With all its in-jokes, surprise reveals, and many, many Ghostfaces,
the end of Scream VI isn't as clear cut as you'd think. Let's break it down. Spoilers ahead!
To understand the ending of "Scream VI," fans must remember the rules of a franchise. Of course,
Mindy is here to give the characters and fans the lowdown in a scene that
not-so-subtly pays tribute to her late, great Uncle Randy.
"You push the laws, and you end up dead. Okay, I'll see you in the kitchen with a knife."
First and foremost, Mindy's number one rule is that everything is bigger than the last
one. Number two, the Woodsboro group needs to expect the opposite of what
happened last time. And most chillingly, number three dictates that no one is safe,
and the legacy characters are canon fodder. But wait,
there's more. Episodic continuation indicates that the final characters are also expendable.
In some ways, this is a misdirection in itself because the movie has the best survival rate of
characters we actually care about of any movie in the "Scream" franchise. With that being said,
Mindy does say to expect the unexpected, and the movie certainly lives up to that by the end.
Though Neve Campbell announced that she wouldn't appear in "Scream VI,"
fans didn't quite believe it until the movie's end. It wouldn't be the first time
the franchise intentionally misled the fanbase. But Campbell told People back in August of 2022,
"I did not feel that what I was being offered equated to the value
that I bring to this franchise, and have brought to this franchise, for 25 years."
"You know how they always say it goes back to the original? Here's the original."
She also called out the production for a double standard women face in this industry, adding,
"I honestly don't believe that if I were a man and
had done five installments of a huge blockbuster franchise over 25 years,
that the number that I was offered would be the number that would be offered to a man."
Campbell did stick to her guns, even though fans half-expected her to show up. Gale mentions early
on in the movie that Sidney deserves her happy ending. And on some level, she's right. Though
Campbell's continued status as the series' final girl set "Scream" apart from other
horror franchises, fans would have been gutted if their favorite final girl ended up in a body bag.
Sidney's absence from the movie is more than palpable,
and it's sad that Campbell wasn't valued more. However, fans also speculated that
Campbell's decision may have stemmed from the fact that the franchise wanted to kill Sidney
in this installment and were offering the actress way too little money to do it. So,
there's a chance that Campbell just saved Sidney's life, and for that, we can all be grateful.
One death that fans surely expected to happen in "Scream VI" is that of Gale Weathers. Her intro
to the movie is disheartening at best, and she seems to have lost all of the character growth
she developed throughout five films. However, we do get some Sidney callbacks when Sam tries
to punch Gale, and Tara succeeds. Gale also offers Sam one wholesome nugget before her
showdown with Ghostface, telling that she can make her own family, despite her past,
even if that with just one person. Sam definitely found that family with Dewey and Sidney.
Gale proceeds to have one of the most epic showdowns with Ghostface that we've seen yet,
including a moment where we think she just might win after hanging up on Ghostface,
calling him back, and sussing out his location. However, he stabs the living daylights out of her,
and she tells Sam and Tara to tell Sidney that Ghostface never got her. Shockingly,
the sentiment rings true, and we find out at the end of the movie that Gale survived her injuries.
The minute Chad and Tara finally kiss, it seems like his fate is sealed. The
final girl's love interests don't tend to last very long, after all. Unsurprisingly,
Chad gets brutally stabbed by two Ghostfaces while he's kissing Tara. And despite being
utterly mauled, the group still side-eyes Kirby as the killer.
However, "Scream VI" serves "Scream 2" vibes, and the Ghostface reveal is no different. Both
films take place out of Woodsboro as the surviving high schoolers try to leave their
past behind — only to find the effort futile. This time, though, there are three killers.
After stumping fans on the identity of the three Ghostfaces, Chad's apparently
sweet and nerdy roommate Ethan reveals that he's wearing Nancy Loomis' mask — and that's
when things click into place. This is a revenge-driven family affair. As soon as
a very alive Quinn removes her mask and reveals that she's the second Ghostface,
we immediately know who's behind Ghostface number three: Detective Bailey. Naturally,
he's Richie's father hell-bent on avenging his serial killer son's murder.
The showdown with the killers has all the quips and twists you'd expect of a Scream
movie. Tara aptly congratulates Detective Bailey for his stellar parenting skills,
while Sam tells him that his loser son was a man baby that made his girlfriend do all
of the work. Ethan stabs Kirby with the knife from her original stabbing to add some poetry
to the moment. Of course, incel extraordinaire Charlie Walker was guilty of stabbing Kirby in
"Scream 4," so it's unsurprising that the new film's incel virgin wields his knife.
He even later grossly tells Tara that he did always want to stick something in her.
Luckily, Tara quite literally gets the drop on him when she falls from a balcony and stabs
him right through his smart mouth. Quinn, meanwhile, gets shot in the head by Sam.
At this point, Sam's killer tendencies are in high gear, and she wants to play. Channeling
her father and OG killer, Billy Loomis, she calls Bailey using the Ghostface voice. But
Sam really claims "her birthright" when she dons her father's Ghostface mask.
Sam assures Bailey that, though her father was a murderer, she's better than that. However, on
second thought, sometimes you don't have a choice. For a moment, Sam makes Bailey think she's saving
him. But just for a moment, because then she stabs him in the face. Father Billy would be proud.
"Is that motive enough for you?"
Richie's home video is still playing on the screen as his father dies — adding
another layer of nuance to the ending. After Bailey takes his last breath,
these words flash over a flaming mask on the theater screen:
"Written and directed by Richie Kirsch."
His family, after all, was trying to finish his movie — as were the
two idiots in the film's opening. But like Nancy Loomis and Robbie himself,
they learned that no matter how hard they try, they're not the main characters in
this story — and avenging the murder of a serial killer is a futile death wish.
"It never works out for the dip— in the mask."
Sticking to tradition, there has to be at least one Ghostface resurrection moment in the movie,
and there is. Ethan barrels back onto the scene only to find a very alive Kirby. She
smashes his head through the TV that killed Stu Macher way back in the first Scream. Here,
Kirby finally gets her revenge on her would-be murderer Charlie through
an incel surrogate. And that's more poetic than any of Bailey's ramblings.
There aren't a whole lot of OG characters to give Sam and Tara advice at the end of the film. Since
Gale is busy dealing with a slew of stab wounds, Kirby takes on that role. She and Sam went to high
school together, after all. She tells the sisters that legacy doesn't always have to be a bad thing.
Sam proves this time and time again when she embraces her mental health struggles
and her cursed family lineage, but chooses not to become another cold-blooded killer
in her family line. She yearns to understand Billy, but she refuses to become him. Sure,
she teeters on the edge of good and evil sometimes, but her moral compass still keeps her
grounded — while allowing her to have a little fun with the people who make her life a living hell.
Struggling with a desire to keep a piece of her father with her, as morbid as it is,
Sam looks at his crumbling Ghostface mask that she swiped from the theater.
Giving it a moment's thought, she discards the bloody reminder of
her family's past on the rainy street, silently vowing to make her own legacy.
"Ready?"
"I'm ready."
Though Mindy's initial rules state that anyone can die in a franchise,
no one important really does besides Mindy's girlfriend, Anika. Kirby and Gale's survival
is vital because the one thing that's always worked about this series comes
from the sequels anchoring the plot with the characters and themes of the first film. Most
sequels peter off after number two or three, and people stop caring because it doesn't,
in some way, involve the OGs. The new characters can more than stand on their own on that front,
but keeping the original spirit alive helps keep the franchise kicking — even without Sidney.
One of the best character developments in "Scream VI" involves Chad, who's become
more like our beloved wholesome Randy and less like a typical jock. And shockingly,
he turns up alive at the end of the movie. Earlier in the film, he coined the moniker "Core Four" for
the film's Woodsboro teen survivors. When Tara asks how the hell he's still alive,
he simply holds up four fingers. In this moment, she finally gives into his goofy nickname.
Finally, Randy can rest easy knowing that the wholesome nerd gets the girl. Chad may wear
a letterman's jacket, but at the end of the day, he's a protective sweetheart. Alternatively, Mindy
is the horror expert with a biting edge. They're the perfect Meeks twin combo. The fact that they
all survive is a breath of fresh air. Having the OG movie's core three — Sidney, Dewey, and
Gale — survive for so long ensured the franchise's continued popularity, but few can argue that Randy
got killed too early. Having the Core Four make it through for now rights that brutal wrong.
"Don't you know the rules?"
Each "Scream" movie is undoubtedly a product of its time, and that rings
true for most of the franchise's handling of mental health issues. The "Scream" movies are
quite guilty of throwing around offensive terminology to describe mental illness.
While the newer flicks still follow the theme of outdated language on that front,
they've done much better at giving us some positive representation of mental health
struggles that don't automatically result in serial killer behavior.
Sam goes to therapy during the movie, and she even tries to convince her sister to attend a
session on more than one occasion. It's lovely to not only see Sam take her medication regimen
seriously but to work hard at digging through some of her past trauma so she can begin to heal. Sure,
her therapist kind of sucks — and he dies for it — but this representation of mental
health has been desperately needed in "Scream" for over two decades. Finally,
Tara agrees to follow her sister's lead on the therapy front after they
defeat Ghostface. Maybe there will be some family sessions in store for "Scream 7."
Let's face it: Marvel movies have started an out-of-control trend when it comes to post-credit
scenes. No one feels safe leaving a movie theater until the very last credit has rolled,
and sitting through those credits is a good way to get audiences to care about the many
behind-the-scenes experts who make a movie work. Also, it's fun to see the artwork,
listen to the music, and take a gander at the list of songs used in the film.
But "Scream," at its core, remains a satirical horror franchise. It exists primarily to make
fun of itself and the horror genre. So naturally, fans who wait around until the last credit has
rolled are in for a sassy treat. An exasperated Mindy returns to the screen to quip that not every
movie needs a post-credits scene. While mocking a cliché, the movie embraces the cliché at the
same time — which is just about the most "Scream" thing a sequel can do. Wes Craven would be proud.
"I hear you're a horror fan."
"It's
been said."