SCREAM 7
Starring: Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Isabel May, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Mason Gooding, Anna Camp, Joel McHale, Celeste O’Connor, Sam Rechner, Asa Germann, Mckenna Grace, Matthew Lillard, Ethan Embry, and Roger L. Jackson
Director: Kevin Williamson
PAIGE
While Kevin Williamson crafts some of the series’ most brutal kill sequences in Scream 7, the story itself is an uninspired entry and features the weakest killer reveal in the franchise. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great to have Neve Campbell back front and center, and the mother-daughter dynamic grounds the film; however, the premise never fully builds momentum and lacks motivation. This one leans a bit too heavily on nostalgia and familiar plot beats instead of delivering the audience something fresh and new.
ROBERT
There’s been an anchor tied around Scream 7 with the dismissal of Melissa Barrera, the bowing out of Jenna Ortega, and the coordinated rewrites. Bringing back the OG actors and living creators were done to engender hope and goodwill, but the tipped scales never balanced back in the franchise’s favor. This effort was lifeless and soulless…not much of an effort at all really. It seemed as if this was a transitional movie, done to meet a deadline and make money to push out another installment with more time and thought behind it. It was a little fun but also dumb, confusing, and inconsequential.
BODE
Even if Scream 7 didn’t have a controversy-laden road to the big screen, my enthusiasm for it wasn’t very high anyway given my disappointment with the last two installments. Still, with the return of original creator Kevin Williamson in a writing/directing capacity, I was curious to see if a return-to-form was possible for this franchise. And while it certainly has its fun moments (particularly with some of the set pieces), it doesn’t quite make up for its heavy nostalgia, or ridiculous reveals. I wouldn’t personally call it the worst Scream, but it’s definitely far from the best.
