Scream 7 Review: It's Hard to Keep a Good Ghoul Down
The Setup: Same Mask, New Town
Neve Campbell's character Sidney Prescott has done the sensible thing that no slasher final girl is ever really permitted to do for very long: she moved on. Currently known as Sidney Evans, she has made her home in Pine Grove, Indiana, is married to Mark (played by Joel McHale), operates a coffee shop, and has a daughter named Tatum, a moving homage to the friend she lost in 1996. Naturally, that tranquility lasts for fifteen minutes or so before a new Ghostface shows up.
The main "rule" that this episode establishes is that the murderer isn't fixated on the Stab movies or meta-horror video games, as all successful Scream sequels must be in the great tradition of Randy Meeks. This Ghostface has an obsession with the past itself: Sidney's initial trauma, the Woodsboro mythology, and bringing the past to life in ways that are truly unnerving. Tatum (Isabel May), who is about the same age as her mother when Ghostface first called her thirty years ago, is the target. Its cyclical cruelty is the film's most incisive and unexpectedly poignant concept.
Performances & Direction: The Creator Returns to the Scene of the Crime
The results are, well, complicated. Kevin Williamson, who wrote the original Scream back in 1996, takes over as director for the first time in the franchise. His genuine affection for these characters and the tangible tension he creates in a number of pivotal scenes are his strengths. The main scene, which takes place in a Pine Grove bar, is creatively staged and creates the kind of collective gasp from the audience that makes you wonder why people still enjoy going to the movies for scary movies.
However, the film's uneven pacing and a few tonally awkward moments where the script can't quite decide whether it wants to be a winking genre exercise or a tearful legacy sequel are indicative of Williamson's reported late arrival under challenging circumstances. Compared to the comedic beats, he manages the emotional ones much better.
The lead actors' performances are where Scream 7 really shines. Simply put, Neve Campbell is amazing. She is a woman who has paid for her survival of the unsurvivable, and no other actor in this franchise could match the weight and lived-in exhaustion she brings to Sidney. Her reappearance is the film's vitality, not fan service. With her chemistry with Campbell still strong after thirty years, Courteney Cox, who plays the unstoppable Gale Weathers, makes a spectacular entrance and makes the most of every scene. What could have been cheap nostalgia bait is given real life by the legacy players, including Matthew Lillard's wild and welcome return as the long-dead Stu Macher (the film's explanation for this is... creative).
As Tatum, newcomer Isabel May is amazing. She has the unique ability to make you genuinely care whether she lives or dies, which is a true accomplishment in a Scream film. The franchise may have a future beyond Sidney because of the generational weight she carries.
The Verdict: Beloved, Bruised, and Still Breathing
Nothing will ever match the flawless clockwork of the original, so Scream 7 is not the definitive entry in this series. It is not always the comfortable crowd-pleaser it settles for being, nor is it the daring reinvention it needed to be. It is, instead, something more honest than either: a film made under near-impossible circumstances by people who clearly love this franchise, anchored by a performance from Neve Campbell that alone is worth the price of admission. Marco Beltrami's score, full of callbacks and quiet menace, is impeccable as always.
The supporting newcomers are thinner than ideal, the killer reveal lands with less impact than it should, and the script shows its complicated, many-handed origins in occasional tonal whiplash. But the kills have moments of genuine brilliance, the legacy dynamics earn their emotional payoff, and Isabel May makes a compelling case for the franchise's next chapter.
The answer to the question of whether Ghostface is still relevant in 2026 is yes. Yes, but faintly, erratically, and with some scar tissue still present.
