Ghostface is back and this time, he’s taking New York City by storm in the latest chapter of the horror franchise.

It has been a year since Ghostface last struck Woodsboro, California. The survivors of the attack, siblings Sam and Tara and siblings Chad and Mindy have moved on and left California for the Big Apple, New York City. Tara, Chad, and Mindy attend Blackmore University as film studies majors. As for Sam, she is there for one reason only and that is to protect Sam, and yet she may have found love in neighbor Danny.

However, when Tara and Sam receive a phone call, they soon discover the nightmare they had left has returned and has now tracked them to New York. With the help of their roommate’s father, a NYPD detective, and Kirby Reed, a former Ghostface survivor who is now a FBI agent and add to the mix reporter Gale Weathers, the four survivors must face their major threat in a city that never sleeps.

There may be those who feel that the famous Scream franchise will not be the same anymore now that Neve Campbell didn’t return for this sixth installment. However, consider the last film a “passing of the torch” and while Courteney Cox’s iconic Gale Weathers is still in the mix, the film revolves more around the survivors of the previous film, and having Ghostface in NYC is what Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan should have been. At least Ghostface isn’t on some bus or plane hacking his way then hitting NYC in the last act.

The cast once again shines and one going through the most change is Jenna Ortega’s Tara. As she was nearly killed in the last film to start, seeing her grow into a more confident woman who despite having an overprotective sister really knows how to hold her own. Melissa Barrera continues her streak as Sam, who still struggles with finding herself and yet still feel she must protect Tara. Mason Gooding and Jasmin Savoy Brown’s Chad and Mindy once again channel their inner uncle Randy especially Brown when she talks about the rules of a “franchise”.

Returning to the franchise is Hayden Panettiere as Scre4m’s Kirby, who we learned not only survived, but used her knowledge to become a FBI agent. Newcomers include Dermot Mulroney as the NYPD detective who helps our protagonists; Liana Liberato as Mulroney’s promiscuous daughter who is roommates with Sam and Tara while Jack Champion is Chad’s nerdy roommate Ethan along with Devyn Nekoda’s Anika, Mindy’s love interest. There are also some surprising cameos that have to be seen that were quite unexpected.

The filmmakers promised the deaths here would be a little gorier and they deliver on that. Lots of stabbings are involved and we get to see Ghostface use a shotgun as well as some disturbing deaths of characters that look insane in the aftermath. This, along with the third and final act, really shows this to be a better film than its predecessor.

Scream VI makes its point known: we no longer need Sydney Prescott. This is what I wished Friday the 13th VIII was and this is a damn good horror film, plus add to the mix one of the best horror theme songs in Demi Lovato’s “Still Alive”. A must for horror fans!

WFG RATING: A+

Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Entertainment presents a Project X Entertainment production. Directors: Radio Silence. Producers: James Vanderbilt, William Sherak, and Paul Neinstein. Writers: James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick; based on the characters created by Kevin Williamson. Cinematography: Brett Jutkiewicz. Editing: Jay Prychidny.

Cast: Courtney Cox, Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Mason Gooding, Dermot Mulroney, Hayden Panettiere, Jack Champion, Liana Liberato, Devyn Nekoda, Henry Czerny.