There's no way Scream 7 would have a simple debut. The latest entry in the horror franchise leaves California for Indiana, when a new slate of Ghostface killings leaves a stark message for Sidney Prescott. While director Kevin Williamson's return is welcome, this outing is plagued by numerous problems that keep it from ever cohering as a project.
When Radio Silence Productions took over the franchise, Scream V and VI introduced and followed a new set of characters in a narrative built around Sam Carpenter (Melissa Barrera) and her sister Tara (Jenna Ortega). When Barrera shared a post accusing Israel of "genocide and ethnic cleansing" (the UN since confirmed that Israel has committed genocide in the Gaza Strip), the powers that be at Spyglass Media unilaterally declared her advocacy for Palestinian rights to be inherently "antisemitic," booting her from the sequel.
A short time later, co-star Jenna Ortega exited Scream 7 due to reported scheduling issues, leaving Spyglass scrambling to construct an entirely new narrative alongside directorial musical chairs. Spyglass opted to bring back every legacy character it could think of, including longtime star Neve Campbell, for a story that moved to Indiana two years later.
Overall, there was a lot of change in a built-from-scratch retooling of the sequel series arc, all due to factors that had nothing to do with what's best for the series or what's been established in the new entries. Regrettably, even the franchise return of Kevin Williamson couldn't give the outing any coherent direction. There are some stellar kills and a few memorable moments in Scream 7, but it otherwise feels like an attempt to duct tape memories of Scream films past into a semi-coherent shape.
A Talented Cast Can't Quite Save an Aimless Sequel
In Scream 7, longtime franchise final girl Sidney Prescott (Campbell) has left Woodsboro, California, for Pine Grove, Indiana, in an effort to truly leave the past behind. She works in a coffee shop while navigating motherhood, struggling to connect with her daughter, Tatum (Isabel May). As is always the case in her life, a new Ghostface appears, but this time it gives every appearance of being Stu Macher (Matthew Lillard) despite the latter's apparent death in the original Scream.
I'm not of the opinion that the Scream franchise particularly needs Sidney Prescott to work. A slasher franchise for and featuring horror fans should always have a bevy of potentially interesting characters to choose from, just as Sam Carpenter was a good character who fit the world better the further her entries went. That said, Neve Campbell is always a welcome addition to any horror film, and it's good to see her return.
As her daughter, Isabel May gives a solid performance that evolves well as the narrative proceeds. While their mother-daughter dynamic does add tension, much of the narrative around it fails to make sense, however. Much is made of the pair's disconnect: Sidney wants to protect Tatum, while the latter wonders about Sidney's traumatic past. It's unclear how Tatum could be ignorant of it all; however, given that every traumatic moment in Sidney's life has a new Stab movie made about it, and Sidney wrote a well-known book about her traumatic life.
There are other excellent additions to the cast, but most come with some caveats. Jasmin Savoy Brown and Mason Gooding return as the Meeks-Martins, here working for Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox), and they routinely light up the screen with smart banter and great interplay. At the same time, they both prove so inconsequential to the plot that they feel like leftovers from a prior draft (albeit welcome ones). Cox is a franchise staple, but she's inexplicably stiff here, while Lillard is easily one of the film's best elements as the returned Stu.
No Characters Feel Necessary in Scream 7
The heart of the Scream franchise has always been a sort of multi-leveled, meta self-awareness. Horror-fan characters drop references to real-life horror films and use that knowledge to survive Ghostface's attacks (or, as Ghostface, to generate threats for the characters); they are staple elements of the series. Adding to the franchise metacommentary are the in-world series of Stab films parodying the Scream franchise. They also break well-trod horror norms by frequently featuring multiple killers, none with superpowers, who are often animated by a connection to Sidney (however elaborate and implausible).
A rarity for the series, the seventh entry consciously forgoes many of those larger elements (even having characters explicitly reject talk of 'rules' and shut down attempts at meta-commentary). There's ample on-the-nose discussion of Sidney's return amidst snide rejections of the events of Scream 5 and 6, but the film's self-reference works less well when absent from a larger context of intelligent meta-discussion.
There are exemplary kills in this iteration, but the reveals around these Ghostface killings leave much to be desired. As always, it's hard to explore thoroughly without spoilers, but some of the film's villainous happenings read both random and lackluster. Whereas Ghostface attacks often have some sort of personal connection, some major Ghostface activity has relatively loose, boring motivation; this is likely the first Scream yet to feel like no character is necessary for anything that transpires.
The clear takeaway is that the new sequels were clearly building toward a promising arc for Sam that created a nice throughline between them, and there was no plan B when Spyglass fired her. No pivoting to Indiana or making up character motivations on the fly can fix that, so we're left with an aimless sequel that has nothing organic to do. For a franchise once known for innovative, brilliant storytelling, it's a pity (at least there's Scary Movie 6).
Final Rating: 5/10
Scream 7 hits theaters on Friday, February 27, 2026.
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