Scream 7

Scream 7 Movie Review Rating:

Star Cast: Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, Isabel May, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Mason Gooding, and McKenna Grace.

Director: Kevin Williamson

What’s Good: The film is competent, and some of the kills are very cool to watch.

What’s Bad: The film struggles really hard to justify its own existence, and the script can manage to come up with a compelling reason for the killings this time around.

Loo Break: Take your break at any moment during the first act, before the slashing starts.

Watch or Not?: This is a must-watch if you are a fan of the series; if not, better watch it on digital.

Language: English (with Subtitles)

Available On: Theaters

Runtime: 114 Minutes

User Rating:

Opening:

Scream is one of those horror franchises that has basically become a staple of pop culture, something its creator, Wes Craven, managed to do not once but twice, along with the Nightmare on Elm Street films, and as such, the legacy of the first film continues to resonate, but at some point the echo fades, and it seems this is the time for Scream to maybe take a long rest before screaming once again.

Scream 7 Movie Review: Script Analysis

Scream has always identified itself as a film that is self-aware of being one, or at least aware that it is using a set of tropes, rules, and conventions that have been constructed for decades, and as such, it needs to subvert in order to appear clever and meaningful, but as time goes by, that same feeling of being a rebel can actually become part of the status quo, and if so, then what are you rebelling at? Scream 7 finds itself in that situation, acting like a rebel with no cause.

Kevin Williamson serves as both writer and director, and his work on both sides of the table feels just correct, nothing to write home about when it works, but when it doesn’t, it certainly feels like both of the previous films were so much better, not only at setting up a situation for the killers but also in actually creating characters to follow along the journey, which this movie fails to do, as Williamson doesn’t really know how to add new characters to the mix who feel important or captivating.

Like in many movies of the genre, most of these secondary characters will die, so some might see no point in writing them out well, but the devil is in the details, and some of the dialogue here coming from the red shirts is laughable and borderline terrible, which is a shame, as these roles often go to unknown or new talent that actually needs this feel to succeed in order to shine, but this feel gives them no chance.

Tatum, Sydney’s daughter, becomes a very important character in the film, and she is the perfect example of what I previously mentioned: a new character who is just boring, yet the film tries to make her important. Meanwhile, the legacy characters come out a bit better because of the strength of their legacy, rather than the material offered here.

Scream 7 Movie Review: Star Performance

That the legacy characters come out on top in this installment is no surprise, because Neve Campbell and Courteney Cox, for example, are veteran performers, and they really show it; Campbell, especially, carries the entire film on her back, and she is just fantastic. I would love to see more of her outside this franchise, I think she deserves it completely.

The rest of the cast is filled with both new and old faces, some of whom manage to make an impression, but mostly are just barely cameos that come and go to make a point on the screen in recognition. If only the characters were memorable, it would be different, but the franchise has forgotten how it managed to get to this seventh entry in the first place.