Scream 7 (2026) Review

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJrghaPJ0RY

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

It is hard to avoid politics for Hollywood produced movies when it affects production. Paramount & Spyglass firing actress Melissa Barrera from Scream 7 over being Pro Palestine, causing the chain reaction for Neve Campbell to return as Sidney Prescott. Was it worth the backlash? I don’t really know.

PLOT

The 2026 film follows the infamous final girl living in Pine Grove, Indiana, with her husband Officer Mark Evans and teenage daughter Tatum, who she named after her deceased friend. With their youngest of twins, Emma & Rebecca (Maggie & Annabelle Toomey) out of town in Denver with Mark’s parents, a series of Ghostface attacks reemerge with Stab fan Scott and his girlfriend Madison (Jimmy Tatro & Michelle Randolph) by another masked killer in the home that once belonged to Stu Macher that became an Stab themed Airbnb after the events of the fifth film. After also burning the house down, the killer reveals himself to Sidney at the coffe shop she owns via video call and apparently reveals to be Stu himself who is scarred following the television set crushing his face in the first film. He intends to target Tatum, but ends up killing her friends on high school campus, Hannah Thurman and Aaron (Cyle Winters) who was the assisting the former in a school play. No one is able to stop Ghostface in time but when he later sneaks into Sidney’s home at night and almost succeeds in killing her, he is thwarted by Gale Weathers and his assistants, Chad & Mindy Meeks-Martin, who hit him with their news van. Unmasked, he is Karl Gibbs (Kraig Dane) who Sid recognized in the morning, but she and Gale agree it’s too good to be true that it’s over. Since Weathers chose to arrive following Stu’s house being burned down, she sticks around to help investigate with her friend. Mark and the police reveal Karl had escaped from a mental institution, they check the place out and supervisor Marco Davis claims he was roommates with a recently released John Doe that had no memory of being in Woodsboro, believing it to be Stu when shown a picture of him. With Mandy theorizing the killer is going to have a personal connection to the target, Tatum rounds up her boyfriend Ben Brown and close friends, Lucas Bowden & Chloe Parker, to stay together at the latter’s tavern with her and the twins during curfew. When together, Mandy goes further into the theory that the killer’s deep motive has to be based on the nostalgia surrounding Sidney as a whole when she defended herself against Stu and Billy Loomis. Since Sid never approved of Ben, he is an easy suspect to raise eyebrows upon. Lucas is also a suspect off of the fact of him wanting to have Sid do an interview for his serial killer podcast and discuss her opinion on the New York incident from the sixth movie. Needing to lure out the killer, Sid allows Gale to professionally interview live on TV for the first time, presented by television host Robbie Rivers (Mark Consuelos), but struggles to cope with personal questions about all the past times she’s survived Ghostface has affected her parenting towards her daughter and how she could inadvertently pass the trauma to her. As soon as they go off air, she calls out Weathers about it since she knows deep down she wouldn’t tolerate it if she was questioned about her late ex husband Dewey Riley, who was also Tatum’s brother. ‘Stu’ calls off air and proves the trap didn’t work as he shows himself to be outside Chloe’s tavern. As Sid rushes to her daughter without Gale, the killing continues as Chloe gets impaled by shards of glass after being thrown into a pile of pint glasses and Lucas gets his head driven onto a beer tap. Once Chad & Mindy get wounded, Tatum leaves in shock especially after seeing Ben using deepfake technology testing the likeness of Stu. He is proven innocent when Ghostface reappears to fatally stab him. Tatum hides in her mom’s coffee shop long enough until a second Ghostface appears to abduct her. Sid is forced to go home when ‘Stu’ forces her to come alone. Whoever is pretending to be Stu is proven to be an imposter when continuously using deepfake to resemble Nancy Loomis, Roman Bridger and even Dewey (Laurie Metcalf, Scott Foley & David Arquette). At the backyard, Tatum is tied to a chair and Mark is left bleeding to stab wounds being left unattended to all day. Unmasked, the Ghostface duo is not only Marco Davis, but also her neighbor Jessica, Lucas’ mother who she killed at the tavern. Both admit the use of deepfake to confirm Stu is indeed dead, but Jessica shares how much her experiences inspired her to kill her abusive husband. Disappointed that she chose to not get involved in the New York killings from the sixth movie, she intends to kill her and pass the trauma to Tatum, making her the new final girl. Make however is able to have enough will to free his daughter and shoot Jessica while her mom is able to shoot Marco, ending the conflict. When Mark gets taken to the hospital, Sid thanks Gale for having her back and she tells Tatum she named her after her friend to remember how strong & fearless she remembered her for, not out of grief. The film would end with Mindy getting to do an impromptu interview with Gale’s blessing, after getting patched up with her brother.

THOUGHTS

The best way to discuss this film is through Pros and Cons

CONS: To clear some of the air, the Radio Silence team of Guy Busick & James Vanderbilt stepped away first when wanting to have the time to make an original film that ended up being Universal’s Abigail. Around the time actress Jenna Ortega, who plays Tara Carpenter, left out of loyalty to the former, Christopher Landon would also step down as replacement director following online backlash. And when Barrera was fired from playing Tara’s sister Sam, it not only led to Campbell being as compensated as she originally hoped from the sixth movie, but also original writer Kevin Williamson to direct and rewrite this entry. The pressure was on for the latter since he hadn’t directed anything since 1999’s Teaching Mrs. Tingle. And since I didn’t see that in advance, I didn’t know what to expect from him despite being the one who brought the recurring characters to life and fan favorites of the horror genre to this day. While I can say this is fine as a slasher flick which I’ll get to in a bit, but it doesn’t really hit the right mark as a Scream movie ironically. It does make a great conversation on how AI technology like Deepfake can be a manipulative tool, but that is where they force the nostalgia rather than be fluent about it the way RS did at the helm. So I was shocked to see the virtual return of Matthew Lillard who appropriately chews it up as Stu, but that forced feeling hits when it comes to the trifecta of Nancy, Roman and Dewey appearing in the climax before the official Ghostface reveal. And you know what? I think the reveal is bad compared to the third film. It is one thing for Anna Camp being great in becoming psychotic and delusional as Jessica that continues discussing the topic of toxic fandom just like how RS did, but the addition of Marco loses me. It’s a half ass surprise to me and I have a hard time buying into Ethan Embry chewing it up to make him as calculating as Jessica. It then just feels worse that there are so many other things in the story that don’t make any sense upon rewatching. I was already rolling my eyes over Chad & Mindy having plot armor to survive Ghostface again, but I was so annoyed that Mark had the same luck. The guy had no medical attention all day when he got attacked and I refuse to believe he had enough energy to give his family a fighting chance to wrap up the climax. I also have nothing against Sam Rechner, but his presence as Ben is just flat for the constant second guessing he could’ve been the killer like Richie & Billy, but is innocent like Derek. The most annoying thing he does though is test the deepfake behind Tara’s back because that’s just asking to be mistaken. And you know what, Tatum shouldn’t apologize to Ben for hitting him. You’re testing deepfake pretending to be someone that tried to kill your mom, so you have the right to panic, neither should she forget Ghostface are usually in twos. And yes, the drama teacher George Willis (Tim Simons) was so out of line to tell Tara she doesn’t have the fire her mom has. I mean there is no way you can say you need the fire of surviving multiple serial killers to have the confidence in being a costumed dog. Now I actually don’t blame Sid not telling the kids of her panic room since she didn’t want to risk them being trapped on accident, but I was so annoyed how none of the cops including Mark don’t even check the attic which is exactly where the first Ghostface is hiding. That’s your home Mark, you gotta check everywhere. I even give Sid credit pointing out it was too easy to stop Karl, but she’s a bit off saying there’s always more than one because Roman acted alone in the third movie. She could’ve just said there has to be another which is way more accurate of an approach. No one even does a background check when Marco says he saw Stu after he saw the picture. Sid could’ve told Mark or check with hospital staff which could’ve foiled things sooner. The fact there is no follow up is on Sid because taking a stranger’s word is too easy of a mistake. And why was Chad the only one looking through security footage of the Evans’ residence before Ghostface? That should be the cops’ job apart from Mark. Sid could’ve checked it too before checking out the institution Karl escaped from. It’s even off how Chloe’s parents are not panicking that she’s at the tavern when they’re supposed to be together due to the mandated curfew as a result of the Ghostface attacks. And if Sid forgot her keys to her car, she could’ve went back inside the station to get them because I don’t think Gale would’ve stopped her.

PROS: It was hard for me to make the time seeing this in theaters because I didn’t want people to think I have a political bias over something I don’t fully understand and I usually avoid talking about politics unless a movie/show is actually centered on it. The quality of this movie may be affected by real life politics behind the scenes, but that is not what this movie is about. This is an old school slasher flick that has a targeted audience who enjoy elaborate gore that past Scream films have been memorable for. Madison falling into a knife & Scott getting stabbed in the head are definitely bold ways to spice up the opening and seeing the Macher home get burnt down was one way to say it’s a whole new era for the franchise now. Lucas getting impaled onto a beer tap definitely got me in shock value, but the true highlight is gonna go to Hannah getting gutted while getting stuck in midair via harness. Actress McKenna Grace just sold all that fear knowing her time is up and there is nothing left to do in her predicament. Apart from Roger Jackson still having a menacing voice as Ghostface the older he’s gotten, I think the main reason audiences will have a soft spot for this entry will be because it’s a signature tale of confronting trauma in order to break free from the past. I picked up on that when listening to the song, ‘Twisting the Knife’, performed by Grace and Ice Nine Kills, but the majority of viewers will catch onto it when following the characters were rooting for. While I can say it still could’ve worked if the Carpenters were still the center focus, Campbell’s nostalgic star power as Sid is just as effective. She survived five of these incidents that validates her paranoia and in turn, causes her to unintentionally push her away from her firstborn. Now as much as I wish Patrick Dempsey came back as Mark Kincaid, Joel Michale does still make a believable equal to Sid as Evans because he knows where she’s coming from and mostly doesn’t rule out her predictions of what we’re to come. Isabel May does give an ideal performance of Tatum because she’s annoyed of how her music m is so hesitant to open up of her past in order to connect and it ironically took her own case of trauma to get where she was coming from in terms of being an overprotective parent. Due to how this lack of connection affected her in school, it did foreshadow how hard it would be for her stick up for herself. Thankfully, both of her parents were able to be there for her when it mattered most and she got to be close the way she wanted to after all that had happened. I also thought it was sweet for Sid to explain the reason to her daughter after her deceased friend; No matter how much she misses her, she’ll always remember the good more than the bad hence seeing that in her firstborn. Since this is likely not the end for the Evans-Prescott family, at least they’ll likely do better facing danger together. What a lot of people won’t admit at first is that Sid wouldn’t have pushed herself to do the absolute without someone who makes a living pushing people. Being the only other actor apart from Roger to appear in all Scream films thus far, Courtney Cox still owns it in making Gale that unorthodox friend who still loves being a reporter, returning to it after her contract of being a morning talk show host expired. Sid shouldn’t be surprised she wouldn’t hold back in the baited interview since this is what she does best and this time, it was for the greater good. If she really wanted to push buttons to the point of getting smacked again, she could’ve mentioned her mom again. The proof of her maturity comes to how she admits to how everyday she has to tell herself she’s okay to cope with her grief over Dewey. Since she suffered from nerve damage in the sixth movie, it makes sense why she didn’t follow Sid in the climax. Mason Gooding’s Chad & Jasmin Savoy-Brown’s Mindy are the only characters of the Radio Silence directed films to return which makes sense when their purpose is to keep Randy’s spirit alive. They remain so interesting as a dynamic duo because the former would rather avoid the danger but sticks around to have his sister’s back. Even though the latter gets horror the way her uncle did, she finds herself into the realm of being a reporter like Gale because she’s comfortably fearless compared to her brother, hence Gale giving her a torch passing moment as the credits roll. I can say it was nice to see Tatum got to have friends in her youth the way her mom did, but it still sucked she’d lose them too so young. It was already a bummer to see Hannah go because she seemed to have the most confidence of the group, but then the heartbreak continued over Chloe since Celeste O’Connor made her just as down to earth. Lucas may have not been anyone’s official friend since he was the socially awkward one, but Asa German does assure he was as misunderstood as Ben. His death sucked the most because he got killed by his own mother and was unable to protect someone he had a crush on, who also felt the same in return. Since Tatum was still standing by the end of it the way Sid does, it’s a given to say their deaths weren’t in vein.

To wrap up, Scream 7 is a box office hit that makes an example of how slasher flicks and overall blockbusters should not be the center focus of political bias. It may be off the rails as an entry to this franchise, but still hits the mark as a slasher flick you’re familiar with. If you still love that in horror, check this out when you can.