Scream 6 is the latest entry in one of the most successful horror franchises out there. For the most part, it has managed to keep things fresh by subverting certain horror tropes. The movie itself is a sequel to the requel, Scream (2022). Bringing back legacy characters, along with a new cast and storyline, the franchise returns with a bang.
As it is with any long-running franchise, Scream 6 successfully modernizes the plot and setting for today’s audiences. A little tweak here and a subversion there go a long way, as the franchise has proven. With that in mind, here are some of the ways that the Scream 6 horror tropes subvert what we’re used to seeing from movies in this genre.
Editor’s Note: The article below contains spoilers for Scream 6.
No More Strength In Numbers
As Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown) loves to remind audiences, there are certain rules in the slasher subgenre. Usually, the villain picks off their victims one by one. That makes sense because if a serial killer attacked a group of people with just a knife, odds are that the victims would overpower the killer. While that’s a great theory, the Scream 6 horror tropes address this by showing the audience just how terrifying a knife-wielding maniac would be, even if there was strength in numbers.
For the most part, in horror movies, a group huddled in an apartment is most likely safe from attack. So, the question is, how would a killer take on all these characters? Scream 6 masterfully proves how insanely horrific that would be if it happened — because it does. In the scene where all the main characters are in Sam’s (Melissa Barrera) and Tara’s (Jenna Ortega) apartment, they’re just hanging out. It’s a place they feel safe because they’re together.
But in comes Ghostface, slashing and hacking away and making short work of the group. The movie shows how the audacity of this masked killer goes against all common sense. Altogether, the chaos splits up the group, locking Tara and Chad (Mason Gooding) out of the apartment in the confusion. Meanwhile, Sam, Annika (Devyn Nekoda), and Mindy are locked in a room after sustaining massive injuries. The scene was terrifying for the sole reason that you’d never expect the killer to show up with so many people around.
Scream 6 Horror Tropes Deals With Public Places
Another popular horror movie trope is that there’s safety in public places. Well, that one is totally debunked in the first few scenes of the movie. While the first killer Jason (Tony Revolori), has to manipulate his victim (Samara Weaving) into a dark alley to kill her, it’s still pretty blatant. The alley in question is in the middle of a bustling New York City street with a crowd of people everywhere. But that doesn’t stop Jason from brutally stabbing his victim and leaving her for dead in public.
The next instance is even more ballsy. Basically, the real Ghostface killer chases Sam and Tara into a bodega. Usually, when chased by a killer, running into a public place leads the victim to safety. But clearly, Scream 6 didn’t get the memo, as the killer not only enters the bodega but kills a few people before making his way to Sam and Tara.
The Scream 6 Horror Tropes Get Meta
Another really cool thing that Scream 6 does is make the murders a sensationalist thing within its story. As news of the Ghostface murders goes around, sales of the generic ghost face mask skyrocket, and everyone is wearing one for Halloween. So in a slasher whodunnit story where everyone is a suspect, we now have everyone running around in the killer’s mask. Needless to say, it ups the stakes of what is possible in the franchise.
With all the meta stab movies within the movie, this aspect of the Scream franchise is genius. It allows the world within the story to be partially in on it from the outside. They did all this while making the audience feel like a part of the core group of characters. There’s the added plus (or minus) that it makes it even more chaotic trying to figure out who the killer is.
How New York City Itself Subverts A Massive Horror Trope
Setting Scream 6 in New York City was basically a brilliant idea. As mentioned earlier, the intrigue of this storyline wouldn’t be possible if it wasn’t in a sprawling city like NYC. A killer running into a small mom-and-pop store in a town like Woodsboro would be very noticeable. Additionally, they probably couldn’t afford the killer an escape since everyone would be aware of the slightest action.
Even Mindy’s stabbing on the public train wouldn’t be possible in a small town. Only the indifference of the NYC train-using public can allow Ghostface to stab a girl with no one noticing. It’s even more obvious that the city itself plays a huge role in subverting these Scream 6 horror tropes.
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