REVIEW: ‘Scream 7’ Is A Lackluster Franchise Dead End

Scream 7 arrives in theaters scorched in controversy. After the highly publicized and widely criticized firing of Melissa Barrera over Pro-Palestine social media posts, Paramount and Spyglass completely changed the project’s direction. Now, Neve Campbell is back after sitting out Scream VI, along with series creator Kevin Williamson stepping into the director’s chair while also returning to co-write. For all intents and purposes, Scream 7 is a soft reboot of the franchise. This pivot in direction, combined with the firing of Barrera, has led to much trepidation and some outright boycotts. 

Let’s be clear: this review is for journalistic purposes to answer one question: Is Scream 7 any good? The answer: not really. While Scream 7 is far from the trainwreck it could’ve been, a handful of strong set pieces can’t paper over a dull cast of characters and a story that outright refuses to keep the once cutting satirical horror franchise relevant. 

Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) is enjoying her happy ending. She lives a quiet life running a coffeehouse in Pine Grove, Indiana, happily married to her police officer husband, and keeping a close eye on her daughter Tatum (Isabel May). Her peace is interrupted when she receives a familiar call from someone else donning the Ghostface mask, bringing the pain of her time in Woodsboro right to her front doorstep. Teaming up with her daughter and some familiar faces from previous movies, Sidney vows to vanquish this ghost from her past. 

The return of franchise favorites can’t save Scream 7 from being lackluster.

Neve Campbell could play Sidney Prescott in her sleep, so her return in Scream 7 is a welcome one. The same goes for Courteney Cox, who once again lights up the screen as Gale Weathers. Having Jasmin Savoy Brown and Mason Gooding (Heart Eyes) reprise their roles as the Meeks-Martin twins from Scream (2022) and Scream VI is a welcome bridge between the Radio Silence era of the franchise and this new Williamson-helmed one. The problem is that while the returning characters are here, and they’re game, the story they’re placed in doesn’t really know how to develop them further. When even the lead of your film is a static character, there’s a problem.

Despite Isabel May’s best efforts, Tatum fails to make much of an impression, especially as the daughter of such an iconic final girl. Her friend group, played by fresh-faced youngsters like McKenna Grace (Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire), Asa Germann (Gen V), and Celeste O’Connor (Madame Web), are all stock archetypes. With the legacy characters and the new cast left with little in the script to make anything interesting happen character-wise, it’s up to Kevin Williamson and co-screenwriter Guy Busick to at least make the narrative worthwhile by way of some searing commentary. 

One of my biggest gripes with the middling Scream (2022) is that its commentary on horror was put on the back burner. The filmmakers there gestured at a “re-quel” trend that was more commonplace amongst all franchises, rather than horror specifically at that time, so it didn’t make much sense. At worst, the film actively engaged in what it was lampooning. Scream VI won me back over hard by spoofing how ridiculous long-running horror franchises can become, making it one of the better Scream sequels in the process. Scream 7 simply does not have a take. 

Scream 7 has nothing to say about the state of horror today, and that’s a problem.

No, no, Williamson and Busick instead opt to center rote family melodrama over any kind of satire. It’d be one thing if that melodrama was interesting, but once it becomes apparent there’s nothing going on with these characters, I found myself longing for the film to say something, anything about modern horror. There’s clumsy lip service paid to nostalgia, and AI is made a critical plot point for whatever reason. Both feel like an afterthought. Scream 7 feels like it was hastily rewritten after the initial version got scrapped because it was. Still, I expected much more out of Kevin Williamson’s return.

Where Williamson’s homecoming does not disappoint is in his ability to stage a set piece. The kills in Scream 7 and the sequences leading up to them are just as great as ever. Although Ramsey Nickell’s murky cinematography undercuts some of the tension, Ghostface is moving like Michael Myers in this one, moving in and out of frame with an eerie precision. Ghostface is shockingly scary standing still or moving slowly, as he so often does in this film, but when he springs into action, it’s an absolute bloodbath.

After initial reports that they would dial back the gorier kills in Scream VI, I’m pleased to report that’s not the case here. Scream 7 has some of the gnarliest kills in Scream history, notably a tryst between Ghostface’s knife and a falling victim, a kill set in a high school performing arts center, and a barside slaughter that’ll have you think twice before ordering a beer on draft. Backed by Marco Beltrami’s iconic score, the actual horror action in Scream 7 is so good that it almost makes the film a light recommendation. 

Rote familial drama is uninspired, making one yearn for something of substance beyond the film’s kills.

In its third act, Scream 7 goes off the rails with a downright insulting, unsatisfying reveal that makes the entire journey feel worthless, negating much of the goodwill the action generated. With clear eyes looking at the bigger picture, Scream 7 isn’t insulting, just highly disappointing. Its status as the worst film in the franchise is more of a technicality than anything.

Whereas Scream VI made the franchise feel better than ever, Scream 7 feels like a dead end. There will always be a place for Scream in horror, but given how lackluster this entry is, the proposed Scream 8 has a lot to prove out of the gate.

Scream 7 is now in theaters everywhere.