I am rather amused by how the Scream franchise has hopped from one subject after another during last 26 years. At first, “Scream” (1996) simply made a fun of many of its genre clichés and conventions, and then the franchise has become more self-conscious in next four sequels which dealt with each own genre topic, and now “Scream VI” tries to have a wholesale fun with the entire franchise itself. Although it is occasionally tiresome to seasoned moviegoers like me, the movie delivers shock, suspense, and fun as much as expected at least, and that is a bit of achievement considering that the franchise is not much of a refreshing novelty these days.

The most distinguished aspect of the movie is its changed main background. After what happened in the previous film which came out in 2022, Samantha Carpenter (Melissa Barrera) and her younger sister Tara (Jenna Ortega) left their hometown in California and then moved to New York City for their college education as well as their safety and welfare, but they are still struggling with their traumatic past in each own way. While Samantha often has to deal with the unfair online rumors about her, Tara tries to move onto the future without looking back at their terrible past at all, and that certainly generates lots of conflict between them.

However, this personal matter of theirs is soon put aside due to another horrific murder case coming into their life. Naturally hiding behind that infamous mask and attire, somebody seems quite determined to push Samantha and Tara into another misery before, probably, killing both of them in the end, and Samantha and Tara must stick together while also supported by several supposedly helpful figures including Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown) and her brother Chad (Chad Meeks-Martin). Both Mindy and Chad incidentally had a fair share of terror and suffering in the previous film, and, again, Mindy provides a little lecture on the rules and conventions of horror movie franchise as your average movie nerd.

As usual, it is highly possible that somebody around Samantha and Tara is the killer in question, and the screenplay by James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick gives us several possible suspects who often look as shady as required. There is a local cop who happens to be more involved into the case due to a personal reason of his own, and then there comes another figure from the previous film, who may hide something behind the seemingly forthright attitude. In addition, there is also a nice hunky lad living in the apartment building where Samantha and Tara have resided with their roommate, and it goes without saying that he sometimes seems too good to be true.

Anyway, Ghostface soon begins to strike upon Samantha and Tara and several other people associated with him, and directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, who also directed the previous film, serves us a number of intense moments as Samantha and Tara desperately try to survive and clear their name. At one point, we get a terrifying scene where Samantha and Tara try to evade their opponent in an empty convenient store, and the movie later gives us a suspenseful subway scene which places many Ghostfaces around several main characters for more dread and confusion.

Meanwhile, a bunch of notable horror movies are mentioned as expected, and I was certainly tickled by when Mindy and some other main character talk a bit about their favorite horror films. They certainly mention two different Friday the 13th flicks, but they somehow miss “Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan” (1989), probably because the comparison between that film and “Scream VI” is too obvious to say the least.

Like many murderous predecessors of the previous Scream movies, the Ghostface of this movie really tries a lot to terrify and then kill the targets. At one point, it is revealed that there is even a secret lair where numerous old stuffs from the previous films are collected and stored in pristine condition, and I guess this is another self-conscious nod to be appreciated. Sure, it requires some suspension in disbelief just like the preposterous plan of the Ghostface of this movie, but it is surely a big nostalgic moment for those numerous fans of franchise out there.

Although things become less engaging when everything is eventually revealed in front of us, Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega ably anchor the film via their diligent efforts, and they are also supported well by several other cast members including Jasmin Savoy Brown, Mason Gooding, Hayden Panettiere, and Dermot Mulroney. As the first victims to be killed during the opening scene, Samara Weaving and Tony Revolori have some little fun with their respectively brief moments, and Courteney Cox does more than providing the connection between the movie and the previous Scream movies, though it is a shame that Neve Campbell does not appear here due to that well-publicized disagreement on her fee for appearance in the film (Seriously, folks, doesn’t she really deserve more, considering how much closely the franchise has been associated with her acting career?).

In conclusion, “Scream VI” does not top the entertainment quality of the previous film, but it shows that its franchise still has some potential to amuse and entertain us. As your typical jaded moviegoer, I do not expect much about whatever may come next after “Scream VI”, but I will not complain as long as the franchise can still find and then have a fun with another new genre territory to stab and slash.