The most difficult genre to portray on screen is Horror. It is easier to create romance and drama for the audience to enjoy, but Horror flicks need to jump through a few extra hoops to capture their audience’s attention. After all, we can all relate to when Harry fell in love with Sally on their road trip, but most people will never experience a cursed spirit coming out of the TV Set to kill them. Horror flicks require their audience to suspend disbelief, but there is a genre where the human in us will be terrified and scream at the events.
Think about it, in between ghosts, cursed spirits, homicidal clowns, and other supernatural things which are never going to happen to an average Joe, wouldn’t the idea of a psycho out to kill everyone with his foot-long knife scare you into wetting your pant?
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Slasher Films
Slasher flicks are inherently human. It focuses on the idea of a slayer who walks among us. On an average Friday night, people around us who are out to kill innocents create the scary elements in the genre, making us terrified. It makes us question if our loved ones have a scary secret that they are hiding. It whispers in our ears,
“Your boyfriend could kill you in your sleep!”,
“The best friend looks particularly suspicious carving out that watermelon for us to eat!”,
“Your sister has been acting weird lately, maybe you need to see if she follows anyone to kill them!”,
” OH MY GOD, WHAT IF THAT WEIRD GUY IN YOUR CLASS TURNS OUT TO BE A SOCIOPATH IN THE MAKING!”
The early influences on the genres are psychological horror flicks that include ‘Psyco’ and ‘Peeping Tom’ in the 1960s. The period referred to as the golden age of the genre occurred between 1978 and 1984. Films such as ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,’ ‘Halloween,’ ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street,’ ‘I Know what you did last Summer,’ and ‘Child’s Play’ were some of the more prominent ones. But even within these excellent films, there was a flick that spawned what appears to be the only successful sequence amidst the flop sequels. That series is none other than the ‘Scream’. The movies are a meta take on the scary picture genre.
Scream VI
Just a few weeks after releasing V, with the positive reception of the previous film, they announced the new movie. Sisters Sam and Tara get settled in New York City following the controversy in Woodsboro, and the film follows their journey. Richie’s friend Jason plots with his roommate to kill Sam and her younger sister to finish Richie’s picture. The new murderer donning the mask kills both him and their roommate Greg. The new murderers, seeking revenge for their family members, were revealed to be none other than Richie’s family.
Scream Franchise
The Franchise largely follows the same formula of a murder happening in the opening sequence and the flick following the mystery of who is the killer with a final showdown happening between the protagonist and the slayer who goes by the moniker of GhostFace. Wes Craven directed the first four films before his untimely death in 2015. Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett directed the last two films. The Franchise has developed a cult-like following from when it was first released in 1996 and the subsequent sequels that followed. The movies are a meta take on the scary picture genre. While I, II, V, and VI were box office hits, III and IV had somewhat of a mixed response.
Scream (1996)
The Original motion picture follows a girl named Sidney Prescott and the murders that follow around in the town of Woodsboro by a slayer named Ghostface who had also murdered her mother a year before. The murderer goes around calling other teenagers in the town and asking questions about horror films. In the game, answering incorrectly leads to brutal murders. The movie’s conclusion reveals that the killer was Sidney’s boyfriend Billy and his best friend Stu. They reveal their plan to Sidney about how they both killed her mother for having an affair with Billy’s father, which drove his mother away. After one final showdown between Sidney and Billy, she kills him with a gun just as the police arrive.
Scream II (1997)
The sequel follows the events of the motion picture after a two-year time skip where our protagonist Sidney and the other surviving characters of the massacre are off to the fictional Windsor College in Ohio. Once again, they find themselves targeted by a copycat murderer who assumes the identity of the killer depicted in the film “Stab,” which is based on the Woodsboro massacre. Later on, it’s disclosed that the killer was Mickey Altieri, Sidney’s new boyfriend Derek’s best friend, who had an accomplice named Nancy Loomis. Nancy impersonated someone named Debbie in the scheme. Nancy wanted revenge for Sidney killing her son Billy. Scream II ends with Sidney killing Mickey and Debbie.
Scream III (2000)
The third film in the franchise follows the story with once again a two-year time skip, 4 years after the original massacre in Woodsboro with our characters on different paths to each other. Sidney is a crisis counselor living in self-isolation. Gale remains a reporter, and she receives a call from Detective Mark Kincaid after a GhostFace impersonator murders Cotton Weary and his girlfriend. Gale travels to Hollywood where she meets Dewey Riley, who is working as an adviser on the 3rd Stab film.
One by one, the cast members are brutally murdered, and it later emerges that the perpetrator is none other than the director of the film, Roman Bridgers, who happens to be Sidney’s half-brother. Their mother had a secret life as an actress in Hollywood before meeting Sidney’s father. Roman was the one who showed Billy the videotapes of his father having an affair with Maureen and encouraged him to kill her which started the original murders in their town. Sidney, with the help of other characters, then murders Roman.
Scream IV (2011)
Fifteen years after the original murders in Woodsboro, the fourth film opens with a new killer who starts terrorizing the town, killing teenagers Jenny Randall and Marnie Cooper. The next day, Sidney arrives to promote her new self-help book and they immediately announce her as a suspect. While all this is happening, Sidney’s cousin is grieving after her boyfriend Trevor cheats on her with some other girl. Gale and Dewey are married with the latter being promoted to sheriff while Gale is experiencing writer’s block.
Against her husband’s wishes, Gale starts to investigate the murders with the help of movie fanatic, Charlie Walker and Robbie Mercer. It is later revealed that there were actually two Ghostfaces, them being Jill and Charlie. Jill was envious of her elder cousin getting fame as the survivor of the previous murders and wanted that same fame for herself. After a fight between them, Sidney murders her.
Scream V (2022)
A new cast brings us another set of terrifying sequences of murders, 25 years after the events of the first film. One night, high school student Tara Carpenter is alone when a new Ghostface attacks her. After learning of the attack from her friends, her older sister Samantha arrives in Woodsboro with her boyfriend Richie Kirsch. Samantha informs her sister about how she is the daughter of the original murderer Billy and that is the reason for their parent’s separation. After a sequence of murders targeting their friend group, they all go to Dewey who is divorced from Gale for help. Dewey contacts Gale and Sidney about the new Ghostface in town.
Following a series of intense confrontations, including one that claims Dewey’s life, it is subsequently unveiled that Samantha’s boyfriend, Richie, and their friend Amber are the ones responsible for the recent string of murders. Their motivation stems from their belief that the latest film, Stab 8, fails to honor the essence of the original movies. They wanted the original cast to come back to the town and give filmmakers some materials for future movies. Sam fights Richie and kills him after seeing a hallucination of her father in the mirror.
Characters
Dewey Riley
Dewey Riley is the Deputy Sheriff of Woodsboro and a friend of our protagonist Sidney. He investigates the murders happening around the town while also forming a romance with Cox’s character Gale. He survived being stabbed in the first film. In the 5th installment of The Franchise, Riley dies from a stab wound to the stomach while reminiscing about his final scene in the 1996 one. He is portrayed by David Arquette.
Sidney Prescott
In the franchise, following her mother’s passing by a year, Sidney becomes the target of a murderer. Eventually, it is revealed that her former boyfriend, Billy Loomis, accompanied by his closest friend, Stu Macher, are the perpetrators. The American Actress Neve Campbell portrays Sidney. In some of the promotional interviews, Neve Campbell describes Sidney as a fellow that is a symbol of strength. Sidney does not want to be the victim if she can help it.
Gale Weathers
Portrayed by the ever-charming Courteney Cox, Gale is the quintessential archetype of a girl boss. The only character in this motion picture universe to appear in every movie, Gale fears no one. Gale is introduced as a fame-seeking reporter in the original film, but by the VI film, she is the go-to person for anything related to the murders. In some of the interviews, the actress stated that the producers were reluctant to cast her as the reporter because of her fame as the beloved Monica Geller in Friends. But she pursued the role like crazy and finally got in.
Sam Carpenter
Melissa Barrera plays Samantha Carpenter in the flick. In the fifth installment, she is introduced as the daughter of Billy Loomis and the half-sister of Tara Carpenter. After learning of her true parentage in her adolescence, she started distancing herself from her sister out of fear that she would also have a psychotic break like her estranged father. Sam returns to Woodsboreo after learning about the attack on her sister.
Tara
Jenna Ortega played this before she became famed as Wednesday, she is the younger sister of our protagonist. She becomes the first target of the new ghost faces that start plaguing the town 25 years after the events of the first movie. She is a fan of Elevator Horror and is the one who shoots Amber in the head with a gun and kills her.
Mindy Meeks-Martin
Jasmin Savoy Brown portrays Mindy, a resident of the town of Woodsboro and the fraternal twin of Chad, portrayed by Mason Gooding. She is the resident expert in all things related to scary. She is also a huge fan of all things Terror.
Show times
Some of the Showtimes for Scream VI in New York City are:
AMC Empire 25: 12:00 PM, 3:20 PM, 6:40 PM.
Regal E-Walk 15: 11:45 AM, 2:55 PM, 5:45 PM, 8:35 PM.
AMC Lincoln Square 13: 10:20 AM, 1:20 PM, 4:20 PM, 7:20 PM.
Regal Union Square 14: 11:55 AM, 3:05 PM, 6:15 PM, 9:25 PM.
AMC Loews Kips Bay 15: 12:15 PM, 3:35 PM, 6:55 PM.
These are some of the shows where Scream VI is showing.
Where does Scream VI take place?
Scream VI is set in NYC, where Jason chooses Manhattan as the location for this spree of murders, while his sister Sam and Tara adjust to their new surroundings.
Who directed Scream VI?
The duo Bettinelli and Olpin Gillett directed Scream VI. They had also previously directed the Requel after the untimely death of Craven, The guy who introduced the world to this flick.
What are the 5 elements of Horror Movie?
The 5 elements are
- Suspense,
- Fear,
- Violence,
- Gore,
- Supernatural.
Every Horror Movie will follow even one of these elements to make a successful motion picture.
Where does Scream VI take place?
The Scream movie takes place in NYC where Jason takes Manhattan as the place for this spree of murders as sister Sam and Tara get used to the new place.
Conclusion
The terror that the audience feels toward any form of entertainment has a trait of provoking emotional, psychological, and physical responses that they feel as a type of endorphins in their system. We feel good when we get scared. Motion pictures are a type of media where even normal Joe can feel the same as a protagonist feels towards the screen. Only scary pictures have a way of making us feel like that. And it’s not a thing that was developed only recently. Scary media has been in our society from the start in the form of folktales and other religious things.
