing us could be completely different from the final product.

Let’s cut into where this film might be going and where we might want to see it actually go.

    Remember that Scream is meant to be a parody of horror films. It is supposed to be aware of horror movie rules and keep those rules in line with its own story. Each sequel has added new elements from its surrounding horror movie landscape. And don’t forget, Scream has a love affair with John Carpenter and Debra Hill’s Halloween.   With that in mind, here is the story the trailer is telling me.

   There are probably multiple Ghostface killers. SURPRISE!! Away from Roman in Scream 3 there has always been multiple killers but something about this trailer and recent “requel” debacle in the Halloween franchise makes me think we are getting more than two. One, the obvious. The trailer shows different versions of the Ghostface mask terrorizing people. There are also scenes, mostly on a subway car, of multiple Ghostface masked maniacs together. Some scenes highlighting Sam’s “darkness” shows her in possession of the worn mask. With Sam’s link to Billy Loomis, his ghost influencing her and bringing to the edge of killing, and that link to current horror films, my guess is that Sam may be a killer or have a killer in her head. It’s cliché, it’s kind of lame but it’s where the trailer leads my thoughts. There is also that line “There has never been one like me…”. Well, our antagonist final girl has never turned out to be the killer so that would be different from what the franchise has offered. Remember that Billy Loomis was a killer in Scream, Billy’s mom was a killer in Scream 2 and to keep it all in the family, Sam, the daughter of Billy Loomis could be one of the killers in Scream VI.

    But’s that doesn’t explain more than two killers. One of my favorite fun-facts of the Scream franchise is that Mathew Lillard, who played Stu Macher and the accomplice to Billy Loomis in the original Scream, has been on set for almost all of the Scream films and has been credited as an extra in the films. Yes, Stu has technically been in more Scream films than you thought. This has led to a fabulous fan theory and fanfiction that Stu never actually died in the first film and has been rotting away in prison since 1996. I love reading fan theories and ideas as it is often times better that the products we get from Hollywood. Another fanfic is that with people’s fascination with serial killers and true crimes these days, Stu Macher has a fan club that is slowly turning cult. Members take on the Ghostface persona to hunt in Stu’s name! This story makes a lot more sense for the Sidney Prescott storyline which has been put on hold at least for now (don’t you dare get me started on why that is).

Cult horror and viral killers are in season! Several horror films lately are exploring cults as slashers and TikTok relevence puts this or a similar idea in play for Scream.

     What if those seeds were planted in this film? What if multiple killers are acting in the name of one mastermind? The big unmasking at the end gives us killers with random identity, a bunch of nobodies? What if Stu has rehabilitated and has somehow been released? How about Stu taking on a modified Cotton Weary role, claiming he has no involvement in the cult of Stu and just want’s peace? Give us a nice big cliffhanger into Scream 7 of Stu calling for a Sidney Prescott return. "Surprise Sidney!"

 No, no. Farfetched and too creative for a franchise of parody. That would require breaking the mold a bit too much. I foresee the usual mix of the past coming to haunt some of our main characters and an emotional death of one of our female leads. My hope is that is  Sam, my fear is it will be Tara.                

Because of the trailer and hype around the New York setting I’m wondering how much New York will actually play into the film. The opening scene of the trailer has the feel of a final chase scene with Ghostface resorting to a shotgun because they have tried everything else to kill the Carpenter sisters. My guess is the film will be set mostly in Woodsboro with the Carpenters and gang.. Gale Weathers resides in New York and is attacked mid-film in her sky rise apartment. This attack and some link to the past will bring the Woodsboro Mystery Machine to New York to join forces with Gale. Much like Sidney to Hollywood in Scream 3. When Scream 3 ditched Woodsboro for Hollywood it left a bad taste in the fans mouth (I personally dug it) Though Scream VI is not as bold as the Friday the 13th film title was with “Jason Takes Manhattan”, we the audience are being sold a Ghostface in Manhattan film. How fitting would it be if we get a laughable nod and the same small amount of runtime in New York as we did with Jason thirty-four years ago?

-Written by Lance Knight

Article is intended for entertainment purposes and creative exploration.

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