The “Scream” franchise has always included suspense, clever humor and shooken plot twists which makes the fans Scream. “Scream 7” brings most of those aspects back and continues Sidney Prescott’s story, but the efforts feel uneven.
In this film, Sidney Prescott is now married to a police officer Mark Evans and has a teenage daughter. Just when she seems like she has escaped her violent past, Ghostface returns. This movie begins with 3 brutal murders at Stu Macher’s old house which immediately sets a scary mood.
They introduce the movie with Prescott who has three daughters but the story revolves around Tatum Evans and not the two other daughters. The other two are at their grandmother’s place.
An unusual idea used in the story is the use of AI-generated videos of the past Ghostface killers, especially Macher. Prescott got a video call from Stu Macher who should have been dead for years now. This raises questions for Prescott since he is not dead and the Ghostface killers who are behind this use the AI-generated videos of Macher as bait for Prescott to think he is the killer.
Isabel May, who plays Tatum Evans, Sidney Prescott’s daughter, starts to unravel the truth about her mom’s childhood. Evans has to be brave and learn how to use a gun to kill ghostface to protect her family.
The movie also brings back Gale Weathers, Mindy and Chad Meeks from the earlier “Scream” films. Although the entrance of them in the scene is incredible they did not make much of an impact in the plot.
The new characters shown for this film appear on screen for a short amount of time before being killed which makes the fans not have much of an emotional connection to them. The plot and storyline felt rushed without a slow suspense and jumpscares.
Neve Campbell who plays Sidney Prescott delivers a strong performance as she always does. She has always been the heart of the franchise while Prescott balances strength and vulnerability. The final reveal of the killers creates a tense moment, but there is not much of a connection to the past films.
The length of the movie feels rushed with killings all at once. The previous movies build suspense which strengthens the horror and tension. Some humor that takes place in the movie is when the scene’s tone is serious which makes the joke not funny.
Overall, “Scream 7” has well developed ideas and strong performances. I was shocked when I found out who one of the killers was. There was not a huge plot twist, but Sidney Prescott carried the movie with her skills.
