Scream 7 Review (SPOILERS)

"Are we having fun yet, Sydney?"

OK, I have to start this off as I start any conversation off when it comes to Scream. This is my favorite slasher franchise, and it's one of my favorite titles in the horror-verse. I would also put Ghostface in the top 5 of my favorite villains of all time becasue of the idea, phenomenon, and paranoria that the character and its aura brings to the genre. I have never fully disliked any movie in the franchise. That being said, I have had nitpicky things with different moments and some decisions over the years, but I have loved the different avenues they have taken and even been shocked by some unpredictable moments, but enought about the franchise as a whole, let's dive into the 7th installment of the franchise.

First, some fun facts about this one:

• This is the first film in the series directed by Kevin Williamson, who wrote Scream (1996), Scream 2 (1997), and Scream 4 (2011).

• The return of Roger Jackson as the voice of Ghostface and Courtney Cox as Gale Weathers makes them the longest running actors, in the franchise. They are the only two to be in every installment of the franchise.

• Kevin Williamson convinced Neve Campbell to consider returning, and Neve Campbell convinced Kevin Williamson to direct it.

• Both Scream (2022) and Scream VI (2023) mention Sidney Prescott has a husband named Mark, who was widely presumed to be Det. Mark Kincaid, played by Patrick Dempsey in Scream 3 (2000). "Scream" and "Scream VI" directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett also confirmed this was their intention in interviews. However, Dempsey stated in a TODAY interview he was in discussions to return for the seventh film and was waiting for the script, but in January 2025, unbeknownst to most of the fanbase, it was announced that Sidney's husband would be a new character, Mark Evans, played by Joel McHale. Dempsey eventually told Variety that scheduling conflicts and the California wildfires near his Malibu home prevented him from returning. In my opinion, while I didn't dislike Joel as a character in this movie, I do think it would have added some better connection and some solid continuity to make it work with his scheduling; just to have Dempsey back as her husband. I also would have killed him off if that were to happen to add a very solid, somber moment, but oh well.

• According to Skeet Ulrich, the idea was for Sam Carpenter (Melissa Barrera), protagonist of the previous two movies, to finally embrace her inner darkness in the finale of this trilogy. "Exactly that. I was hoping for exactly that, and that's sort of the idea that was pitched to me a couple years ago," the actor says. "That it was a three-movie arc, with that in mind. Now, I never saw any of the drafts of seven or anything that. And I don't know, I mean, it's possible that it didn't include any of that as well. But yeah, that was my hope is that if it was going to mean anything, that it directly impacted the plot." As we saw none of this materialized and then Spyglass Entertainment let Barrera go from production. Which, in my opinion, REALLY SUCKED! Plenty of entertainers have spoken their minds on both sides of politics and expressed their first amendment right, but nothing has happened to them, but it seems like there needed to be an example made of someone, and it was her. It is unfortunate though.

  • Here's my pitch: They easily could have ended that trilogy of stories in a very cool way with Sam finally embracing what was in her blood. You get Ortega for a couple days of filming to kill her off in the opening scene; set it up like it's two Ghostfaces going after Sam and her friends and Sydney and Gale. Then at the end, when most people are dead and the powerful moments have happened like killing Randy's neice and nephew (the siblings) that were lovable from 5 and 6; you have Gale and Sydney and Kirby and Sam cracking the case and when they get to the final act, the one Ghostface has them hurt and some near death, and it's Sam and Sydney fighting off Ghostface, and Sam gets the upper hand and stabs the Ghostface, and stabs a lot, and unmasks and it's like a minor character like a new boyfriend of hers or her new bestie or her crazy birth mom she had reconnected with or someone that was introduced and they are unable to speak cause they are choking on their own blood, but they are looking at Sam with confusion or something and they start to die and Sydney says something like, "You're supposed to go for the head." Boom she stabs them in the head and a small smirk is seen by the audience, but not Sydney. Kirby comes to and they help her up, they are standing over the Ghostface; Kirby in between Sydney and Sam, and Kirby sees the Ghostface knife in Sam's hand, but then notices that Ghostface actually died with their knife by them. She has a quick moment of hesitation and says something like, "Wait, where did you get that knife?" Sam looks at it and says, "Heh...it's mine. Actually, it was my father's, but now, it's mine." and BOOM she guts Kirby; causing Sydney to fall back in shock. We get the emotional moment of Sam locked eyes with Kirby and she looks down at the knife in her gut. Kirby looks back up in shock, Sam pulls the knife out and then to finish the job, slices her across the throat. We get Sydney in shock watching on as Sam cleans the knife in homage to her dear old dad. Then creeping from behind her is the ghost of her dad, good ole Skeet Ulrich creeping around her giving some fatherly pep talk saying things like, "Damn kid, I was I was there to throw it all in Syd's face. I am so jealous you get to finish her off." Then Sam gets that monologue moment with Sydney with some lines overlapping wither Billy's. Unbeknownst to her, Gale has come to, grabbed the other knife from Ghostface's corpse and starts to crawl over to her. Sydney plays into the monlogue and says this: "There's something you forgot about the night I killed your crazy f****** dad." Sam looks confused of says something snarky and Sydney leans forward and says, "I wasn't alone." BOOM! Gale stabs Sam in the back causing her to drop the knife in shock. Sydney catches it and brings it down in Sam's head....then of course the typical ending we normally have with our heroines saying some snarky thing as the police walk around the crime scene as the sun is coming up and music fades in and camera fades to black.

Ok, so anyway... I did like the movie. I was thrilled to see the reunion of our new Ghostbusters in this movie with Celeste O'Connor and Mckenna Grace joining the cast, but as we all could have guessed, they would not be making it through this movie. I did expect maybe at least one of Tatum's friends to survive, but NOPE. All teens were harmed in the making of this movie. I did love the fact that Sydney named her daugter Tatum to pay homage to her bff from the first film. I did like the dynamic they had too as mother and daughter with showing the struggle from the mixture of coming of age and Sydney's trauma. I also liked seeing the slow growth of strength in Tatum throught the movie. Plus I will say it...SYDNEY FREAKING PRESCOTT is still in her damn prime! She proves in this movie why she is the ULTIMATE FINAL GIRL! Even more so than Jamie Lee Curtis, in my humble opinion. No disrespect to one of the og final girls and scream queens, but Sydney is prime Final Girl.

While I didn't hate the choice in Ghostfaces, I was a bit blown away by the fact that one of them was a very very side character, and hell even would go as far as to say they both were side characters and not really main characters. I thought that it was an interesting choice, but also happy to be surprised. I thought I would easily guess it. I had been on a pretty good percentage of guessing the killers since the first film, but this one, I didn't get either right. However, Madison did guess one of them pretty early on, and had them pegged almost immediately. So I actually think she has a higher percentage than I do at finding one, if not both, out of all the movies. I think there was like 1 or 2 times she didn't guess them right and that was Scream 3 and maybe one of the last ones. I can't remember, but she is scary good at pinpointing them quick.

I honestly would have killed Gale in this one tbh. I think it's time for another legacy character to bite the dust. With that being said, I don't think this franchise ends until one of two things happens, either Sydney is killed in the final installment, or she loses it and becomes the final killer and has to be brought down by Gale or her own kid. Idk how you end it. I do think that after 7 films, it is in a better place, as a franchise, then most horror movies in the genre. It definately stands above Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday The 13th, Leprechaun, Hellraiser, and Texas Chainsaw Massacre at the 7th installment mark. I won't even say arguably. I'm pretty sure that's objectively factual.

Overall, I thouroughly enjoed it. I loved having Mathhew Lillard back in the form that he was, BUT I still think he is still alive. I loved the impact that AI has on the story because people AI IS GETTING EFFING SCARY! The line: "Anyone can make a deep fake now" is the most powerful line in the entire movie because that's where we are now. So STOP using it, and STOP believing it all. FACT CHECK EVERYTHING! I liked the nostalgia of the legacy and the addition of the new generation of characters. Overall I would say 7.5 out of 10.

I do want to get to Madison's thoughts so here they are:

Madison's Thoughts:

 • Making the Macher house an AirBNB was interesting, I liked that it set up like a museum (think Lizzie Borden house). I know they were looking a way to introduce Stu back into the plot, but it did feel a little odd once we saw the rest of the storyline because it was hardly mentioned again. It felt a little random, other than to bring Stu back to the story.

• The opening character/AirBNB guest having the same name as me was NOT polite. Hearing Roger L Jackson repeat your name in the voice changer is not an experience that I wish to have again.

• Matthew Lillard. That's all. Just...Matthew Lillard playing a wonderfully unhinged Stu, had he lived.

• They did a great job of keeping us guessing who the killer(s) could be in this one. I had multiple suspects and only got one right, unlike some of the other movies in the franchise that were a bit predictable or Ghostface ended up being an obvious giveaway at some point.

• AI is tricky and bringing it into the narrative is scary. What's real? What's not? They did a good job at reminding us how dangerous AI can be, especially in a crime setting.

• Bobby Ray from Sweet Home Alabama, what are you doing here and why are you Ghostface?

• Was John Doe a ploy that the killers created when they knew they were going to blame Stu...OR is John Doe still out there.

• Gale Weathers should have been a casualty in this one. Sorry, I said what I said.

• Chad and Mindy coming back wasn't necessary, it was random enough that I thought that they could be the killers. They felt like throwaway characters.

• A great final battle with Ghostface(s), Sidney, and Tatum in my opinion. If Mark can survive that much blood loss, Stu could theoretically be alive and well.

• Overall, I did like this one a lot better than others. The nostalgia and bringing Stu as a focal point in the plot has really redeemed the lesser quality movies in the franchise.

-Tyler & Madison-