"Hello Sidney; did you miss me?"
What are we all even doing here? How is this a good use of anyone’s time? When Scream rebooted in 2022 in its first post-Wes Craven outing, the storytelling logic made at least a little bit of sense: a new generation of horror fans was ripe for gentle mockery and meta deconstruction. The result wasn’t essential cinema, but it threaded the needle between honoring the original series and starting something new, even if it had very little wit or insight in playing with slasher tropes, essentially redoing Scream 4’s ideas with less gusto. Still, I’m more fond of Five Cream in retrospect than I was at the moment in 2022. Its sequel, Scream VI, was an easy-enough sit carried by developing the young “core four” cast and one knockout subway sequence. Neither quite justified the franchise’s ongoing existence, but they offered satisfying popcorn experiences. (Without actually rewatching either, I would probably swap them in my series rank order at this point, putting 5 ahead of 6.)
The three years since have been tumultuous: Radio Silence departed as directors, Melissa Barrera was fired for expressing support for Palestinians, Jenna Ortega left in what everyone understood as solidarity and franchise fatigue, and slasher-comedy maestro Christopher Landon joined then quickly bailed during the fallout. The series eventually found its footing by bringing back both original star Neve Campbell and original screenwriter Kevin Williamson, this time to co-write and direct. On paper, this is a return to roots. In practice, it’s a barely competent legacy sequel about characters who weren’t even really the point the first time around.
I am being a little generous in calling it “barely competent.” Williamson’s screenplay is the film’s most glaring liability. The mystery is listless and predictable, moving through the motions of whodunit suspicion without generating any actual tension about the answer. The killer reveal is the franchise’s weakest: the unmasking feels disconnected from the series’ modus operandi and is frankly arbitrary bordering on idiotic, a deflating yawn just when the movie needed a pick-me-up. Scream has always had a tradition of convoluted reveals, but this one is just dull. And Williamson isn’t even bothering to try and weave in any sort of structural play or meta commentary; other than a couple of exchanges, this is just another slasher.
Williamson’s direction, meanwhile, is uneven in the way you’d expect from a writer-turned-director. Some of the set pieces are genuinely exciting, leveraging strong set design and a few brutally creative kills that rank among the franchise’s most intense moments. But it has an inescapable airiness, a lack of heft. Scream 7 has no sense of pace, rhythm, or mood stitching its sequences together. The middle section, in particular, hits a wall of low-action, low-interest dialogue scenes from which the film never recovers its momentum, a problem compounded by the usual Scream runtime bloat. (Every single one of these movies is 15-20 minutes too long..) After a fairly breathless opening act, you’re left checking your watch through an interminable midsection, waiting for the climax to justify the slog, which it mostly doesn’t.
The cast doesn’t help. The new teen ensemble is aggressively bland this time around, especially co-lead Isabel May playing Sidney’s daughter Tatum, who is asked to carry the torch from the absent Ortega and Barrera but is a vacuum of charm. Mason Gooding and Jasmin Savoy Brown, the two returning “core four” members, have officially worn out their welcome with nothing left to do. Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) stopped being a net positive for this series somewhere around part three, and that tradition holds. Pretty much every other legacy cameo is shoehorned in (though I’ll always take me some Matthew Lillard). That said, some of the fringe casting is the exact kind of C-list energy I enjoy in a movie like this: Ethan Embry, Joel McHale, Anna Camp, Jimmy Tatro, Timothy Simons.
The one genuinely delightful surprise is Campbell herself. I had completely written her off as a franchise asset after diminishing returns across the sequels, but unlike basically every other legacy performer here (and, honestly, unlike the franchise itself) Campbell seems to be getting better with age. She looks beautiful, her screen command has sharpened, and she’s fully invested in the material in a way that makes you wish said material was worthwhile.
Marco Beltrami’s return to the franchise after being replaced by Brian Tyler for the fifth and sixth installments is another welcome bright spot. His new compositions, including a reinvention of the iconic “Sidney’s Lament,” offer some throwback resonance that the rest of the film is halfheartedly reaching for but can’t grasp.
And so I repeat my opening question: What are we all even doing here? The series has nothing to say, and it’s not even trying to. Even if you are willing to lend Scream 7’s cast and crew the benefit of the doubt after the production unceremoniously booted Barrera, why would you bother with this shambling little puff of a film?
Is It Good?
Not Very Good (3/8)
Dan is the founder and head critic of The Goods. Follow Dan on Letterboxd. Join the Discord for updates and discussion.