“It does a lot of work to make them feel respected and seen and appreciated,” he continues. “There’s a lot of other horror movies that are very mean with their violence and their kills. Scream is not one of them – I think you leave the movie feeling better than you came into it.”

Gooding plays Chad in the upcoming addition to the horror franchise, one of the ‘core four’ – the four survivors from the previous ‘requel’ movie, Scream, which was released in 2022.

Now, if all of this sequel, requel and franchise stuff is getting a bit confusing, we’ll give you a quick tour right here. The original Scream was released back in 1996 and gave the slasher movie a new lick of paint with its clever – and very meta – take on the genre.

Directed by horror legend Wes Craven, it followed Sidney (Neve Campbell), Gale (Courteney Cox) and Dewey (David Arquette), who were all trying to escape and find the real identity of the Ghostface killer who is terrorising the quiet suburban town of Woodsboro.

Scream had a direct sequel with Scream 2 in 1997, and then another, Scream 3 in 2000, all directed by Craven.

There was then a bit of a gap in Scream movies, but Craven returned to the franchise in 2011 for Scream 4, which was sadly to be his final Scream movie before he died.

It starred the survivors from the original cast alongside Emma Roberts as Sidney’s cousin Jill and Hayden Panettiere as Kirby (who returns to the franchise in Scream VI). 

That could have been the end of the franchise if it wasn’t for the flurry of ‘requels’ gracing the silver screen in the past few years. A requel is basically a movie set within a franchise, and revisits the subject of an earlier film, but that does not necessarily mean it is a remake or a linear continuation of its plot (i.e not a sequel). 

Films like Mad Max: Fury Road, Halloween (2018) and Creed have done this successfully, and so did Scream when it was released in 2022. 

Directed by Ready Or Not’s Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, the duo were the perfect pair to take on a new movie fad via a franchise that famously discusses movie fads within its storyline. 

Now the pair are back with Scream VI, and things are changing up once again with the usual setting of Woodsboro being moved to New York. It’s also the first movie with just one Scream alumni in it, with Cox returning once more as Gale Weathers. 

Okay, all caught up? Good. Back with the interviews. 

We’re wondering how a movie that’s set so far apart from the first Scream – in location, time and even without most of the original cast – can still fit within the franchise. And who better to ask than Jasmin Savoy Brown? 

Brown plays Chad’s sister Mindy – the horror geek who tells her friends (and us) the ‘new’ rules of the genre within the movies (she’s also Randy’s niece, the horror geek from the first movie. See how it all fits in?).

“Scream VI fits in this franchise because of Ghostface, the iconic killer,” she tells us. “We have the same theme of family and friends and ‘who could be the killer?’ Anyone could be the killer. But it’s different because this is the most brutal, intense, scary Ghostface that we have seen. It stands out because it takes everything from [Scream 2022] and brings it to another level.”

“He’s definitely killing a lot more people,” agrees Jenna Ortega who plays Tara (another of the ‘core four’). “He’s a lot more careless. 

“Ghostface has typically been shown as falling over himself at times,” she continues. “He’s kind of lovable and funny because he’s got his own little quirks and in this one there’s still definitely those moments but he’s more dangerous [in this movie]. I would say he’s not as methodical. It’s strictly murder.” 

Being part of such an epic franchise means not only does the latest iteration have to feel part of the universe, but to be a real success, it needs to stand out too. 

“I think Scream VI stands out in this franchise because it’s probably the most intense Scream has ever gotten,” Ortega explains  “I think that the horror aspect really comes into play in this one.” 

That new setting plays a big part too in ensuring the movie carves (sorry) a path of its own.”It’s the first time that our franchise has left the West Coast,” nods Melissa Barrera, who plays Tara’s sister Sam. “So now it’s a completely different terrain, which makes it exciting and different, because of New York as a character. The city is a character in the movie, and it I think it just raises the stakes.” 

The reason the franchise has changed location is because the core four have done the same. They’ve moved from the quiet suburbs of Woodsboro to go to college in New York City. But surely they’ll be safer in the busier setting?

“They’re definitely trying to distance themselves from the tragedy that took place in Woodsboro,” Gooding explains. “It’s said in the movie that lightning can’t strike twice, so naturally, they’re going to try and move forward with their personal lives. It isn’t until tragedy finds them again, and they’re thrust back into the Ghostface scenario that they have to regroup and find out how a family can really pull them together.”

Indeed, family and friends have always been a major component in the Scream franchise (and not just because one of them could always be the murderer) and Scream VI is no different. The relationship of our four main characters are developed in this movie and shows how they’re all coping and coming together in the aftermath of the tragedy that they saw in Scream 2022. 

“I feel like we established the core four a bit more on this one,” Ortega explains. “They’re sibling pairs and I feel like the dynamic between siblings and also the trauma that we all went through last year… It’s been really fun to elaborate that and I feel like we have a stronger base for characters.” 

It’s that strong family connection that Brown hopes audiences take away from the movie when those credits roll (alongside a few thrills, naturally): “I hope that they take away the power of family and that people of colour are very smart and resourceful,” she tells us. “I hope that they’re impressed and that they’re a little bit scared and excited.”

You can find out whether it did just that in our review here.

Scream 6 will be in cinemas on 8 March 2023. 

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Directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett (pictured above) are bringing their unique style and humour (check out their previous movie, Ready Or Not, for more of that) to the Scream franchise and we spoke to the pair about carrying on Wes Craven’s legacy and why we’re still obsessed with Ghostface over 20 years on…

What is it about the Scream franchise that pulled you into wanting to do a new addition?

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin: Well, we were offered the job which was awesome! It was a very serendipitous situation where a friend of ours, who’s also one of the writers and one of the producers, got the opportunity with his producing partners to make the new Scream and he said ‘this is the group we want to make it with’ and we were a part of that group!

For us, honestly, it’s just been a dream come true. It’s one of our favourite movies. It’s one of our favourite franchises. It’s everything we love about movies and so to be offered the opportunity to step into Wes Craven’s shoes and carry on his legacy and this franchise has just been unbelievable.

I think our biggest concerns were ‘we can’t mess this up’. Let’s not mess it up. Let’s make sure we do it justice and that’s something we talked about throughout the process. I guess we’re still talking about it a little bit [haha!] but it’s been incredible.

Tyler Gillett: I mean, up until the moment they said, ‘hey, you should come read this script’, I don’t think any of us would have ever said that we would make a Scream movie just because of how dear they are to us! How much they mean to us and the level of risk involved in jumping into that and maybe screwing up. Then we read the script and we were so excited by what they had written that we couldn’t not be involved!

What is it about the Scream movies that keep us wanting to come back for more?

Tyler Gillett: I think it’s so many things. The tone is a huge thing. It’s one of the things that’s been so influential on us in the way that we approach the kind of stories we want to tell. They’re big, fun, entertaining movies, and they do a bit of everything and they do it all so well!

They’re terrifying, they’re violent, they’re funny, the characters are super interesting and the dynamic between them is so watchable and rewatchable. For us, that’s the experience that we always want to have when we go to a movie theatre and these movies, every single one of them, achieves that at such a high level.

Then outside of that, they’re also just such a fun reflection of the time when they were made. I think part of what’s so unique to a Scream movie is that they’re all really interested in tackling something topical and specific. So they feel like time capsules.

We’ve had this conversation about Scream 4 a bunch. It’s been sort of reappraised because it was so ahead of its time when it first came out. Now we’re living in the reality that that movie was just starting to scratch when it came out. That’s an incredible thing for a movie to be able to do and I think it’s part of what’s so fun about these movies.

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin: Also, just by the nature of what they are, they have to accept your expectations and then subvert your expectations so that each movie is an evolution of the previous movies. Not just in the story, but in the way that it interacts with the audience, which is something that a lot of franchises don’t have to do.

This one has to be like ‘we know what you’re thinking, we’re going to do it slightly differently… Ahh, we got you!’ and then do it in a totally different way.

The other big thing is the characters. They’re characters that we love. Sidney Prescott is one of the all-time great characters. You always kind of want to see where they are in life and how that’s progressing and follow them…

What do you want for audiences to take away from the movie?

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin: We’ve had a lot of people tell us that the end credits made them cry which was I think about the best, highest compliment you can get. If the movie can make you that emotional… especially a movie that’s wildly just fun and kind of bananas for a large part of it!

I think the conversation that this movie is having, with the motive behind the killings, is very topical for us. It’s very interesting, and it’s a conversation that we as movie fans are kind of having. I think it’s fun to throw this out there and then talk about it. Let’s see where it goes and what’s the evolution of that and what’s it going to be about next.

The fun of it for us was that it’s a topic that we get to live on both sides of because of who we are. If you haven’t seen the movie, this will all make sense later, but it was really fun for us, in a very, very meta way…

Tyler Gillett: I also think part of what we hope the movie does is whether you absolutely love it or don’t love it, that you can have that opinion of it and not take yourself or the movie so seriously.

There are a lot of really interesting, a lot of really poignant, deep things happening in it. But at the end of the day, we hope that it’s just fun and entertaining and is a good time. Maybe that’s enough…

Scream is available to Download & Keep from March 30 and on 4K UHD, Blu-ray & DVD from April 11. Read our review here.

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The killer in the latest Scream movie is revealed in the brand new poster for the latest installation for the horror franchise. See if you can guess the perpetrator in the poster above…

Set 25 years after a streak of brutal murders shocked the quiet town of Woodsboro, Scream sees a new killer donning the Ghostface mask and targeting a group of teenagers to resurrect secrets from the town’s deadly past.

Watch the trailer for the movie here…

Directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett (Ready Or Not), Scream sees the return of Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox and David Arquette alongside Melissa Barrera (In the Heights), Kyle Gallner (The Haunting in Connecticut), Mason Gooding (Electric Easy), Mikey Madison (Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood), Dylan Minnette (Don’t Breathe), Jenna Ortega (Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous), Jack Quaid (The Boys), Marley Shelton (Rampage), Jasmin Savoy Brown (Sound Of Violence), and Sonia Ammar.

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A whole new set of teens are being targeted in Woodsboro in the latest trailer for the new Scream movie, which also sees a few familiar faces.

Check it out here…

Twenty-five years after a streak of brutal murders shocked the quiet town of Woodsboro, a new killer has donned the Ghostface mask and begins targeting a group of teenagers to resurrect secrets from the town’s deadly past.

Directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett (Ready Or Not), Scream sees the return of Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox and David Arquette alongside Melissa Barrera (In the Heights), Kyle Gallner (The Haunting in Connecticut), Mason Gooding (Electric Easy), Mikey Madison (Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood), Dylan Minnette (Don’t Breathe), Jenna Ortega (Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous), Jack Quaid (The Boys), Marley Shelton (Rampage), Jasmin Savoy Brown (Sound Of Violence), and Sonia Ammar.

Scream is exclusively in cinemas on 14 January.

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