Scream 7 takes another stab at Sidney

Scream 7 is the seventh installment in the heralded Scream franchise, spanning over the course of the last 30 years. After a slew of controversy, directorial duties were finally assigned to Kevin Williamson for the first time, the original writer of the franchise who has also written Scream 2 and Scream 4 and produced every other film in the franchise. This edition follows Sidney Prescott (Neve Cambell) living out her suburban dream with her husband Mark (Joel McHale). They live away from the dreaded Woodsboro and in a new quiet town called Pine Grove where he is the police chief and she is running a coffee shop and raising their teenage daughter Tatum (Isabel May). Sidney is trying to move on from the events of her past, but her name seems synonymous with murder and the questions from friends, neighbors and even her own daughter never seem to stop. The haunting past becomes even more real and visceral when a pair of fresh murders in Woodsboro spill over into violent attacks in Sidney’s new home targeted at her family. As familiar horrors long forgotten start to materialize in front of her, Sidney and her family will be tested yet again to see if they can survive another Ghostface massacre long enough to find out who is responsible.

Scream is pure nostalgia for me, one of the great creations from a horror legend Wes Craven. It has always lived on the apex of modern culture, masterfully weaving meta knowledge of the horror community and cleverly wrapping it into a violent and bloody whodunnit. The films have always had a way of rarely taking themselves seriously in the most endearing of ways. They are funny and witty but pack in enough violent kills and deep care for characters to satiate the masses. This was no different. The vibes immediately felt like a Scream film. The opening was one of the better openings in the franchise of recent memory. Taking place in the original Macher house, which is now a horror Airbnb, it goes full meta fan mode and it is so much fun to watch. Nailing that opening scene is a quintessential part of experience ever since Drew Barrymore answered the first call and this entry pulls no punches. 

Courtesy of Paramount

Seeing Neve Campbell again as Sidney was cathartic and she hasn’t lost a beat. A more reserved and cautious Sidney is displayed here, one that is hesitant to discuss her past, and that is driving a wedge between her and her daughter. Tatum craves to know the badass heroine of a mother from the Stab films, but is given silence when she digs deeper into her past. You see that final girl hardcore Sidney comes out more and more as the film progresses. The new characters were fun, mostly Tatum’s high school friends, along with Sidney’s husband and neighbor, but I do feel like they were underbaked. The returning cast (Sidney, Gale, the twins) were a large focus of the film and I do feel like some of the characters ended up being around for body count and were underutilized. 

Ghostface here is interesting. He feels very different from the Radio Silence directed Ghostfaces of the last few iterations. He is very sneaky and creative. There are many times this Ghostface sets traps or creates scenarios for their kills that are fascinating to watch play out. It is also the return of the clumsy and beat down Ghostface of old. He takes some damage in this movie and is of course, seemingly invincible throughout. These are some of the more interesting and unique kills in the entire franchise and they really lean back into the gore of the early films. I do feel like this Ghostface underutilized the phone to set up his kills but he did lean more into modern technology, which felt like the franchise getting up to speed on its meta components. 

The plot here in Scream 7 was very nostalgia heavy. There are callbacks with locations, with scenes, with characters and with lines and for some people it is going to be overkill. I think they walked a really fine line and while at some points they flirted with going overboard, they kept it relatively in check. It is worth noting that this is  Kevin Williamson’s first directorial foray since the 90’s, and you can feel this at times. There just isn’t quite as much of a flow to the plot as we have come to know. It seems Williamson had destinations and beats he wanted to hit and he connected them quickly as an afterthought. However, you can feel the love and care that Williamson has for this franchise and its characters, he treats them very kindly and respectfully and embraces the calling cards of the franchise overall. Ultimately, the ending wasn’t everything that I wanted it to be, but to keep everything relatively spoiler free, it was solvable and it was fun to watch. 

This is the seventh film in this franchise. It has endured decades of change, many leading men and women and their on-screen demise, around 20 Ghostface killers, and the death of its own creator. It is a substantive piece of the horror lexicon and one of the most consistent and entertaining franchises in the genre’s history. This was yet another fun and exciting entry and to see Neve Campbell again with Courtney Cox on the big screen fighting off a knife wielding psychopath will always be like a warm hug to me and many fans alike.

You can see Scream 7 in theaters everywhere this weekend.