Wow! What a mess! Not this movie…maybe… but we’ll get to that. We’re referring to the franchise itself. The first was a classic, Wes Craven’s meta masterpiece that gently mocked horror cliches, whilst telling a first-rate slasher story populated with likeable characters. 30 years ago! Wrap your head around that fact! The second satirised sequels, the third made fun of franchises, and the fourth one railed against reboots. Then, of course, we lost Mr Craven to the ethereal scripting room, and the series turned a direction with the Radio Silence directing duo of Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett. Scream 5 (let’s nix that rebooted Scream title once and for all) focused on the hitherto unknown daughter of the original Ghostface. With a new “core-4” of individuals, it had legacy characters orbiting them, and eventually Part 6 took Ghostface to the big city. After geopolitical comments, studio interference, artistic feuds, budgetary disputes, and a whole lot more, Scream 7 underwent more changes than a teenager’s WhatsApp group. It metamorphosed into the film that has just been released in the UK and the USA. Starring a returned Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, and several other familiar faces, it’s been directed by Kevin Williamson, who was the original Scream screenwriter. So, it’s an opportunity to see if the Ghostface magic can be reclaimed or whether the franchise is seriously dead and buried.

 

It starts with a (frankly dull, uninspired, and completely spoilt by trailers) prologue that sees a horror-fan couple visit the “Stab” house in Woodsboro. This is Stu Machers' old home, the location where the bloody climax of the original film took place. Some idiot has turned it into an “immersive experience”, complete with an animatronic Ghostface, which is quickly superseded by the real thing as another killer appears. This heralds the familiar stalk-and-slash cycle for poor old Sydney Prescott (Campbell), who is now married with children and living a normal life in Pine Grove, Indiana. After the usual “Hello, Sydney” phone call, it appears that the “new” Ghostface may be someone horribly familiar to her. This time, the motive seems to be pure revenge, and it’s mostly directed at Sydney’s oldest daughter, Tatum (Isabel May, who looks and acts like Jennifer Lawrence in her early roles). Of course, deaths ensue, and Sydney’s overprotectiveness has made her daughter entirely unprepared to become a final girl in the style of her mother. So, the support of Gale Weathers (Cox) is more than welcome as the mother-daughter duo race to unmask another psycho.

 

Well, it’s frankly a miracle that anything resembling a polished production has been released after the chaos of the pre-production. But it’s still resulted in a franchise entry that is definitely at the lower end of the scale when people look back at all the preceding movies. It’s not that it’s disastrous; there are good points and some inventiveness, but there’s no real joy or celebration of the genre, and the sparse meta touches are half-hearted. So, it’s not completely horrible, it’s just disappointing, and sometimes that’s worse! You won’t jump out of your seat at any point, unless you watch it in 4DX (a format the movie is available to watch in… and we did… and it’s a really weird experience… but we’re not here to “review” that element). There’s also an oddly malicious number of in-jokes (if you can call them that). One character says to Sydney about how good it is to have her back in “final girl” duties, which is then followed up by Gale actually saying, “I’m glad you sat out New York. It was brutal!” No shit, Sherlock. But are we talking about the film or the real world there? Even the denouement smacks of studio heads wagging a finger at Campbell and warning her not to be difficult in the future.  

 

The fact is that BTS scrambling has tainted the momentum and inventiveness of the saga. Not everybody liked the direction that 5 and 6 was going on, with its clear willingness to leave some of the legacy characters behind. The rumours that the lead protagonist was going to turn to the dark side weren’t well received either. But if the franchise is going to continue, it needs to embrace new sensibilities and match the verve that is displayed in modern horror, like Sinners and Weapons, or at least acknowledge them with incisive meta-wit. On a personal note, I still think the prologue to Scream 6 (with Samara Weaving) was an excellent twist on the formula and is much better than the “meh” opening here. Although to be fair and balanced, there is still a feeling of satisfaction and warm fuzziness that comes with seeing Campbell and Cox going through the motions. This is compounded by the endearing fact that they show a grizzled self-awareness by swearing like crazy (“Fucking motherhood!”) and acknowledging their age (“Passed my prime?!”).

 

The trouble is that the one-fisted salute to horror is no longer in evidence. Everything just feels so… over. When one character starts to talk about horror cliches and says that “nostalgia” is driving the events, they almost get shut down by a compadre saying, “I thought we weren’t going to do the thing about rules anymore?” Sacrilege! This mirrors the main problem with this entry. It wants to honour the Scream legacy but also feels a bit embarrassed to do so after the changes in the previous two films. After the two leads left the cast, the two remaining members of the “Core 4” are dragged into the story for no good reason and to no real effect. Sam and Tara Carpenter are never even mentioned (which is really weird in context), apart from one snarky comment about illegitimate daughters, which seems a bit vindictive. Except for Tatum, the “new” characters are really thin in detail, including the suspect boyfriend and another supposed horror fan (who never gets to “horror-fan”). And why include a “name” like McKenna Grace and barely have her in the film! It all feels a little unfocused and messy.

 

There are some good moments. Very good, in fact. The murder on the school stage is sublimely set up, nicely executed (pun intended), and ends in a brightly lit image that marries gore and beauty. It’s a Giallo-like moment, and the rest of the kills never really meet this inventiveness. Some of them are just plain mean and eyerolling (the beer-tap kill is laughable, rather than eww-inducing). But the involvement of Matthew Lillard is a high point and really hits the mark with an inspired re-take of his Scream character (Tarantino can sod off, frankly). There’s also another wonderfully unhinged turn by another member of the cast, but to single them out would be a spoiler. Suffice to say that they understood their assignment and absolutely went for it! The plot flirts with some intriguing elements, but then never really fleshes them out. It’s heavily hinted that Gale is absolutely broken by the loss of Dewey and has become addicted to painkillers, but it doesn’t go anywhere. The suggestion that Sydney’s overprotectiveness and penchant for avoiding the past have actually put Tatum in danger is only touched upon in the most cursory sense.

 

A lot of the good stuff is negated by some scenes that are just plain awful or bizarre. Tatum is called out and humiliated by a school tutor for not being a “braver” person… whilst playing a part as a dog called “Fluffy” in a whimsical play! WTF dude! It’s done for a narrative purpose, but you’ll be face-palming at the context. Don’t even get started on the final (and obligatory) unmasking scene. Apart from a couple of ongoing wrinkles in the formula, the climax sees the explanation and motivation for the Ghostface killer unfold with some of the dumbest reasoning ever in the series. Seriously. It makes no sense at all and potentially smacks of all the issues that must have occurred during rewrites and suchlike. Despite the best efforts of the actor involved, that element feels like something from a “Stab” movie (the fake franchise-in-the-franchise) rather than a Scream climax. Perhaps that’s part of the issue overall. With a step back to legacy-based shenanigans, it’s become very self-referential (check out the visual conga of previous Ghostfaces and victims) and prone to back-patting, rather than concentrating on pushing things forward or exploring any ongoing potential.

 

The somewhat annoying thing is that for all its downfalls, there’s still stuff to enjoy, and many fans of the franchise will do so. Campbell, Cox, and most of the cast are solid in their efforts, and some of the sequences are viscerally compelling. And Ghostface will never not be a classic slasher villain when masked and in motion. But a lot of people (most mainstream critics so far in fact) will be left cold by some of the lazier aspects. Why have a panic room and then immediately leave it for… reasons? Why start running to a location because you’re locked out of a vehicle when the key/driver is minutes away? And there’s incessant yacking about “shooting ‘em in the head”, making it sound like a Walking Dead crossover. Mind you, that last complaint does have a humdinger of a punchline! However, this already looks to be a profit-maker, despite the mixed reactions, with early plans for a Part 8 in motion. If that does happen, you can only hope that they take some criticism on board and make it more inventive or jaw-dropping. In the meantime, this is the full circle ending that you probably didn’t want.