Have you ever seen a franchise completely ruin the foundation that made it so good in the first place? Or raise audience expectations just to crush them in the end? Well, that is exactly what “Scream 7” did.
“Scream 7” is the latest installment in the “Scream” franchise, a series of slasher films in which various characters play the Ghostface killer throughout each film.
Following Sidney Prescott and her daughter Tatum, “Scream 7” did record-breaking numbers at the box office, making a total of $64.1 million in its first week, according to Box Office Pro. To understand what happened to this film, we must first discuss the behind-the-scenes events that led up to its production.
The two “Scream” films leading up to “Scream 7,” the 2022 reboot “Scream” and “Scream VI,” follow characters Samantha and Tara Carpenter, played by Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega, respectively. Barrera and Ortega were set to return in “Scream 7” in their roles as sisters until Barrera was fired over social media posts where she criticized Israel for the genocide in Palestine.
After Barrera’s exit, Ortega announced that she would also be leaving the film, citing scheduling conflicts as the reason. It wasn’t until a later interview with “The Cut” that Ortega admitted the real reason for leaving was Berrera’s absence from the film and the new directors set to work on it.
Radio Silence Productions, which directed the previous two Scream films, left the project before Berrera’s firing. Director Christopher Landon of “Happy Death Day” announced he was dropping the film with a post on X (Twitter), saying, “It was a dream job that turned into a nightmare. And my heart did break for everyone involved.” Kevin Williamson, director of “Scream 7,” had directed only one other film before and, despite working on the other Scream films, had only screenwritten for them.
As a result, the original plan and the film’s draft had to be rewritten. Neve Campbell was brought back to reprise her role of Sidney Prescott after she declined to be in “Scream VI” due to a pay dispute. “My value to this franchise was bigger than what had been offered,” Campbell told CBS Mornings in an interview.
This last-minute reframing of the story makes the film feel rushed and underdeveloped in several ways. From plot holes to the ghost face reveal, “Scream 7” feels like it was thrown together and shoved in the faces of fans. It tries to rely on nostalgia.
The cold open of “Scream 7” features a couple, Madison and Scott, who are horror movie fanatics. They have rented out Stu Macher’s house, now an Airbnb, and are staying the night under the guise of the “Stu Macher Experience.”
Madison and Scott’s cold opening was one of, if not my favorite, sections of the film. The way in which Scott discovered the animatronic Ghostface had been swapped for the real killer was arguably the creepiest moment in the film, and their deaths felt like true “Scream” killings. The only issue with this scene is that it has no connection to the rest of the film.
In “Scream 7,” Mckenna Grace plays Hannah Thurman, a member of Tatum’s friend group, which is introduced just after the cold opening. Hannah, the character, experiences a brutal death at the hands of Ghostface while practicing for their school play. This death was my favorite of the film and reminded me a lot of Dru Barrymore’s character’s death in the original “Scream.”
The first time Ghostface comes for the Prescott, now Evans, family, it is after the police supposedly sweep the house and fail to check the attic. Overall, this was a great fight scene. We got to see Sidney’s husband, Mark, in action, and the fight scene with Sidney and Tatum on the wall was well executed and directed.
During this fight scene, it is revealed that Tatum had no idea that there was a safe room inside their house. Earlier in the film, it is mentioned that Sidney hasn’t taught her daughter how to fight because she doesn’t want Tatum to live the same scared life Sidney did. Despite this, while Ghostface has a knife to Tatum, she sees her dad make a head nod and seems to know exactly what to do when he gives the signal to drop. This action suggests that Tatum has, in fact, had some form of training for moments like the one she is in now.
This fight scene ends with Gail Weather, played by Courteney Cox, showing up with the twins, Chad and Mindy Meeks, from previous films. The group runs Ghostface over with their news van, ultimately killing Ghostface and leading to the franchise’s first mid-movie Ghostface reveal.
When the mask is removed, we see Karl Gibbs, a random customer from Sidney’s coffee shop, whom even the characters say holds no real connection to the family. It isn’t until later that it’s revealed Karl was a psychiatric patient at the hospital where all the Ghostface killers in this film met.
Every “Scream” film has rules or meta-commentary that a character delivers during the movie to help drive the plot. In the original “Scream,” Randy Meeks relays the rules of a slasher: No sex, no drug/alcohol use, and never say “I’ll be right back.”
The next major fight scene is at the tavern where Chloe, one of Tatum’s friends, works. It is here that Mindy provides the meta-commentary for this film, similar to how her uncle Randy did in “Scream” and “Scream 2.” Mindy explains that this time, the movie is about “nostalgia.” The killers aren’t obsessed with the in-universe “Stab” franchise, but rather Sidney Prescott herself.
While the movie tries to comment on nostalgia films, it does too much and ends up becoming a nostalgic film itself. Between Tatum’s boyfriend climbing through her window in the intro scene, Tatum wearing her mother’s “Scream 2” jacket and Stu Macher returning, the movie fails to provide any real commentary on nostalgia films.
Also at the tavern, Tatum shows her boyfriend, Ben, video footage of Stu from the video calls her mom has been receiving. Ben is apparently skilled with computers, so Tatum seeks his advice on whether the videos could be deepfake AI, a video or audio recording that seems real but has actually been manipulated by artificial intelligence. Based on the conversation between Tatum and Ben in this scene, it seems clear that this is the first time Ben has ever seen this footage.
A few moments later, Ben escorts Tatum to his car, where she finds a video of him in front of a green screen, acting out the Stu footage. In the film, he explains this by saying, “I created that one just to see if it was possible.”
This explanation doesn’t hold up in my eyes, but Tatum seems to buy it later on in the film. Seeing as the dialogue inside the tavern implies that it was the first time he had ever seen the footage, it makes it nearly impossible for him to have filmed the green screen footage while inside the tavern.
This scene was poorly written and left a big plot hole in its wake. Was Ben actually helping the Ghostface killers, or was he simply taking his AI deepfake testing a bit too far?
Meanwhile, inside the tavern, Ghostface is tearing through the characters one by one. First to die is Chloe, who is dragged across the bar and ends up with a shard of glass in their neck. During this fight, twins Chad and Mindy are injured and downed for nearly the rest of the movie.
The next death is Lucas, Sidney and Tatum’s true crime-obsessed neighbor, who is often referred to as “creepy kid.” His death is probably the most graphic and gory death in not just this film, but the entire franchise. Ghostface goes above and beyond when killing Lucas, which makes the Ghostface reveal even more absurdity.
The audience is also given no reason to feel any attachment to the characters as they die. Of course, we feel a sense of wrongdoing, but the film does a terrible job of making the audience root for or care for the characters’ deaths. They are so often referred to as the “boyfriend,” “best friend” and “creepy kid” that audiences leave knowing them only as such.
Following the tavern scene, Tatum goes into town, where a curfew is set due to the recent Ghostface killings. Tatum locks herself inside her mother’s coffee shop, where her mother instructs her on where to find a gun and how to shoot it. It’s in this scene that we see more of Tatum’s inability to defend herself, which becomes the arc of her character later in the film.
During the fight, Tatum is kidnapped by Ghostface and taken to her house, where Sidney finds her tied up to a chair, similar to the boyfriend in the original “Scream.” Here is where it is revealed that the other Ghostface killers are Jessica Bowden, a psycho-superfan and Sidney’s neighbor, and Marco Davis, a psychiatric orderly who had been in one scene up to this point.
It is also revealed that Marco used to work for Google and apparently has AI experience. He is the one who decided to bring Stu back to life via AI deepfake in order to torture Sidney and mess with her head. While I’m glad Stu remains dead in the franchise, I find it annoying that Matthew Lillard was brought back to reprise his role as Stu, only for it to be AI.
This could also have given “Scream 7” the perfect opportunity to insert social commentary on the use of AI in today’s society. “Scream” is typically a franchise that doesn’t shy away from commenting on modern issues, but no issues about AI were raised, other than that it’s bad and not to use it. I was very disappointed with Stu’s return and wish Lillard had reprised his role in a far more substantial way.
Jessica’s motivation for putting on the Ghostface mask is that she is mad at Sidney for not being in New York, where “Scream VI” was set. Sidney and Tatum proceed to fight off Jessica, and together they fire a total of 27 shots at her head and face. This is where Tatum delivers a variation of an iconic Sidney line, demonstrating that she’s no longer the shy girl she was made out to be at the beginning of the film.
While I loved seeing Tatum and Sidney fight side by side, Tatum’s character arc seemed to be a stretch. Just a few minutes ago, Tatum was struggling to fire a gun at her mom’s coffee shop and couldn’t bring herself to shoot Ghostface in the head. Now, she’s shooting without second thought at her unmasked neighbor.
Jessica’s motivation does seem to be a meta-commentary on some fans of the “Scream” franchise. Fans took to Reddit threads and other social media platforms to voice their dislike over Sidney’s character not being in “Scream VI.” In “Scream 7,” Jessica talks about Sidney’s absence and explains that it isn’t a “Scream” movie without her.
As a long-time fan of this franchise, I’m highly disappointed in the direction this film took. From behind-the-scenes problems to last-minute rewrites, I believe this film let down many “Scream” fans. My rating of this film is 2.5 out of 5 stars, which matches its average rating.
Although this film was a letdown, it still broke franchise box-office records, so an eighth installment is likely. My only hope is that the franchise finds a way to return Melissa Berrera, Jenna Ortega and other directors for the eighth film. While some may argue ending Sidney’s storyline, I think it’s time to finally give her the happy ending she deserves.
