Scream VI (2023)

**Scream VI cranks up the violence, paranoia, and chaos but also enhances the character development and story, making the new directors' second entry even better than I had hoped!**
I have been hyped and anxiously anticipating this movie since the final moments of finishing Scream (2022) in theaters - and it did not disappoint! The Radio Silence team (Bettinnelli-Olpin and Gillett) prove they are the perfect new shepherds of the franchise. The four young survivors take giant leaps in character development as they grapple with the trauma, fallout, and spotlight of the last film's events. Their loyalty and care for each other draw immediate similarities to Sidney, Dewey, and Gale, which quickly endear the "Core Four" as beloved characters you desperately want to survive. The danger, kills, and gore all have been cranked up a notch, and for the first time in the franchise, even the survivors are possible Ghostfaces. I doubt and suspect everyone while simultaneously caring for them - that is masterful writing right there! On top of all that, having another legacy character back with Kirby Reed returning was fantastic. I loved this movie, but I really missed Dewey and Sidney. I also think the main Ghostface killer is a little too over the top when revealed, which keeps Scream (1996) and Scream (2022) ahead on my list. But those are incredibly minor complaints! Scream VI is another exceptional entry in the Scream franchise, and I hope we get another one soon!

Pretty much what I expected from the fifth installment of a franchise that ended after its second - i.e., bad. Gale Weathers makes an appearance, but the original cast is gone.
At the start, the main character walks up to some guy and says 'I'm gonna taze you in the balls', and does so. Instead of spending the rest of the movie in a jail cell on sexual assault charges, and then getting sued into the ground, the film just goes on. (The victim was a white male, so modern hollywood wants you to think it's 'funny' rather than disgusting.) From that point on, the main character is in no way an innocent victim, so it's hard to care that she's being pursued by a killer. The plot is mediocre, there are no funny or cool characters that the viewer might actually care about, and the killer's identity has reached the level of 'roommate's friend's brother's dogwalker', aka 'who cares'. Very forgetable.