Related Article: ‘Scream 7’ to Bring David Arquette Back as Dewey Riley for the Latest Installment

Initial Thoughts

(L to R) Neve Campbell and Courteney Cox star in Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Media Group’s ‘Scream 7.’

Following the divisive ‘Scream VI’ and the controversy that erupted after the firing of star Melissa Barrera from the series, the 30-year-old franchise has gone for the nostalgia gold with ‘Scream 7,’ which sees the return of original star Neve Campbell and original writer Kevin Williamson, who now also directs.

But any spark from their return to the franchise is not evident in this tired, often dull, and borderline nonsensical entry. If anything, ‘Scream 7’ proves that the franchise has become what it once poked fun at, a horror brand running on fumes and a convoluted legacy that it forgets when necessary. It’s time for Ghostface to hang up the mask and robe.

Story and Direction

(L to R) Neve Campbell, and Director Kevin Williamson on the set of Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Media Group’s ‘Scream 7.’

‘Scream 7’ begins with the now-standard opening set piece, in which a young couple (Jimmy Tatro and Michelle Randolph) who come to spend the night at a ‘Macher Murder House Experience’ end up sliced, diced, and roasted by the new Ghostface. The sequence is well-staged and the ‘Murder House’ idea clever – but it’s dropped immediately thereafter.

We then move on to the town of Pine Grove, where founding ‘Scream’ heroine Sidney Prescott, now Evans (Campbell), is living a quiet life with her police chief husband (Joel McHale) and her teenage daughter Tatum (Isabel May), the latter of which she has a strained relationship with. It isn’t very long, however, before Sidney gets a call from the new Ghostface – and alarmingly, a video call as well, in which the killer appears to be the allegedly dead Stu Macher (Matthew Lillard), one of the original Ghostface murderers from the first ‘Scream.’

Sidney, her family, and some of her daughter’s friends are attacked, but the initial assault ends up being something of a diversionary tactic before the real games begin. Pine Grove goes into lockdown and a few old friends return as Ghostface begins mowing down everyone around Sidney and targeting both her and Tatum for death.

(L to R) Isabel May, and Director Kevin Williamson, on the set of Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Media Group’s ‘Scream 7.’

From this rather thin narrative, ‘Scream 7’ spins out a few ideas about AI and Hollywood’s endless thirst for nostalgia, only to do little with them. The same goes for the cast: while Campbell is a welcome presence of course, the rest of the ensemble is a bland cluster of actors who stand around waiting to get killed or looking suspicious. Speaking of which, we guessed who was behind the Ghostface killings pretty early on, but that doesn’t stop the finale – including the revelation of the killers – from being perhaps the weakest of the entire franchise, with motivations that don’t even make much sense capping a third act that tosses away almost all story logic.

References to earlier entries abound, including ‘Scream VI,’ and two characters from that film show up just to let us know that the franchise is not going to pretend that that NYC-based adventure never happened. But regardless, everything here has a detectable lack of energy, and both cast and filmmakers seem to largely go through the motions. Some of the kills are gleefully sadistic and creatively staged, but those and, again, Campbell’s return are about the only bright spots we can find.

Cast and Performances

(L to R) McKenna Grace, Celeste O’Connor and Isabel May star in Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Media Group’s ‘Scream 7.’

As we said, Neve Campbell’s return is a welcome one; she has an earthy, no-nonsense attitude that grounds her performance. But even she has trouble keeping her energy up, especially during some of the film’s tedious dialogue sequences, with most of her real fire coming in the confrontations with Ghostface. It doesn’t help that the younger, newer cast members around her don’t really get the chance to display much personality.

As for Courteney Cox, the franchise’s other longstanding charter member shows up during the second act and mostly disappears for the third – while we appreciate that this is a Sidney-centric story, it’s too bad Gale doesn’t have more to do. Other legacy cast members in the film – most of which have been made public, like David Arquette and Scott Foley – are really just rolled out in service of the nostalgia that the film ostensibly wants to satirize.

Final Thoughts

Neve Campbell stars in Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Media Group’s ‘Scream 7.’

Kevin Williamson returns to the ‘Scream’ saga for the first time since 2011’s well-regarded ‘Scream 4,’ but he and co-writer Guy Busick don’t seem to have anything new to deploy this time (it would have been interesting to see what ‘Happy Death Day’ writer/director Christopher Landon, who left the first version of ‘Scream 7’ after Barrera was fired and Jenna Ortega departed, might have done with the mythos). As a visualist he’s not that savvy here either: much of the film is shrouded in darkness that makes it hard to see the strikingly plentiful gore.

Those gruesome effects, the flashy murders, and Campbell may all be enough to draw both ‘Scream’ diehards and casual fans back to the theater, but it’s not enough to creatively sustain a franchise that has all but abandoned the rules and underlying premise that once made it seem revolutionary. After seven films, it’s time for ‘Scream’ to let silence reign.

‘Scream 7’ receives a score of 40 out of 100.

Ghostface in Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Media Group’s ‘Scream 7.’ Ghost Face is a Registered Trademark of Fun World Div., Easter Unlimited, Inc. ©1999. All Rights Reserved.

What is the plot of ‘Scream 7’?

Sidney Prescott has built a new life for herself in the quiet town of Pine Grove, Indiana, until a new Ghostface killer begins to target her daughter Tatum, forcing her to face her past and end the killings once and for all.

Who is in the cast of ‘Scream 7’?

• Neve Campbell as Sidney Prescott
• Courteney Cox as Gale Weathers
• Isabel May as Tatum Evans
• Joel McHale as Mark Evans
• Jasmin Savoy Brown as Mindy Meeks-Martin
• Mason Gooding as Chad Meeks-Martin
• Anna Camp as Jessica Bowden
• Asa Germann as Lucas Bowden
• Sam Rechner as Ben Brown
• Mckenna Grace as Hannah Turman
• Celeste O’Connor as Chloe Parker
• Timothy Simons as Mr. Willis
• Jimmy Tatro as Scott
• Michelle Randolph as Madison
• Matthew Lillard as Stu Macher
• David Arquette as Dewey Riley
• Roger L. Jackson as the voice of Ghostface

‘Scream 7’ opens in theaters on February 27th.

Movies and TV Shows in the ‘Scream’ franchise:

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