The film opens in New York City. A woman named Laura Crane is at a bar waiting for her date,
Reggie. He claims that he is lost and asks to call her. Laura and “Reggie” begin to banter
over first dates and Laura’s career as a film studies professor for slasher films. She talks
about certain tropes in popular slashers before Reggie asks her to go outside to let him know
where she is. She does so and goes down an alley when he says he is going through one.
Laura walks down the alley and hears the voice of none other than GHOSTFACE. He taunts her
for falling for a horror movie cliche of walking down a dark alley, before proceeding to brutally
stab her to death. Ghostface then removes his mask to reveal himself as Jason Carvey.
Jason starts walking back to his dorm when he runs into Tara Carpenter, who is on her way to a
frat party. She and Sam have moved to New York for college along with Chad and Mindy. Jason goes back
to his dorm room that he shares with his roommate and friend Greg. Jason gets a call from “Greg”,
as he hears the Ghostface voice speaking to him. They have a small shrine devoted
to Ghostface and the “Stab” movies, and it turns out Laura was their professor,
with Jason being annoyed at how she graded his paper on Dario Argento. Jason and Greg’s goal
is to murder Sam and Tara to finish the film that Richie Kirsch was trying to create. “Greg”
then tells Jason to find him, eventually coming upon the real Greg’s severed remains stashed in
the fridge. The real Ghostface then emerges and stabs Jason, who complains that he has
to finish Richie’s movie before Ghostface tells him “Who gives a fuck about movies?”
Sam is at a therapy session with Dr. Christopher Stone, as she has still not fully recovered from
the last killing spree in Woodsboro. A rumor is spread that Sam orchestrated that killing
spree due to her being Billy Loomis’s daughter and pinned it on Richie and
Amber Freeman. Stone appears uneasy when Sam expresses a certain satisfaction for
killing Richie after he betrayed her and tried to kill her and her sister.
Sam returns to the apartment that she shares with her sister and friends,
plus Quinn Bailey and Ethan Landry. Quinn tells Sam that Tara is at the frat party despite Sam
telling her not to go. Before she goes to find her sister, Quinn notices that Sam checks out
her neighbor, Danny, but after what happened with Richie, she is not ready to date again.
At the party, Mindy is with her girlfriend, Anika Kayoko, when they notice Tara, very drunk,
about to go upstairs with a drunk frat boy, Frankie, to hook up. The girls plus Chad step in,
even though Tara insists she is consenting, but Chad and Frankie get into a fight before
Sam arrives and tases Frankie in the balls. The group gets Tara out, but she is angry at Sam for
butting in on her personal life when she is still scared of what happened to them. Moments later,
they are harassed by a group of women who throw a drink at Sam and call her a murderer.
When the group returns to their home, Quinn tries to help, telling Tara she had a brother
who died and that her father, a cop, is very protective of her. Chad then comforts Tara,
and it appears that an attraction has formed between them. Meanwhile,
Sam secretly hooks up with Danny, as they have been for months, but Sam doesn’t want her sister
and friends to know because of everything that has happened. Everyone then watches the news as they
learn the news about Jason and Greg, plus Jason’s murder of Laura. Realizing that Ghostface is back,
Sam prepares to get Tara to leave, but Tara refuses to flee even though Mindy and
Chad also agree that this is suspicious. Quinn’s father, Detective Wayne Bailey,
calls and asks to speak to Sam, as it turns out that someone stole Sam’s license and planted it
at the scene of Jason and Greg’s murders. He requests that Sam go to the police station.
As Sam starts walking to the station, Tara follows. Sam then gets a phone call from
Richie’s number. She hesitantly answers and hears Ghostface talking to her, saying that
she is responsible for the last Woodsboro murder spree. Ghostface emerges and tries to stab Tara,
but Sam pushes him off, and the sisters run into a bodega. He follows and kills two customers before
the manager tries to shoot him with a shotgun. The killer gets the jump on the manager and stabs
him before disarming and shooting him dead. Ghostface stalks the Carpenters before they
manage to push a shelf onto him and run outside as the police arrive. By the time they get there,
Ghostface has run out the back of the store, leaving his mask behind.
Sam and Tara are brought to the station to meet with Bailey. He is then informed that
the FBI is moving in on the case, and they have sent Ghostface survivor Kirby Reed.
She knows Sam from when they went to high school together, and she sympathizes with
their shared Ghostface history. As the sisters leave the station, they are swarmed by reporters,
including Gale Weathers. Sam and Tara have since grown to resent Gale since she ended up writing
a book about Richie and Amber’s killing spree when she said she wouldn’t, and also referred
to Sam as “unstable” and “a born killer”. Sam attempts to punch Gale, but she dodges
it after learning from Sidney, only for Tara to sucker punch her. Gale tries to explain herself,
also mentioning that Sidney is staying out of this one to keep her husband and kids safe,
but Sam hits Gale personally by asking how Dewey would feel about what she has done.
Dr. Stone is in his home when he hears someone at the door. As he goes to answer, he finds Ghostface
there. He breaks through the glass in the door and smashes Stone’s head against the bars before
fatally stabbing him in the face. Ghostface then enters his home and steals Sam’s patient file.
Mindy gathers her brother, the Carpenters, plus Quinn, Anika, and Ethan, to discuss what
Ghostface’s motives are this time around and the rules that they are following now, because it is
no longer just a sequel or a “sequel to a requel”, but they are now in a full-fledged franchise. They
are in a new city with higher stakes and more potential suspects, to the point that even the
survivors of the last killing spree are suspects. Mindy also says that much like James Bond,
Tony Stark, and Luke Skywalker, even being a “main character” will not guarantee their survival.
Bailey talks to Kirby, as the mask left behind at Stone’s murder scene belonged to Roman Bridger,
Sidney’s half-brother who was the only Ghostface that didn’t work with a partner.
They try to analyze the connection between the previous nine Ghostface killers. Kirby had to
deal with Sidney’s cousin Jill Roberts and her partner Charlie Walker, which leaves out
the connections between Stu Macher, Nancy Loomis, and her partner Mickey Altieri.
Back at the apartment, the group watches the news over how Stone was murdered, and Sam is
now the chief suspect because of the video the obnoxious girls from the night before posted. Sam
tells Tara how hard it is for her to experience this kind of hate, but Chad and Mindy step in to
say how they all love Sam, and Chad says they are a “core four”. Across the way, Danny sees
Ghostface in Quinn’s room and tries to warn Sam, who just told the others about them hooking up,
but she ignores his call. They then overhear Quinn apparently struggling with Ghostface.
The four approach the door, and Ghostface throws Quinn’s dead body at them. Tara and Chad run out,
with Ghostface left to attack Sam, Mindy, and Anika. He stabs Mindy in the shoulder
and stabs Anika in the gut, nearly bleeding her out before Sam hits him with a knife holder.
When Tara realizes the other three are still upstairs, she and Chad run back. The ladies
barricade themselves in Quinn’s bedroom as they are spotted by Danny. He gets a ladder out for
them to climb on over to his apartment. Sam makes it over first, while Mindy tries to get Anika over
first so that she can hold the door back, but Anika knows she is too weak to go first. Mindy
makes it over, and Anika attempts to cross, but Ghostface breaks in and shakes the ladder. Sam
tries to grab Anika’s hand, but Ghostface tips the ladder over and causes Anika to fall, making
her smash her face against a dumpster before she dies. Mindy mourns her girlfriend’s death.
The police arrive, and Bailey mourns for Quinn’s death, vowing to silence whoever
did this. Sam and Tara offer their condolences before they are met by Kirby and Gale. Gale says
she has discovered something that everyone needs to see. Chad and Mindy also suspect
Ethan because he was nowhere to be found, even though he claims to have an alibi.
Gale brings the group to a location that Jason and Greg had rented out. It is a museum in an
abandoned movie theater devoted to the previous Ghostface killers, from their masks and cloaks,
down to the weapons they used, each of their victims, and the weapons used to kill them.
Kirby sees the knife Charlie used to stab her, while Sam stares at Billy’s mask and cloak, which
is in a glass casing. While Mindy and Kirby bond over their shared love of horror films, Tara walks
out because it is too much for her to be involved in a legacy of Ghostface killers. Sam privately
tells Gale that she feels her coming back into Tara’s life has made things worse for her.
The group then plans to catch Ghostface by tracing the location of his call. He calls
Sam from Richie’s phone again, and Kirby tracks it to an apartment building. Sam and Tara realize
that this means the killer is going after Gale. The sisters steal Bailey’s vehicle and head over
there. Meanwhile, Ghostface calls Gale while she is with her boyfriend. Ghostface notes that
this is the first time Gale has ever spoken to the killer, but she is assured that whoever the killer
is, they will die like all the others. Ghostface taunts her over the death of Dewey before he kills
the boyfriend and throws his body through glass. He goes after Gale but she hides and gets her gun,
shooting through the door. Ghostface still manages to get a couple slashes in,
but Gale knocks him down and makes him briefly unconscious after throwing him onto a glass table.
As she goes to grab his knife, Ghostface grabs a shard of glass and stabs Gale in
the abdomen. Before he can deal the killing blow, Sam and Tara arrive and shoot at him,
scaring him off. Gale loses consciousness as medics arrive and take her away.
Outside, Sam gathers with Tara, Chad, and Mindy. She says that she feels the
only way for this to end is for Ghostface to find her and finish her off so that the rest
of her loved ones are spared. With Kirby’s help, the group agrees to trap Ghostface at
the museum by luring him there. They contact Bailey to let him know of their intentions.
The group heads off in the subway, joined by Danny wanting to help Sam. Mindy misses the
subway due to a busy Halloween crowd, but she catches the next one with Ethan. Sam,
Tara, Chad, and Danny are paranoid because there are multiple New Yorkers dressed as
Ghostface. On Mindy’s train, she is attacked and stabbed twice by Ghostface. After he disappears,
Ethan pulls her out and has subway workers help
Mindy. She is just disappointed that she wrongly predicted again who the killer is.
The others arrive at the museum, but Sam tells Danny to stay behind since she cannot fully
trust him. As they wait to trap Ghostface, Sam gets a call from Bailey, who says that
Kirby is unstable and was fired from the FBI months earlier. Sam thinks Kirby is Ghostface,
so she runs with Tara and Chad. The latter two are alone and get comfy before sharing a kiss,
until Ghostface comes and stabs Tara in the back. Chad fights him off before the
SECOND Ghostface arrives to join the other in stabbing Chad repeatedly. Tara runs toward Sam.
Kirby shows up to help, even though the sisters think she is the killer. Bailey arrives and shoots
Kirby, revealing that he is ONE of the Ghostface killers. The other two arrive, making this
the first time there have been THREE Ghostface killers! The first pulls off his mask, revealing
himself to be Ethan. The second is initially believed to be Mindy, until they are unmasked
as…a very much alive QUINN! The trio is revealed to be a father and his daughter and son. Quinn
started the rumor about Sam being responsible for the last killing spree, and Bailey bought out the
cinema for the museum using Jason and Greg’s name. Their motives? Revenge against Sam, because they
were Richie’s family, and she killed him. The museum was all his, and while Bailey didn’t fully
get his fascination, he still supported his son’s filmmaking endeavors. The family prepares to kill
Sam and Tara, before Sam begins taunting them by saying Richie was a pathetic manchild, provoking
Quinn and giving Tara an opportunity to hit her. Sam stabs Ethan before running off with Tara.
The sisters run to the balcony, but Tara is falling over and being lashed at by Ethan,
while Quinn has Sam cornered. Tara tells Sam to let her go, with Sam giving her the knife
before dropping her. Tara stabs Ethan in the mouth and twists the knife. When Sam
taunts Quinn over her losing another psycho brother, Quinn runs after her and gets shot
in the head. Bailey is now enraged at losing all his children, but Sam is out of bullets
to finish him off. They charge toward each other and fall over the balcony.
Bailey wakes up and hears Sam calling him,
using the Ghostface voice modulator. She has him trapped and then proceeds to brutally stab him
repeatedly. Before he dies, Sam lets him know that while her father was a killer,
she is better than him. And since he messed with her family, Sam deals the killing blow
by jamming her knife into Bailey’s eye. Sam and Tara reconcile over their strained relationship,
which gets ruined when a not-dead Ethan goes for one last attempt to kill, until Kirby finishes him
with the TV that Sidney used to kill Stu. Danny then shows up with a group of cops.
The group receives medical attention. While Tara mourns Chad’s supposed death,
he is wheeled out injured but alive. She kisses him again, and he is reassured that they are
the core four when Mindy arrives, though she is disappointed that she was actually
right about the killer this time and missed their evil motive monologue. Before leaving,
Sam opens her bag, revealing she has taken her father’s Ghostface mask. She
drops it in the street before joining Tara as they walk back into the city.
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