Scream 7 (2026)
A Dull Blade
This review contains plot spoilers for Scream 7, but avoids major spoilers about who dies or the identity of the killer(s).
It’s been a long successful run, but after seven movies, the Scream formula is getting stale. Scream 7 is a tired mishmash of nostalgia for the first two movies (both of which were written by Scream 7 director Kevin Williamson), mother/daughter generational trauma that borrows a great deal from Halloween (2018), and the usual Ghostface phone call shenanigans.
Nearly everything about Scream 7 feels redundant and unnecessary. Like many of the Saw sequels, this movie will probably be incomprehensible to people who haven’t seen the previous installments. In contrast, it’ll feel extremely familiar to people who are longtime fans of the series, almost as if they’re watching a remake instead of a sequel.
The fault is not Neve Campbell’s. She delivers a nice performance as Sidney Evans, a middle-aged wife, mother, and coffee shop owner who has seemingly put her past as the tortured Sydney Prescott behind her.
Nor is Isabel May to blame. She gamely plays Sydney’s teen daughter, Tatum, who wants to know more about her mom’s traumatic past than Sydney is willing to share.
Tatum, Sydney, and Tatum’s dad, Mark (Joel McHale), live a quiet life in a small Texas town until Ghostface pops up to torment them again. After losing so many loved ones, Sydney is determined to protect her daughter at all costs.
Sydney starts receiving video calls from the allegedly dead Stu Macher (Matthew Lillard), who claims that he has returned to take revenge. The crackpot internet fan theories about Stu being alive were referenced briefly in Scream VI, but this movie takes them head on.
Sydney wonders if Stu is really back or whether someone is using an AI deep fake. I won’t spoil the ending, but I will remind you that there has never been anything supernatural in this series.
Mindy (Jason Savoy-Brown), Chad (Mason Gooding), and Gail (Courtney Cox) eventually show up. The Meeks-Martin twins’ scenes are highlights, but they don’t get enough screentime. Gail is, well, Gail. Her and Sydney have the same love/hate dynamic they’ve had for decades. Sadly, there is no sign of Kirby (Hayden Panettiere) and, of course, no Sam (Melissa Barrera) or Tara (Jenna Ortega).
I will give credit to Williamson for a clever opening scene. A true crime obsessed dude rents the infamous Macher house for the weekend with his girlfriend. She’s freaked out by the Ghostface animatronic figure located inside. He assures her that they’re alone in the house and that it’s just a machine.
But is it? This is one of the most clever opening scenes in a series filled with great openers. Too bad the rest of the movie doesn’t live up to it.
Another bright spot: the creative kills. I won’t spoil the details, but Williamson comes up with some remarkably creative ways for Ghostface to murder people. That’s not easy to do when there have already been six previous movies. I wonder if he had to rewatch all the films to make sure he wasn’t repeating stuff that had already been used.
Kevin Williamson is clearly a talented screenwriter, but his inexperience in the director’s chair (his only previous directorial effort was Teaching Mrs. Tingle in 1999) stands in stark contrast in a franchise that’s been blessed with seasoned directors like Wes Craven and Radio Silence.
There’s nothing egregiously wrong with Williamson’s directing here, but it’s rather bland. The sense of style and demented fun that the previous directors were able to manifest is mostly missing in this installment.
Hiring Williamson as the director was likely a last minute act of desperation from Paramount. Christopher Landon dropped out and Radio Silence were uninterested in helming a third Scream film, so the studio turned to the original series scribe to help them revive their cash cow. I’m sure Williamson did his best, but the results are pretty meh.
Unfortunately, Scream 7 hits its nadir near the end, with the lamest killer(s) reveal since Scream 3. It’s not quite as bad as the absolutely pathetic “the killer is Sydney’s long lost brother” fiasco from the third movie, but it’s not much better. There are so many ways that this movie could have ended and they picked the most boring option.
As I left the theater, I was struck by the missed opportunity that happened here. The original Scream 7 would have had Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega as the stars and Christopher Landon directing. It would have been a true sequel to Scream VI and could have wrapped up a trilogy of Carpenter sister films. Instead, we got…this.
Rating
Scream 7 has a strong opener and some good performances, but the thrill is gone. Will it burn down the franchise? Unlikely. I’m not sure I even want to see a Scream 8, but it is virtually inevitable. I hope it’s written by somebody who can somehow find a new fresh take on the material.
Rating from 1 (avoid at all costs) to 10 (masterpiece): 5
