6/10
There has been a surprising amount of controversy surrounding Scream 7. Directed by Kevin Williamson, the seventh installment of a 30-year-old franchise was expected to be a disappointment, as the film’s redundant plot feels outdated and dull. However, the movie remains suspenseful and entertaining throughout. With fresh faces, a modernized storyline, and elevated performances, it ultimately proves better than expected—until the end, when the plot loses momentum, resulting in an unsatisfying conclusion.
The film follows Sidney Evans (Neve Campbell), who has undergone transformative character development over the multiple installments. Now a mom, Sidney isn’t afraid of Ghostface–and when he calls, she’s ready. Over the course of the previous Scream films, Sidney has been a recurring target of the Ghostface killer. Somehow, between getting stabbed and avoiding death, she’s managed not only to marry and have a 17-year-old daughter, but also to pursue her new purpose: being a barista. She’s now working the cash register, out in the real world, PTSD-free, serving caramel macchiatos to all the potential ghostfaces.
Set in a suburban town in Indiana, her husband, Mark Evans (Joel McHale), and daughter, Tatum Evans (Isabel May), are introduced. Sidney and Tatum’s dynamic is quite complicated, as Sidney is determined to hide her past from her daughter. Tatum’s obliviousness about her family’s history surrounding Ghostface, though, proves costly—Tatum is number one on the infamous masked killer’s list.
Scream 7 is action-packed. Ghostface repeatedly attempts to kill Sidney, but yet again, Sidney won’t die. The film repeatedly draws parallels back to its original version, and the return of familiar characters like Stu Macher (Mathew Lillard) add an extra element of nostalgia that longtime fans can appreciate. The plot builds suspense when Stu suddenly FaceTimes Sidney while disguised as Ghostface. The moment creates both excitement and confusion, as the audience believed he was dead. Later, Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) finally makes her big movie-star entrance by crashing her obnoxiously large van into the first Ghostface—revealed to be mental health patient Karl (Kraig Dane)—sending him to his death.
In this franchise, Campbell seems to be obligated to fight Ghostface indefinitely—and after 30 years of doing it, she clearly knows what she’s doing. Campbell brings out the perfect mix of anxious and skeptical emotions needed when playing Sidney. May’s terrified performance highlights her emotional range, as her on-the-run scenes from Ghostface bring out the intensity and fear the film’s acting needed.
There’s a constant sense of alarm throughout the movie as the audience is left in anticipation of a jump scare around every corner. The murders are a perfect blend of unrealistic and disturbing—they’re all classic Ghostface kills. Tatum’s best friend, Hannah Thurman (Mckenna Grace) is killed almost immediately. Grace shows up in a variety of films, and almost always plays one of the main characters, so when her Scream 7 casting was announced, it was assumed she’d either become one of the final girls or Ghostface herself.
However, in true Scream fashion, Grace is killed almost immediately. Her death involves her being swung violently back and forth from a set piece, a moment that feels lazy and, quite honestly, hilarious. There really just isn’t a more fitting way for Grace to go. From that moment on, whenever the killer appears certain, that suspect quickly ends up dead.
The controversy surrounding the film is mainly due to the absence of Tara (Jenna Ortega) and Sam Carpenter (Melissa Barrera). After the absolute failure of Scream 4, which made less than $97 million worldwide, Ortega and Barrera were hired for the fifth and sixth movies to revitalize the series, providing a new batch of final girls destined to bring Scream back to success. Most fans believed that Scream 7 would conclude the trilogy of the Carpenter sisters. Barrera would become the Ghostface killer, ending the cycle started by her father, Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich), the original Ghostface. This would leave Ortega to be the new “final girl” taking Sidney’s place. But Barrera was fired, and Ortega left shortly thereafter, causing a major shift in the entire Scream dynasty.
Scream 7, however, isn’t a complete letdown. The film takes place in the present, incorporating modern elements, such as high-level security systems and technology that meticulously tracks Ghostfaces calls, making it feel as though there is little room for careless mistakes from the killers. Now, Sidney and her family might finally have the tools they need to quickly dispose of Ghostface.
The rest of the plot continues with the true killers hiding behind deepfake videos they crafted of Stu Macher. Instead of Ghostface calling with his classic voice changer, Ghostface FaceTimes Sidney. Of course, the calls are truly just created to appear as Stu, but they serve Ghostface’s intended purpose quite well. For the majority of the movie, their use of modern media convinces the audience that Stu never truly died in the first movie, and that he is somehow behind the murders. This twist adds a modern layer to the classic mystery of the franchise, using technology as the new tool for Ghostface’s deception.
In the end, the big Ghostface reveal is a huge disappointment. Instead of Stu truly being alive, the killers turn out to be Jessica (Anna Camp), Sidney’s neighbor, and a completely irrelevant doctor, Marco Davis (Ethan Embry), who previously gave Sidney and Gale a tour of a mental facility, where it was rumored Stu went after the first film. The identities of the killers feel random—solely placeholders that contribute no genuine purpose to the film.
Although the film is not what many fans had expected, Scream 7 still manages to deliver the suspense and nostalgia that have defined the franchise for decades. While the final reveal feels extremely underwhelming and the absence of old characters leaves a noticeable gap, the film’s strong performances and updated storyline make it engaging (for the most part).
The ending may feel like a letdown, but give it a few years—Ghostface will probably call back with Scream 8 anyway.
