The journey leading up to Scream 7’s release has been fraught, to say the least. Following the incredibly messy firing of Melissa Barrera, who was set to star in this next chapter as Sam Carpenter, and Jenna Ortega’s subsequent exit from the film, the behind-the-scenes creatives had to make a pivot that would keep longtime fans onboard. With the franchise celebrating 30 years of slicing and dicing, that journey was a direct flight towards Nostalgia City. It was meant to be a “return to glory,” going back to the formula that made the first film a classic with a final girl inheritance. Sidney is back and still a baddie and there’s plenty of blood and Easter eggs for the fandom to devour. However, Scream 7 sometimes feels like a Great Value version of what we’ve seen before with a bizarre dose of bad tech and an even worse killer reveal.
That last sentence pains me to type as a deep fan of the Scream franchise since childhood. I regularly fire up the first three films as “comfort watches” when I’m feeling low or on a loop as I parse through my work day. I have more Ghostface T-shirts than I can count and I’ve passionately written about this universe extensively because it holds such a special place in my horror-loving heart. To me, it is one of the most consistently solid horror franchises in existence. And like many fans, I went into Scream 7 with a plethora of opposing feelings. I was not at all happy about the circumstances behind Barrera’s firing, yet I looked forward to celebrating this milestone anniversary with another installment.
A couple of pieces for commercial success came into place quickly, most notably Neve Campbell’s return as Sidney Prescott along with Scream creator Kevin Williamson penning the script and directing as well. However, things began to unravel for me as trailers and more information were unveiled with dead Ghostfaces and characters returning to the franchise. The smell of cheap nostalgia grabs and catering to the “Stu is alive” subset of fandom wafted in the air. Still, I wanted to believe in my favorite horror franchise as I headed to the theater. And while there were certainly elements of Scream 7 that I enjoyed, there were glaring missteps that kept it from being a knife-sharp sequel.
In it, we catch up with Sidney, who now goes by her married last name Evans. She’s living in the small community of Piney Grove with her police officer husband Mark and daughters, two of whom are quite young and conveniently at Grandma’s house. The oldest, Tatum, is a bit timid and rightfully frustrated at her mom for both keeping her at arms’ length yet being overbearing. Like the original film, Tatum has a brooding boyfriend and a tight-knit group of friends, a few of whom seem suspect. It doesn’t take long for things to jump into action as a new killer goes for Tatum and her pals, forcing Sidney to revive her badass survivor persona. Along for this ride is Gale Weathers, who is back to crime reporting and the Meeks twins, who are oddly her production sidekicks.
As usual, Neve is brilliant and brings a new layer of depth to Sidney Prescott Evans. We get to see her grapple with her mothering choices, including guilt over not preparing Tatum for the possibility of yet another homicidal maniac donning the Ghostface mask. There’s a glimpse at the softness of Sid’s life as she works at a new coffee shop and snuggles in bed with her man. Sidney is shrewd, sensitive, and delightfully sinister when it’s time to get active.
Speaking of getting active, Ghostface is definitely on quite the brutality train in this film. From the fiery yet woefully disconnected (plot wise) opening scene at the Macher house to collecting fresh meat one victim at a time, there’s a reason why this character remains beloved. I always see Ghostface as its own entity despite a rotating cast of people behind the mask, and Ghostface is still iconic. Is there anything truly new or inventive about these kills? No, and frankly most fans will not care. What does come off icky is the obvious and distracting CGI elements of some kills. Practical effects will always win in a slasher.
Scream 7 includes some solid set pieces, intense chase scenes, and even a couple of jump scare moments that didn’t come off cheap. Scream 7’s overall plot feels quite meandering, convoluted, and a little too stuffed as it parses through the possibility of the past not being so dead and buried and who could be behind this latest string of murders. It wants to follow formulas so brilliantly laid out in the Wes Craven era but seems to understand little about the nuance and subversive ideas that made it work.
There’s a bit more mystery solving in the vein of Scream 3 that’s interesting. But the handling of big elements, like the dead Ghostfaces and Dewey, was predictably cheap and did not bring anything new or even interesting to the themes the film attempted to tackle. It felt like a very thin parsing of why certain technological and social aspects of our society are problematic.
And, once the final pieces come together for the always-anticipated final fight, it feels like a sharp crash landing into f**kery with undoubtedly the worst killer reveal and rationale in the franchise. It is impossible to get deeply into why it is bad without diving into spoilers here but the people behind the masks are… a choice. And not just any choice but an incredibly silly and baffling one. The film does give us an answer to one long-standing question, thankfully, and I was glad to see it happen.
RELATED ARTICLENeve Campbell and Kevin Williamson Already Have SCREAM 8 IdeasThere are quite a few mirroring elements of Tatum’s life to Sidney’s that simply pale in comparison. Her boyfriend Ben lacks the suspicious charisma and dry wit of Billy Loomis. Her bland as dry toast friend group (with the exception of Asa Germann’s deadpan and creepy Lucas) feels oddly pieced together to check off trope boxes that meet the potential suspects list. The ones who meet a grisly fate don’t have the emotional resonance of the OG Tatum, Randy, or even poor Halle from Scream 2. Even more recent installments had fairly interesting characters like Anika and Liv. The at times stilted dialogue gets far too heavy handed with callbacks, expositing, and meta commentary, and there are some scenes meant to support character building that feel wholly unnecessary. I’m sure I’ll be in the minority here, but I think Isabel May does rise to the occasion as Tatum, playing well alongside Neve Campbell. She starts off a little flat but as the film picks up steam, her debilitating fear, determination to prove her worth, and cautious curiosity are palpable. The mother-daughter scenes work well between them as Sid trains her in the art of f**king up Ghostface. Joel McHale is solid as this film’s leading man/Dewey-esque character Mark Evans, and he was utilized just enough to not shift focus from the Sidney-Tatum dynamic. Paramount Pictures Jasmin Savoy Brown and Mason Gooding were needlessly shoehorned into this film alongside Gale, but it wasn’t a bad thing to see them onscreen. Their chemistry as Chad and Mindy continues to shine and they provided the needed comic relief (and personality) that this film should’ve had more of. In fact, I’d kinda dig a Meeks-Weathers spinoff of them getting into Scooby-Doo types of reporting adventures. Gale and Sidney come to a new understanding and truth in their complicated and ever-evolving relationship, which will tug the heart strings of fans who’ve watched them for decades. To say Scream 7 is a mixed bag is a big understatement. There’s some genuinely good elements of this film, including Sidney and Ghostface’s ongoing dynamic and the bold kills. That power alone will please a lot of the fandom. But bland characters, uneven pacing and plot, too much nostalgia, and dropping the ball on crucial elements of a Scream film keep Scream 7 from being the epic return to form that it could’ve been. Do I still love the franchise? Yep. Will I show up for an inevitable Scream 8? You betcha. Will this film be in my Rolodex of Scream rewatches? Sadly not. Scream 7 ⭐ (2.5 of 5)
Scream 7 is now in theaters.
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