Full disclosure time. There have now been seven “Scream” movies since 1996, and I had only seen one of them in advance of the latest release. So, before today, my single point of contact with the franchise was the original. That’s it. I had a fine time with the first one, but I wasn’t hooked enough to stay loyal over the years. Even though I checked out early, it turns out one film was plenty to understand the central conceit of the series and skip ahead to a new chapter.
“Scream 7” marks the return of Neve Campbell’s character Sidney Prescott after she sat out the New York-based mayhem of “Scream VI.” Sidney has created a new, small-town life for herself, far away from the bloody drama of her past. Or so she thinks. Obviously, there is no way this will be true and Prescott is quickly overwhelmed by the arrival of a new Ghostface killer and the need to help her daughter stay safe. Other series veterans, like Courtney Cox, return to join in Prescott’s fight and matters proceed pretty much exactly the way you expect them to.
This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Actually, it is the thing. The whole point of a “Scream” film is to allow the characters to wink at all the horror/slasher movie tropes in real time. We get to watch the stars call out the cliches with exasperated disbelief right as they seem about to happen. Ever since “Scream 2” the directors and writers have had not only the wider slasher canon to draw from for their trope-skewering, but their own previous films as well. In fact, weaving in a subplot about a series of “Stab” movies from their world that mirror and satirize the “Scream” analogues in ours has been a very cool running trick. It continues with “Scream 7”.
The performances from Campbell and Cox are mostly sturdy and perfectly in line with the demands of the plot. Everyone else seems to be enjoying themselves too, and Isabel May adds an excellent new energy as Prescott’s daughter, Tatum. The moments where the script is least effective are the ones where somebody tries to be too serious. It doesn’t happen a lot, but when it does, it comes off like over-earnest acting rather than a writing misfire. It’s a shame, because too much care has gone into the fidelity of the big joke to allow Campbell, of all people, to look like she’s not in on it. The reveals about who is doing all the killing are a bit of a let-down too, if I’m honest, and the villain’s motivations are a weak stretch at best. Good thing the gore is so on point. There are some pretty gruesome kills and, of course, a couple of genuine but nervous laughs to go along with them. Ghostface still manages after all these years to walk that fine line between scary and campy, and there is enough daylight between the “Scream” franchise and the much sillier “Scary Movie” films to warrant another donning of the mask.
I’m not sure why I waited so long for a return to the “Scream” universe. Horror is not really my cup of tea, but self-aware genre fun-poking definitely is. I respect a movie that knows what it is and doesn’t try too hard to be more. “Scream 7” is not going to be on any end-of-year lists for 2026, but it is an enjoyable distraction. Longtime fans will probably love it, and people like me will be appropriately entertained by it if they relax and give themselves an intellectual cheat day.
