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Thirty years after Wes Craven’s Scream reinvigorated horror, the latest instalment of the long-running slasher franchise returns with Scream 7. Like its enduring core characters, the series has survived parody, reinvention, and re-quels, with the next chapter arriving in the wake of a behind-the-scenes bloodbath.
From the firing of lead actress Melissa Barrera to Jenna Ortega’s exit, the trajectory of the franchise has taken some heavy creative blows. Radio Silence duo Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, who successfully resurrected the series at Paramount with a modern edge and more brutality, left their director chairs behind to focus on the ballerina vampire flick Abigail.
Franchise architect Kevin Williamson, the screenwriter behind the original, second and fourth films, as well as the 1997 classic I Know What You Did Last Summer, The Faculty, and Cursed, returns to course correct as screenwriter (alongside 2022’s Scream and Scream VI writer Guy Busick) and dons the director’s cap for the first time since 1999’s Teaching Mrs. Tingle.
The result is a nostalgia play that sticks a tad too close to the template — especially following Radio Silence’s hints that their vision for Scream 7 would explore “how hard we can go”.
A Striking Match
The traditional opening set piece is a standout, returning to Woodsboro, where a Stab-themed Airbnb experience has launched inside the very murder house where the original Ghostface killings terrorised the town in 1996.
The brutality of the reboot series (2022’s Scream and Scream VI) remains as this Ghostface begins a bloody reign with a big spark. It’s a clever, self-aware hook that signals this entry is all about nostalgia with an aim to burn it all down.
The terror then shifts to Pine Grove, Indiana, reinforcing Williamson’s original idea that the story could take place anywhere in America.
Final Girl Energy
Horror’s most durable final girl is back, with Neve Campbell making a welcome return as Sidney Prescott. Over the course of the franchise, Sidney has been chased, stabbed, and forced to kill time and time again.
At this point her kill count is beginning to rival the most prolific Ghostface killers, something the series has never really contended with. Sidney now leads a normal family life, running The Little Latte Coffee Co. and raising her kids alongside husband and local police officer Mark (Joel McHale).
Daughter Tatum (Isabel May), who is named after Rose McGowan’s character from the original, is now the same age Sidney was when the phone first rang.
The 90s Are So Back
Scream 7 delivers on nostalgia, trekking back to the original murder house, small-town paranoia, and a Ghostface that largely operates in shadow. Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds’ ‘Red Right Hand’ returns on the soundtrack, pulling the series back to its roots. The 90s are back, and that focus on nostalgia is much of where this entry succeeds.
Isabel May is value-added casting as Prescott’s eldest daughter, giving the series a new final girl to champion. The barriers between mother and daughter are reflected in literal barriers throughout, as the characters are frequently separated by walls and distance. Williamson orchestrates a solid setup, but the traditional whodunit element lands as one of the weakest in the series.
The villain motivations are paper thin, and Scream works best when it stays ahead of the audience. That’s not the case here, but those that go in very much aware that this is a Scream movie in the most traditional sense are going to have a lot more fun.
Donning the Mask
Ghostface is an icon, and the person behind the mask almost doesn’t matter anymore. Why does every Scream even need the grand unmasking and motive monologue? A completely unhinged Ghostface untethered from the typical climactic drawing-room reveal might have been the jolt this entry needed.
To Williamson’s credit, there are some effective touches, including an homage to Nosferatu as shadows of the tattered Ghostface costume stretch along the town’s walls during a chase scene.
How to Watch Scream 7
If you’re considering a franchise rewatch or feel the need to catch up, watch the original 1996 classic and jump directly to the fifth instalment (Paramount’s excellent 2022 reboot) before heading into Scream 7.
That double feature will give you everything you need to know without getting lost in sequels. The meta commentary here focuses less on horror as a genre and more on the Scream franchise itself—including several pointed cracks at the Campbell-less sixth instalment.
It’s self-referential in a way that feels perhaps less ambitious than its predecessors, particularly in the third act, where it fails to live up to the early promise of burning down the metaphorical house.
I’ll Be Right Back…
With Williamson part of the crew behind the typewriter and also at the helm, there was a missed opportunity to shift the franchise in a new direction.
Instead, Scream 7 turns out to be a bloodsoaked love letter to horror legend Wes Craven, one that some audiences will embrace and others will revile.
In a franchise built on subversion, playing it safe doesn’t really pay off. In some ways, the franchise has become the very thing that the original film was commenting on: the stagnation of the slasher genre in the 80s.
As a millennial, I can vouch for having a rollicking time despite the flaws, and maybe that’s all that really matters. With Williamson and Neve Campbell both expressing interest in an eighth film, the mask likely won’t stay off for long. The question is whether the next instalment is ready to gut the old rulebook and carve out a new path. | Three stars ★★★
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