Scream 7 has a lot stacked against it.
Horror franchise fatigue is real, a part 7 is rarely good (Wes Craven’s New Nightmare and Halloween H20 excepted), behind-the-scenes controversies of a fired cast member, fan backlash, pay dispute, last-minute re-write, and AI and gambling marketing collabs. Should the series have taken an extended break, or even been laid to rest permanently?
Alas, the powers that be decided to ride the recent franchise momentum and recruit OG players for a nostalgia hit, and the result falls closer to the maligned upon release Scream 3 than the groundbreaking Scream 1. Poor Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) has had a rough trot the last few decades. A slew of psychos has tried to kill her and successfully slaughtered almost everyone around her during various stages of her life wherever she was. Through sheer grit and resilience, she managed to build herself a new life with Sherriff husband Mark Evans (Joel McHale), three daughters and a business in another small town far from the leafy but hellish Woodsboro. Having skipped the New York carnage of Scream 6 (2023), the last few years have been peaceful for the scream queen. But now, Sidney’s oldest daughter Tatum (Isabel May) is 17 years old, the same age she was when she first became a target 30 years ago, and there’s no time like a milestone for Ghostface to resurface – because you can’t keep a good boogeyman down.
Scream 7’s strengths are when it explores Sidney’s life now, after having lived through a blood-soaked roller coaster and how her experiences impact her child rearing. Sure, parents can be overprotective, but Sid has a reason to be, and her secrecy about her past just adds fuel to the fire of the growing tension between her and Tatum, which is reaching boiling point. Oh, and the gnarly kills are another huge plus. What we don’t really get is the signature phone call trivia and meta-discussions about the current state of horror movies.To be fair, what is there even left to say? The genre has not had a chance to evolve since the last instalment just three years ago, and every other topic (elevated horror, sequels, reboots, requels, fandom and franchise) has been exhausted. Scream creator Kevin Williamson is back on scripting duties for the first time since part 4 (he had to skip part 3) and as director for the first time ever in the series. It all sounds great for marketing purposes, but his only other directing credit is the 27-year-old flop Teaching Mrs Tingle (not even any television credits in the meantime). Williamson takes his new responsibilities seriously and handles some aspects incredibly well like the fleshed-out mother/daughter relationship, killer opening sequence, Gale’s crowd-pleasing entrance, gnarly kills and some genuine suspense. His version of Ghostface is creepy and scary, sometimes lingering like the bone-chilling Michael Myers then exhibiting a terrifying fury and strength.
Unfortunately, and perhaps a result of script pivots and directorial inexperience, Scream 7 fumbles other aspects. The ensemble of boring new teens/victims/suspects are a personality-free zone, and the killer/s reveal is the snooziest in the franchise, the biggest crime it could have committed. This uneven trip down nostalgia lane is probably the best version that could have been concocted given the hurdles mentioned earlier and may even be re-evaluated down the track when the noise dies down like part 3 was.
For now, it is an enjoyable ride that manages to thrill on occasion and provide a solid performance by Campbell even though some elements don’t come together as well as previous instalments.
7/10
