Scream 7 returns to the person where it all started: Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell).
After leaving Woodsboro, California, Sidney now lives peacefully in Pine Grove, Indiana, running a small coffee shop with her husband, police officer Mark Evans (Joel McHale), and her daughter, Tatum (Isabel May). Her relationship with them is loving and understanding with Mark and… not so much with Tatum.
Tatum feels that there is a wall between her and her mom. She refuses to open up or even share her past with her, and they are clearly not great at communicating their feelings to one another. On top of that, Sidney is so uptight that Tatum cannot even enjoy a fun moment with her boyfriend Ben (Sam Rechner) without her barging in or constantly reminding her to be more careful. Ugh. Moms are the worst.
The people of Pine Grove know about Sidney’s violent past. Lucas (Asa Germann), one of Tatum’s friends and a family friend, is obsessed with the infamous Woodsboro Murders. He is so fascinated with it that his mom, Jessica (Anna Camp), has to remind him to be respectful toward Sidney. But Sidney is okay with it. She no longer cares about the sensation; Ghostface is in the past, and she intends to keep him there.
Until one day, Sidney receives a call from Ghostface. At first, she thinks it’s a prank, but after accepting his video call request, she is shocked to see none other than one of the first to don the Ghostface mask: Stu Macher (Matthew Lillard).
Stu is supposedly dead. Yet here he is—alive and well—and back to seek revenge on his old friend.
From the start, I do not think Scream 7 will ever be good. Even before production started, the film was already in development hell.
Here’s a quick recap: It began when Spyglass Media Group fired Melissa Barrera over her comments about the Gaza war. Directors Matt Bettinelli Olpin and Tyler Gillett then chose not to return due to scheduling conflicts, so Christopher Landon of Happy Death Day and Freaky was brought in as a replacement. He also exited the project shortly afterward. The final nail in the coffin was Jenna Ortega leaving the franchise since most of the creative team behind the previous film was already gone.
There was a bit of hope when Neve Campbell decided to rejoin the franchise. She has been the heart and soul of the series since day one. However, at this point, Scream is no longer a Sidney Prescott story. The previous two films did their best to close her arc and shift the focus to a new group that could carry her legacy forward and take the franchise to another level.
Basically, we are back at square one because of everything that happened behind the scenes. With a new creative team in charge, it is now heading in directions I never expected Scream to take.
One of the biggest surprises/changes is its meta commentary on technophobia. To me, Scream has always been about the fear of people and their tendency to use culture and media as an excuse to kill. Technology has usually played a minor role, mostly to phone calls and voice changers.
On paper, incorporating artificial intelligence and deepfakes into the franchise makes sense. It adds modern thematic relevance and fits with Scream’s strength as a quintessential whodunit slasher film. It powers up Ghostface. He could now be anyone and anywhere. And that idea can feel genuinely scary.
The problem is that, with Scream 7, the danger becomes mediated through a screen. A good example is during a standoff between Ghostface and Tatum. Sidney only watches it unfold through CCTV. The confrontation is one of the biggest moments of the film, but it quickly loses tension because the action keeps cutting back to Sidney reacting to the violence while holding her smartphone. Moreso, Sidney is not only removed from any real threat but also reduced to helplessness, which feels sacrilegious and a two step backward from her development.
Furthermore, fans know that Scream relies and excels on keeping both the audience and the characters in the dark. We never know if the killer is in the same room, the same hallway, or right behind the heroes. Simply, the fun comes from the hunt. But with constant surveillance on Ghostface, we have too much awareness of his presence. Often, we already know where he is, which dissolves all the suspense. Instead of wondering whether he is nearby, we are simply waiting for his next attack, and that is far less exciting.
Probably the most egregious use of technology in this film is how it forces nostalgia upon the viewers. It leans too heavily on legacy instead of pushing the story forward. Bringing back dead characters like Stu is cool and may generate marketing buzz, but it serves the fandom more than the narrative. He serves no real purpose. He’s just a constant fake out that distracts us from the real stakes Sidney should be facing.
To me, Scream 7 feels like the poster child for franchise milking. It exists to keep the brand alive rather than to explore new horror tropes or advance Sidney’s story forward. I could forgive it if it were made with creativity and genuine passion, but it clearly lacks both and instead blatantly relies on cheap fan-bait nostalgia. It made me appreciate Scream VI even more, because at least that film tried to move the story forward with the “Core Four” instead of constantly resurrecting the past.
1.5/5