There’s a reason why when someone gets into a band, they look at the greatest hits album first. Bands like The Eagles, The Rolling Stones, or even someone like Metallica, you look at the hits. The Scream franchise is a lot of the same way. It reinvented the slasher rules with Scream all the way back in 1996. The sequel Scream 2 set the new rules for sequels. Well, now we’re all the way at Scream 7 with the new movie. It feels very much like a reunion tour from one of those vaunted bands mentioned above. Kevin Williamson is back as the director for the film, Neve Campbell returns after taking Scream VI off, and Courteney Cox adds to her long list of appearances in the series.
There are a lot of you out there who are likely turned off by the idea of a Scream sequel being the ‘greatest hits’ of a series. But in this film, it plays the hits, but slightly tweaks them. Like an artist who knows just how to play to the audience, Kevin Williamson gives us what we want, but brings out some new, grisly and brutal kills.
If Scream (2022) and Scream VI were about the Carpenter sisters with the legacy characters taking a backseat, this movie is all about Sidney Prescott/Evans and her family. The idea that trauma follows Sidney around is the central tenet of this film. Sidney’s daughter, Tatum (played by Isabel May), gets a lot to work with here, she’s not just a moody teenager, and a central part of Sidney’s arc in the film.
Her husband, Mark (played by Joel McHale), even brushes back against some of the tough parenting that Sidney’s attempting with Tatum. Tatum’s got a boyfriend, Ben (played by Sam Rechner), and some friends, including Hannah (played by Mckenna Grace), Chloe (played by Celeste O’Connor), and her neighbor Lucas (played by Asa Germann) and his mom Jessica (played by Anna Camp). That’s your principal cast, besides the old guard returning, including Chad Meeks-Martin (played by Mason Gooding), Mindy Meeks-Martin (played by Jasmin Savoy Brown), and Gale.
The killer this time around brings back an old enemy of Sidney in a new, interesting way, which is quite topical.
So, what does Scream 7 do not so well?
There’s a lot to like about Scream 7, but the film does end up sidelining several characters in more ways than one. Without spoiling anything, Chad and Mindy do feel like they’re wasted a bit here. They still get some of the best lines in the movie, but I could have used some more from them. There are also some small logical choices that made me scratch my head a bit, particularly in the early goings of the film.
The script and dialogue between some of the characters could have been a bit snappier. Some of the conversations feel a bit off kilter with the characters interacting.
Outside of that though, this definitely feels like a sequel, and if you already hate sequels, specifically the newer ones, you might not enjoy this film. The commentary doesn’t outright smack you over the head like it did in Scream (2022), but it’s definitely there under the surface. In some ways, this feels like a straight-up sequel to Scream 4. There are a lot of connections that feel like they’re lifted straight from that film, especially with Sidney’s arc in the film.
The crown jewel and what bridges the gap between old slasher movies and new ones with Scream 7 are the kills. They are absolutely brutal, mean-spirited, and shocking at points. The Scream series has never been known for the gore, but they step it up big time here. In previous entries, there’s been a lot of blood, but there are some truly gross effects here for some of the deaths.
At the end of it, this is the seventh film in a slasher series that has reinvented itself multiple times. Scream 7 isn’t one of those movies that reinvent the series, but one that takes from the best of the series to make a film that is a lot of fun to watch. The kills are gruesome, the performances (particularly Isabel May) are solid, and if you’re a fan of Scream, this should send you home happy.
Scream 7 is a triumphant return in more than one way for this long-running slasher series.
Scream 7 releases in theaters on February 27th, 2026.
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