Where I Watched It?: Paramount plus

English Audio Description?: Yes

“Hello Sidney. Remember me?:

:This isn’t Sidney. you have the wrong number.”

“Wait. Where is Sidney?”

“Who knows. The producers didn’t want to pay Neve Campbell her asking price to reprise the role, but she sends her love.”

Six films into this franchise, and it’s official. Sidney Prescott is no longer the final girl of her own franchise. That mantle has now been taken by Sam (Melissa Barrera), and arguably the other three that survived Scream 5. Scream: The New Generation finds the survivors of the most recent Woodsboro murders moving to NYC, where we see taht the world has somehow become even more fascinated with Ghostface. He’s an icon, with it being close to Halloween, and regular people choosing an actual murderer as their costume.Because this franchise has always been about legacy, Gale (Courtney Cox) returns, as does Kirby (Hayden Panettiere), who is now an FBI agent. Along for the ride are a host of newcomers, who serve as potential killers, and victims. Basically, most of the new characters are poorly developed, with Scream 6 still working to flesh out characters just introduced in the last film.

But, as a big fan of this franchise, i gotta say that while there are some huge problems, I still really enjoyed this film. It takes a lot for me to not like a Scream movie, and unlike Scream 5, where I argue that one of those killers did far less work, this one sets itself up rather well. By the end, I was impressed. Without any spoilers, Scream 6 might have the most impressive killer reveal of the franchise, or at the very least since Jill.

Scream 6 is gorier than ever before, featuring our first dismembered body, as well as being the most nostalgic. That final act is all about hitting your nostalgia button, which is why it’s so preposterous that Paramount Plus hasn’t bothered to put audio description on the first four Scream films. This series is best enjoyed having seen all the films. This isn’t a movie where you just drop in on Scream 6 and have a good time. It’s probably rather confusing if this is your first film.

The performances here are all fine. Melissa is proving to be a strong lead, but by keeping her sister alive, it feels almost like the series has co-leads, because we all know how popular Jenna Ortega is at the moment. Chad and mindy are still hanging out, and now everyone is a film nerd, making them far more expendable.

now, without spoiling much, we do need to talk about something. It’s a big fucking problem in this film. I realize it’s something that the franchise has played with before, with characters constantly surviving improbable situations. Here, I think quite literally everyone gets stabbed or shot at some point. You wouldn’t know it since most of them walk around like they are fucking Terminators after that. What Ghostface(s) is able to put up with in this film is absurd. In one final moment, a good guy gets the upper hand on Ghostface and stabs them like a million times. Then Ghostface proceeds to try and have a conversation. Meanwhile, the heroes are superheroes when needed, and surprised to be alive when not. Like I said, they all get hit, and some of them get that “Surprise! The paramedics found me!” Moment, but others just walk around with their stabs and gunshots like it ain’t no thing. The final act of this film is ridiculous this way.

By the time Scream 7 comes around, someone will probably survive decapitation.

As far as the audio description goes, I know some other blind members have already complained about the subway scene, and how only the presence of Ghostface masks is mentioned. Apparently, the other masks on the subway are representing other horror movie villains like Jason and Michael Myers, but we don’t get that in the audio description. it’s a nice Easter egg for those who can see, and something us blind folk have to hear about later on, or from our sighted companions. it reminds me of the offensively awful audio description for Rescue Rangers, where all the cameos were left out, and does not bridge the gap between being a blind viewer or a sighted one.

But, in other ways, having sat through the first four films with no audio description, I’m just glad we have audio description. With Ghostface popping out all over the place, not having that would make this unwatchable. There are many tense moments where a good guy is fighting Ghostface, and the shit is getting real, and being able to understand that fight makes everything better. Courtney Cox’s Gale has clearly been in some MMA classes since the first murders. She’s ready to kick some ass.

bringing Kirby back was a nice way to help us not miss Sidney as much, and allow the four newbies more time to flesh out their characters. As far as the new kids introduced in this film, forgettable is putting it mildly, unless they turn out to be Ghostface. Some people are truly just cannon fodder.

Definitely check out the opening kill sequence, because it’s by far the best of the franchise, and truly original. Probably the greatest strength this sixth sentry has is doing things that weren’t done in one of the five previous films.

Final Grade: B+