‘Scream 7’ Review: Ghostface Trades His Metallic Knife for Plastic in Bloody Embarrassing Slasher Sequel
It's astonishing how quickly Scream went from being a movie series I loved to one I dreaded. Spyglass Media Group's wrongful firing of Melissa Barrera – whose Sam Carpenter proved that the series can be reinvigorated without Neve Campbell’s Sidney Prescott in the spotlight – over denouncing the genocide of Palestinian people sincerely pissed me off. This may be the case for many of you too (I would hope). I was firm about not covering Spyglass features for a long time.
My morbid curiosity over the controversial Scream 7 got the best of me as a fan of the series and as a curious kitten who wanted to see exactly what their “course correction” looks like. Spoiler alert, it looks like The Rise of Skywalker. With Neve Campbell back in the spotlight and series creator Kevin Williamson helming, Scream 7 dares to ask, “What would it look like if a Scream movie had no metacommentary, no visual sauce, and no character? Just nostalgia!” Providing conclusive evidence that all the integrity and momentum of the series left with Barrera's Sam, this franchise-ruining shitshow strips the slasher series to the barest of bones to become its most ultimate nightmare: a Stab movie.
Image copyright (©) Courtesy of Paramount Pictures
MPA Rating: R (for strong bloody violence, gore, and language.)
Runtime: 1 Hour and 54 Minutes
Language: English
Production Companies: Spyglass Media Group, Project X Entertainment
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Director: Kevin Williamson
Writers: Kevin Williamson and Guy Busick
Cast: Neve Campbell, Isabel May, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Mason Gooding, Anna Camp, David Arquette, Roger L. Jackson, Michelle Randolph, Jimmy Tatro, Mckenna Grace, Asa Germann, Celeste O’Connor, Sam Rechner, Mark Consuelos, Tim Simons, Matthew Lillard, Joel McHale, Courteney Cox
U.S Release Date: February 27, 2026
In the present day, Sidney Prescott, resides in the quiet town of Pine Grove with her chief-of-police husband, Mark (Joel McHale), her twin daughters – who spend the film at their grandparents' place – and her 17-year-old daughter, Tatum (Isabel May). Due to her traumatic experiences as a teen, Sid denies Tatum the freedom she had, like seeing her boyfriend, while not opening up about her past. The only information Tatum knows comes from true crime docs and the Stab movies. This is further exacerbated by the presence of a new Ghostface killer on the loose targeting Sidney and Tatum. ONCE AGAIN, Sidney must face her past and stop another kil– it's SCREAM. She must do Scream shit.
By adhering to soulless nostalgia, Kevin Williamson falls on his own knife.
L-r, McKenna Grace, Celeste O'Connor and Isabel May star in Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Media Group's "Scream 7." | © 2026 PARAMOUNT PICTURES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Even at its weakest, the Scream series accomplished its traditional hallmarks in balancing effective, gory slasher violence and being a postmodern satire. It tackles modern culture, film industry trends, and sometimes both at the same time. Considering this film shares Ghostbusters: Afterlife cast members Mckenna Grace and Celeste O'Connor in thankless roles as Tatum's characterless friends, it’s funny that it’s the Ghostbusters: Afterlife of the Scream series. It slashes off its core identity and replaces, if not cheapens, its integrity with sheer nostalgia.
Williamson and Scream V/VI co-writer Guy Busick's script functions similarly to Chris Terrio and J.J. Abrams' The Rise of Skywalker; They created a script based on the subreddit deep dive of their respective series.
The concept of Sidney struggling to protect her daughter or open up about her past in fear that the cycle will continue is interesting. It’s also somewhat tragic that, evidenced by the fact that many entries are centered around her, the sins of Sidney's mother, which ignited the domino effects of this series, continue to resurface. At a certain point, even Chucky – the only other ongoing horror franchise with one full throughline that I can think of – stopped fucking with Andy Barclay and moved on. But the writers aren't concerned with developing the mother-daughter tribulations, leaving Campbell and May's middling chemistry out to dry.
This issue persists across the rest of the characters as the conflict between Sid and Gale (Courteney Cox) is forced, beefing over why Sid was absent in Scream 6. Honestly, I was hoping for Campbell to break character and scream, "Spyglass didn't pay me enough to appear." The only V/VI veterans, Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown) and Chad Meeks-Martin (Mason Gooding), barely serve as comedic relief. Furthermore, none of the new characters – Sidney's uninteresting husband Mark, her centered daughter Tatum, Tatum's Gen-Z high school classmates and boyfriend, or even her nosy next-door neighbor (Anna Camp) – exhibit any distinguishable characteristics.
Y’all got any meta-commentary or comedy or something?
Neve Campbell , left, and Courteney Cox star in Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Media Group's "Scream 7." | © 2026 PARAMOUNT PICTURES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Any attempt at meta-satire or comedy is lost. AI and deepfakes are integral to the plot, but in reality, they’re a cheap ploy to get cameo-ass-filled cameos to add to the nostal-ganda. There's no payoff or attempt at real commentary, especially considering its insanely stupid and series-worst Ghostface reveal. Above all, it's not funny. I found myself looking towards I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025) like Thanos and going, "Perhaps I treated you too harshly."
What it lacks in basic Scream, it makes up for with relentless, brash, self-importance. This entry alternates between embarrassing cameos, cheap fan service, and pathetic minute details from the 96's original, such as Tatum wearing Sidney's leather jacket like it's supposed to have the same impact as her carrying a lightsaber. It’s made to have a fan from r/Scream point at the screen and cheer. The slight detail that works in this masturbatory nostalgia-fest is how alert Sidney has become offscreen: keeping a piece at her cafe office and having a fortified safe room in her house.
Scream 7 is easily the worst Scream movie to date.
Ghostface in Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Media Group's "Scream 7." Ghost Face is a Registered Trademark of Fun World Div., Easter Unlimited, Inc. ©1999. All Rights Reserved. | © 2026 PARAMOUNT PICTURES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
It's funny how this film is marketed as the first Scream movie in IMAX, yet it's their sloppiest work to date. Williamson accomplishes two decent kills. My praise goes to the prosthetic team and gore above anything else. The filmmaking is amateurish, lacking any of the tension build and innovation in set pieces like the Radio Silence or Craven entries. Many slasher sequences consist of terribly spliced editing and incomprehensible camera movement. There was a person at my screening asking if one of the Ghostfaces was killed. I responded, "Yeah, they were shot in the head; you just couldn't see it because the filmmaking is so damn unintelligible."
Really, Spyglass? This is the best you can do to "damage control" your series that was perfectly fine?
I'm getting comments from morons right now telling me that I'm biased for speaking "politically" about this movie. Fuck you! This poorly made, bland, and franchise-worst entry is a byproduct of political cowardice.
The production company was so adamant about silencing their outspoken star, who simply stated that she’s against the killing of Palestinian people by an evil totalitarian regime, that they deliberately fired her, conflating her comments to “anti-semintism,” when, and if you read what she said exactly, it wasn’t. Only to reconstruct the buildup made in her arc and settle on a nonsensical, manufactured, nostalgia-based slop fest to appeal to fans who lack genuine film taste in big 2026. To add insult to injury, this movie actively takes potshots at those predecessors, perhaps out of pettiness that Williamson didn't pen them or a mean-spirited middle finger to the star the studio fired. Truly, fuck you. Take the Barrera aspect out of this, which is still impossible, and Scream 7 is a lazy, sloppy, ill-conceived, no-vision, enshittification of Scream and a bloody embarrassment to the franchise. It took a real, morally upright actress to make Ghostface's knife go from metal to plastic.
FINAL STATEMENT
You either die a Scream or live long enough to see yourself become a Stab.
