Megan Kenny
Scream VI is the long-awaited next installment in the super slasher franchise. Building on the resurgent popularity of the original meta-slasher, a new wave of Scream has swept across the horror landscape in a tide of blood and self-awareness. So, how does Ghostface keep it fresh after six grisly rampages?
From the very sparse trailer, deliberately vague to further incite the blood lust of all you Ghostface fans out there, we know very little. What we do know is that Ghostface isn’t in Woodsboro anymore, and much like Dorothy on her journey to Oz, lives will be changed forever after this trip down the presumably blood-spattered streets of New York City. Following on from Scream (2022), we see that the traumatized survivors of the last film have left behind the sleepy town (sleepy, or woozy from social exsanguination? Seriously, why don’t people move?) for the anonymity of life in the big city.
Although we know from the trailer, and the poster with its deliciously quotable tagline: New York, New Rules, that the would-be victims in this installment have much more room to run and hide, the fact that the trailer centers entirely on a wonderfully claustrophobic scene on the subway implies that New York won’t be big enough to hide their tender flesh for long from a wickedly sharp, and now very familiar, hunting knife.
The Scream crew have done it again, managing to cram enough suspense and slashy mayhem into one minute and five seconds of taught, tense, goodness. March 2023 now seems an eternity away, but one thing’s for sure: after its release, people will have even less reason to use public transport. Not great for the environment, but great for all you slasher fans who are looking for the chance to tangle with that familiar white mask again in an unfamiliar setting.
