SCREAM 7
(director/writer: Kevin Williamson; screenwriter: Gary Busick, story by Busick & James Vanderbilt; cinematographer: Ramsey Nickell; editor: Jim Page; music: Marco Beltrami; cast: Neve Campbell (Sidney Evans), Courteney Cox (Gale Weathers, TV reporter), Joel McHale (Mark Evans), Matthew Lillard (Stu Macher), Isabel May (Tatum Evans), Anna Camp (Jessica Bowden, neighbor), Sam Rechner (Ben Brown), Mark Consuelos (Robbie Rivers), Mason Gooding (Chad Meeks-Martin), Timothy Simons (George Willis, teacher play director), Jasmin Savoy Brown (Mindy Meeks-Martin), Ethan Embry (Marco), Celeste O’Connor (Chloe Parker), McKenna Grace (Hannah Thurman), David Arquette (Sheriff Dewey Riley), Roger L. Jackson (voice of Ghostface), Michelle Randolph (Madison), Jimmy Tatro (Scott, exhibit tourist), Asa Germann (Lucas Bowden, creepy neighbor), Emma Evans (Maggie Toomey), Rebecca Evans (Annabelle Toomey); Runtime: 114; MPAA Rating: R; producers: William Sherak, Paul Neinstein, James Vanderbilt; Paramount; 2026)
“An exploitation thriller.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
An exploitation thriller directed by the TV writer Kevin Williamson (“Teaching Mrs. Tingle”), the writer for the franchise’s original film in 1996 that was directed by the legendary Wes Craven. It’s based on the story by Busick & James Vanderbilt, and is co-written by Williamson and Gary Busick.
The film suffers from a weak script, big plot holes, an outdated story, and of having no fresh ideas. It might also irritate some believers in free speech (like me) or in causes (not me) that the actress Melissa Barrera was not brought back by the studio after Scream 6 because of her social media post accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza and her actress pal Jenna Ortega quits in support of her friend, and in the replacing of the capable director Christopher Landon with the inexperienced Williamson. At least the film’s innovative murders should keep its large fan base ghoulishly happy. Also, it brings back its ‘scream queen’ Neve Campbell who missed the last sequel because of a salary dispute.
It’s slightly better than the last two versions, which might not be saying much because they were dreadful. In any case, Scream 6 was the highest grossing film in America that year.
Sidney Evans (Neve Campbell) is the infamous sole survivor of the Ghostface Killer serial murders in her hometown of Woodsboro, California, and after many years is now a coffee shop owner in the quiet small town of Pine Grove, Indiana. She married the supportive local police chief Mark Evans (Joel McHale) and has a pouting, overprotected, aspiring actress 17-year-old daughter Tatum (Isabel May), with whom she has a troubled relationship because the daughter seeks more independence. The couple’s twin kindergarten-aged daughters (Maggie & Annabelle Toomey) are staying with Mark’s mom and will therefore miss out on the murder spree that will soon come to town.
Tatum has a handsome boyfriend Ben (Sam Rechner) that mom doesn’t trust, and is close friends with classmates Chloe (Celeste O’Connor) and Hannah (McKenna Grace). They are in a school play together.
Sidney, her family, and anyone close to her are threatened by the new Scream killer (voiced again by Roger L. Jackson), who reappears in town wearing a Ghostface mask and getting in some grizzly kills in town that starts with using a theater wire to murder one of Tatum’s teenage friends.
The story is predictable and has been played-out to the max. Aside from the outstanding performance by Neve Campbell and that it reintroduces the charming Courteney Cox character Gale Weathers from the original version, I found it a scream but not in a positive way. In its 30 year run-time it probably has squeezed all the juice it can out of its by-the-numbers serial killer slasher story.
REVIEWED ON 3/11/2026 GRADE: C
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