One of the most-watched horror franchises of all time is back with yet another installment: Scream 7. Scream 7 begins a new era, following the franchise’s legacy characters, Sidney Evans and Gale Weathers, as well as some returning characters from Scream 5 and 6. While Scream 7 is a brave attempt to revive a franchise through nostalgia and stereotypical slasher movie tropes, it doesn’t offer anything more than an attempt at the same basic theme of trauma from all previous movies.
For those who may not know, the Scream 7 in theaters was likely not the first or second intended plot of this movie, as both the Jenna Ortega and Melissa Barrera of 5 and 6 left the franchise. Writer and director Kevin Williamson found himself unable to build meaningfully off the Radio Silence Era. Scream movies are known for a narrative of shocking revelations through eerie, tension-filled scenes. This installment instead surrenders itself, without hesitation, to total chaos and unrestrained mayhem that lasts across the entire put the actual time here runtime, making it far closer to the more modern slasher films in the horror genre than the original Scream films that gave the franchise success.
Scream has always tried to be sharp and witty in regard to its meta commentary on horror movies and Hollywood with both success and failure. The target for this movie’s critics this time around was AI and Deepfakes, but every opportunity to do something interesting with the premise was substituted for repetitive critiques scattered in the run time. The film claims generative AI is creepy and weird, but it also uses it as an excuse to bring back a cast of actors the viewer will recognize.
Neve Campbell has never been better as Sidney Evans. Centering the story around her role as a parent felt like a natural evolution for the character, as it added emotional weight, and reinforced Scream’s long-standing theme of generational trauma. None of the other cast members manage to create the kind of charisma or energy that is required to draw viewers toward them in the little time they’re given to establish their characters. Most ensemble characters make foolish decisions to further push the narrative, which quickly becomes frustrating to watch. At times, it makes the audience almost root for them to be disposed of quickly so the focus can return to the protagonists and main story.
As the high of gory kills and emotional development of the main characters fade, nothing can salvage the third act. The Ghostface reveal in Scream 7 leaves a lot to be desired. It’s somehow both predictably telegraphed and completely random at the exact same time. The Ghostface monologue and motivation were the worst of the franchise yet. There’s no good attempt to humanize the killer, nor are the killer’s actions explained by any character development in the previous acts. It falls flat, allowing the audience to shrug off the climax and prepare for the final kill of the movie, with no proper justification given to the kills in the movie
Scream 7 goes down easier if it’s the first movie of the Scream franchise you’ve ever watched, or if you watch it as a run-of-the-mill slasher. It’s not a boring film by any means, but it crumbles under the weight of holding the Scream franchise up. Whether or not it makes enough money for producers to green-light a Scream 8 remains to be seen, but it seems Scream is on the path to becoming unrecognizable from the original trilogy of movies.
2/5 stars.
