Movie Review: Scream 7

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Sidney, Gales, some laughs and twists

Cons: Many new characters flat, pacing at times

The Bottom Line:

Sidney and Ghostface

With Sid’s family at stake

This fan satisfied

“My Past Is Full of Dead People.”

While I say I’ve been a Scream fan since the beginning, I have to confess that I never saw the original in theaters.  And I still regret it.  But I’ve seen all the ones since in the theater.  So when they announced that Scream 7 was coming, I started the countdown.  And I made a point of going during the Thursday previews.  I maintain that there is no such thing as a bad Scream movie.  And this newest entry proved me right again.

Let’s get into it.  And don’t worry, there are no spoilers coming your way.

Before we go any further, I do want to mention the actresses not in the film.  Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega, two of the leads of the last two movies, are not back for this one.  Of course, Neve Campbell famously sat out the last installment.  I’m not going to get into drama surrounding that here.

I will say this.  I love Neve as Sidney.  I also want Sidney to have a happy ending.  So, if the franchise were to move on from her, I would miss her, but I would be okay with it.  However, the fact that she was back front and center in this one?  I couldn’t get to the theater fast enough.

When we meet up with Sidney Evans (Neve Campbell), she is happily married to police chief Mark Evans (Joel McHale).  They have three daughters, and the oldest is Tatum (Isabel May) who just happens to be seventeen.  Tatum and Sidney are struggling in their relationship since Sidney is reluctant to talk about her past even though a version of it is out there thanks to the Stab movies.

But that comes to a head when Sidney receives a phone call with a familiar voice on the other end.  Now, she has to worry about Tatum.  Is her daughter strong enough to survive another Ghostface attack?  Can Sidney survive again?

Sidney isn’t the only returning character we get in this movie.  Courteney Cox returns as Gale Weathers, and Jasmin Savoy Brown and Mason Gooding also return as the Meeks-Martin twins.  I enjoyed having all three of them in the movie.  Mindy and Chad were great here.  And Gale is always fun.  I felt like this movie was the real next step of the Gale we saw in Scream 5.  Her relationship with Sidney was definitely a continuation of what we saw there.  Their relationship sure has evolved over the course of the franchise.

Speaking of which, that is why I love these movies so much.  These characters feel like friends, and I love getting to see where they are and how their lives are going.  Of course, I hate that it means they have to endure more pain and loss for me to do that.  But it’s a price I’m willing to pay.  (It helps that I’m not the one having to deal with the pain, right?)

Anyway, I really like what we saw in the way of character growth here.  Where we started felt natural for the characters and the franchise.  And where we ended felt earned as well.  There are so many great moments for the returning characters.

Much of that is thanks for original Scream creator Kevin Williamson having a much bigger role behind the scenes.  He’s credited as a co-writer and he directed.  Couple that with Neve and Courtney as executive producers.  The people behind the scenes were passionate about the movie, and it shows.

However, the time spent on Sidney and the Evans family does take time away from the new characters.  We don’t really get to know them before Ghostface attacks.  And there are times the movie seems rushed to get to the next set piece.  I’ve felt that way about past entries, however, and on rewatches, I’ve felt more comfortable with the pace and the characters.  I’m sure that will happen here.

This is an R rated movie, and the violence has been bumped up a notch.  I felt a couple of the kills were needlessly cartoony.  And a couple had me questioning how realistic they were.  And this is someone who goes along with the garage door kill in the first one no problem.

The returning actors are all in top form.  You can tell they are having fun playing characters they love.  And the new cast is great.  Isabel May has a lot to carry here, and she is outstanding.  And I want the romantic comedy of how Sidney and Mark met.  (With no Ghostface attacks, please.)  Neve and Joel were perfect together.  You felt like they were a happily married couple who had built a life together.  The rest of the cast brought their characters to life well given the scripts they had to work with.

There are some fantastic suspense scenes that had me on the edge of my seat.  I also enjoyed some of the twists in the story.  A couple of moments made me want to cheer.  And I liked the motive of Ghostface.

There were also some moments that absolutely made me laugh.  While the meta commentary wasn’t as sharp as in some installments, there were some fantastic meta moments that I truly enjoyed.

I’m going to have to sit with this one for a while to decide where it sits in my rankings.  Since I’ve been out of the theater for about an hour, it’s hard to have let the entire thing sink in.  But I enjoyed Scream 7.  I’m looking forward to seeing it again.