Scream 6 is the 6th installment of the popular slasher franchise wherein another set of killings take place in the city of New York. The story may not be too novel but credit to the writers for adding ‘rules’ and meta-references and also playing around with different combinations to keep the audience invested. The screenplay standing at a shade above 2 hours does make for an exciting watch which is surprisingly layered in its writing as well.

If you have been a fan of the franchise or atleast have watched its previous films then you would know that all films do open with a murder. So the setting would be a lonely house with a girl unassumingly answering a phone call before being sliced to pulp. But I was surprised and pleasantly so at the opening scene here which really did pull a fast one on the audience. So there is a murder followed by a reveal of the masked killer in the very first scene. But the twist in the tale being that the hunter does become the hunted by another masked killer. The beginning really had my undivided attention and how!

You are soon introduced to the protagonist and a few survivors from the previous films of the franchise. You need to keep in mind that this is a sequel of a requel and so there is a chance that you may spot atleast a couple of familiar faces from last time, besides a couple of legacy characters. The screenplay here is a little more than a few cheap thrills. It does well in building the world and its set of characters. For instance, the drama is set against the backdrop of Halloween which makes it that much more textured, thereby adding to the fun quotient of the film.

To top it, there are an interesting mix of characters, both old and new and each one of them is a suspect. As a character lays off the rules, everyone is a suspect, everyone is dispensable in the franchise! What that does is that it does raise its stakes that much higher by creating an element of doubt in the minds of the viewer who does indulge in the guessing game while also rooting for his/her favourite character. And yes, there are multiple set pieces that keep you on your toes by building the right amount of tension before the killings are underway!

I did like how self aware the writing was, creating a homage of its previous films in the form of a shrine/museum while throwing in several meta-references of the universe and genre. The twists and turns in the screenplay are interesting leading up to the grand reveal which is equally satisfactory. And there is a tinge of nostalgia thrown in every now and then, either through some characters or the situations. The logical angle did just about add up as far as the reasoning was concerned thus summing up the screenplay which may just have kickstarted a fading and fatigued franchise!