‘Scream VI’ Stabs Onto Blu-ray with Directors Commentary [Review]

Scream VI takes Ghostface to New York City, setting the masked killer loose in the days leading up to and culminating on Halloween, and the latest sequel has come home on Blu-ray, including a sweet treat bag of bonus content, including a fun and informative feature length commentary track with the filmmakers.

The Blu-ray set that we were provided by Paramount Home Entertainment comes in a slipcase featuring the primary cast, most prominently the Carpenter sisters played by Jenna Ortega and Melissa Barrera, while Ghostface ominously lurks above them in the aged mask and also in the lower center wearing a cleaner mask, with the same image on the the disc case cover. It also includes a Digital copy.

In addition to the feature film, the Blu-ray disc has seven relatively brief behind the scenes featurettes that all combined make for a pretty comprehensive look at the making of the film.

• Death Comes to the City is eight minutes long and has the filmmakers and cast discussing Ghostface’s first reign of terror in the busy streets and crowded subways of New York City, bringing an entirely new dynamic to this sequel.
• The Faces of Death is 14 minutes and features the “core four” — Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega, Jasmin Savoy Brown, and Mason Gooding — and the rest of the cast and crew as they discuss their return to the franchise.
• More Meta than Meta details the meta history of the Scream movies and reveals hidden easter eggs, callbacks, and more, running just over 10 minutes.
• Bloodbath at a Bodega, at five minutes, focuses on one of the most memorable kill scenes in the film, as this Ghostface attacks with a shotgun in a decidedly New York setting.
• An Apartment to Die For is a seven and a half-minute look at the staging of the apartment attack and ladder escape, as well as the stunts and practical effects used to bring Ghostface’s kills to a whole new level, thanks in large part to the man behind the mask, Max Laferriere (read our interview here).
• The Night Train to Terror runs about six minutes and goes behind the scenes of the super fun NYC subway sequence that takes place on Halloween night and includes dozens of horror icon easter eggs among the many costumes.
• Theater of Blood is an 11-minute dive into the nostalgia of the Scream movies that came before and explores the killers’ memorabilia on display in the film’s Ghostface shrine.

There is also a Digital Exclusive 10-minute gag reel of bloopers and lighthearted laughter from the set, which can only be accessed in the Digital copy’s bonus content.

The official theatrical trailer is also included on Digital version.

Most thankfully, there is a feature length commentary track, with deeper insight from Scream VI directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpen and Tyler Gillet, as well as co-writers James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick, and producer Chad Villella. Read on for a breakdown of what we learned from the Scream VI Blu-ray commentary.

• The directors always had Samara Weaving, who they previously directed in Ready or Not, in mind for the opening scene, and she told them that this character in Scream VI is closer to her in real life than any other character that she has ever played.
• Blackmore University, where the core four attend college in the film, (and also the film’s working titled “Blackmore”) comes from the name “John Blackmore”, which was used in script sides during auditions to cast Sam Carpenter for Scream (2022) to preserve the secret reveal of the real name of her father, Billy Loomis.
• The directors ended up cutting out a meta joke in which Tony Revolori’s character referenced the Marvel Cinematic Universe, where he plays Flash Thompson in the most recent Spider-Man movies.
• While the movie was filmed in Montreal, some of the B-roll used in was actually shot two nights before Halloween in New York City.
• Mike Shinoda wrote the title song over the opening credits, “In My Mind”, immediately after watching an early edit of the film.
• The directors call Scream VI “the darker, edgier, punk rock B-sides” companion to their previous entry, 2022’s Scream.
• The Halloween party was all shot on Day One of filming.
• There are no jack o’lanterns in the film, except for Anika’s costume.
• The Murder Party costume worn by Ethan is an homage to one of the directors’ favorite Halloween movies.
• Ethan and Anika’s costume switch after the Halloween party was all the idea of the actors, Jack Champion and Liana Liberato.
• Dr. Stone was originally going to be watching Stab, the Scream universe’s eighth film in the Stab franchise and the requel with a flamethrower Ghostface featured briefly in 2022’s Scream.
• Jack Champion actually dressed as Ghostface for Halloween in real life prior to filming.
• Every single former Ghostface actor who played the previous killers referenced in Scream VI each had to sign off and agree to appear, which they all did.
• The entire crew can be heard chanting “Evil Dies Tonight” (from Halloween Kills) during the Halloween Night subway scene in Scream VI as a tribute to the fact that both Halloween Kills and Scream (2022) were filmed in Wilmington, North Carolina, using the same soundstages and some of the same crew.
• The directors explain that they worried they would not be allowed to use so many horror icon costumes in the Halloween subway scene, and it seemed that they wouldn’t at one point, until they were ultimately told that “as long as they don’t do what they’re famous for”, the costumes of existing movie characters and other legendary killers could legally be used in the film. (So now we know!)
• The Halloween setting was “always vital” to be included in the film.
• Jack Quaid returned from the previous film to record the dialogue in Richie’s Stab fan film.
• Mindy’s exclamation of “F**k this franchise” was improvised by Jasmine Savoy Brown and not in the script.
• The filmmakers say that this is the Director’s Cut of the film, and that there are no deleted scenes.

Scream VI is out now on Digital platforms (watch here via Amazon Prime Video) and on 4K Steelbook, 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD, from Paramount Home Entertainment.

You can watch our unboxing video below, and be sure to read our review of Scream VI here, and then watch our exclusive interview Max Laferriere on playing Ghostface in Scream VI here.

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