Scream 6 directors explain why they didn't kill off certain characters in new movie

14 March 2023, 17:42

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By Sam Prance

Who dies in Scream 6? Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett open up about the divisive Ghostface death count in Scream 6.

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The directors behind Scream 6 have opened up about why they decided NOT to kill off certain characters in the new movie.

Scream VI is arguably the darkest film in the franchise to date. Not only does it up the gore factor from previous movies but, set in New York City, it makes finding out who Ghostface is even harder than in previous movies. Like any Scream movie, it was impossible to predict who would die in Scream VI but the new movie has faced some criticism over who dies in it.

Now, directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett have explained why they chose not to kill some characters in Scream VI.

WARNING: MAJOR SCREAM VI SPOILERS BELOW

Who dies in Scream 6?

Scream VI starts with a high death count. Slasher film professor Laura (Samara Weaving) is Ghostface's opening kill. It's then revealed that her student and Stab movie fan Jason (Tony Revolori) is Ghostface. Mere moments later, Jason finds his roommate (and fellow Ghostface) Greg murdered in his fridge and a completely new Ghostface stabs him to death.

Later, Ghostface attacks Sam (Melissa Barrera) and Tara (Jenna Ortega) in a bodega. Sam and Tara escape but Ghostface kills multiple bystanders. Ghostface then kills Sam's therapist Christopher (Henry Czerny), Sam and Tara's flatmate Quinn (Liana Liberato) and Mindy's girlfriend Anika (Devyn Nekoda). (It's later revealed that Quinn's death is fake. She doesn't actually get killed by Ghostface.)

However, after that, despite multiple stabbings, Ghostface fails to kill any other characters. Gale (Courteney Cox), Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown), Kirby (Hayden Panettiere) and Chad (Mason Gooding) all get brutally stabbed. During those scenes, it seems like they're going to die but each manage to survive.

As a result, some fans have complained that all the main characters have managed to escape Ghostface in the film and beyond that, they've questioned how the likes of Chad and Gale could still survive.

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett's answers as to why they didn't kill any of the main characters is simple though.

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Talking to Collider about the lack of main character deaths in Scream VI, Matt said: "One of the things that we talked about a lot during this process was that this should be a secret feel-good movie and we knew we didn't want to kill these characters. We just didn't. It really might just be us being softies, being like 'I don't know, we just love them.'

Tyler then added: "At the end of the day that Core Four thing only works if the four of them are there at the end of the movie, But I think in terms of calibrating that, look, we understand and fully embrace that we play a little fast and loose with that, that's part of the fun of these movies and the heightened reality that they live in."

Tyler continued to explained: "We were like cool let's exist in the lineage of these movies that are far in a franchise where batshit crazy things happen and then it feels really good when those characters make it out alive. It was just really a conscious choice of us to steer into the whackiness of that trope."

If Sidney, Gale and Dewey could make it through so many Scream movies, why can't Sam, Tara, Mindy and Chad?