Warning: This article contains spoilers for Scream VI and older films in the franchise
Of all the Scream movies, Scream VI has the most murderous Ghostfaces… In spirit and practice.
The movie unveils an impressive shrine to the infamous Woodsboro killers hidden in New York City, collecting together every possible artifact from the meta-slasher whodunit saga’s history. That means even more callbacks to the franchise’s complicated history, even though it only features one original character.
The movie features a pointed reference to Scream 3, the one installment that sticks out because it features just one masked killer. Roman Bridger’s DNA is duly left at one crime scene as a distracting clue in the movie.
It’s in the gallery of Ghostface artifacts that Scream VI reveals the true identity of the film’s main Ghostface killers and the obligatory twists and exposition. But true to the movie’s position as the sequel that turns Scream 5’s Requel into a new franchise, Scream VI had to up the game.
Scream VI has how many killers?
Scream VI ups the game with more masked killers than any previous Scream movie.
True to form, only two killers wear the traditional black coat and mask at the movie’s conclusion, but they are two of three killers orchestrating the plan to kill the film’s “Core Four.”
Three is Scream VI’s magic number, thanks to the family seeking revenge on the Carpenter sisters and their friends. This time, it’s not the love interest in the movie that the victims have to worry about, but one from the previous installment.
It’s Richie’s family — his father, brother, and sister — that is seeking revenge for his death in the previous movie. But the game in this new lease of life for the franchise doesn’t stop there. The film breaks protocol in more ways than shifting the action to New York City. Two Ghostfaces are dispatched in the pre-title sequence, albeit only one is seen killing in the trademark first pre-title kill. A clue that this isn’t a legit Ghostface is clear Jason, a Giallo fanatic who’s seeking to complete Richie’s fan-steered Stab movie along with his unfortunately refrigerated roommate Greg
That means Scream VI serves up three to five Ghostface killers who actually kill in the film. We’re definitely counting Ritchie’s dad, Detective Bailey, his brother Ethan and sister Quinn as the official Ghostfaces who can say they’ve earned their place alongside the other costumed killers in the ‘Muscream.’
For the second movie in a row, Billy Loomis pops up to encourage the darker side of his daughter Sam Carpenter. He’s the unmasked ghost of Ghostfaces past, but the movie has a lot of fun using its Halloween setting to serve up plenty of others wearing the mask. Naturally, the latest Stab-prompted killing spree boosts sales of masks across New York City.
The franchise hasn’t reached V for Vendetta levels yet, but it can only be a few movies away.