Ghostface is back (again) taking another stab at scares with the ultra-self-aware slasher Scream 7. With Canadian icon Neve Campbell returning as OG Final Girl Sidney Prescott, this installment feels like a full-circle moment.
This review contains spoilers for the film Scream 7.
Leaving decades of trauma and bloodshed behind her, Sidney has built a quiet life for herself and her daughter Tatum (Isabel May) in Pine Grove, Indiana. But her hard-won peace is shattered when a new Ghostface killer starts circling mother and daughter, dragging Sidney back to the bloody chaos she’s spent a lifetime surviving.
Let’s be real: no one is jumping onboard a franchise on its seventh outing. Scream 7 isn’t for newcomers. It’s for the ride-or-dies who have been hanging on since Ghostface first picked up the phone. But will longterm fans who’ve stuck through the series’ ups and downs be satisfied? Well, they’ve certainly suffered through much worse.
As always, the film leans into meta moments. It mines the original Scream and Scream 2, in particular, for everything from fashion – Sidney’s college leather blazer? Iconic – to music cues as it layers in self-aware dialogue nods that fans will catch on to instantly. The meta commentary has been on-brand ever since writer-director Kevin Williamson flipped the genre on its head with the first Scream in 1996. But by the seventh outing, it feels a bit lazy. The references stop feeling clever and feel more like a writer going through a checklist. What once felt revelatory has become a franchise crutch. Having lost a bit of his edge, Williamson plays into the very horror tropes he subverted three decades ago.
Co-written by Guy Busick, the story ditches the usual movie-obsessed teens and swaps in a brand new fixation. This Ghostface isn’t fuelled by the horror genre, the fictional Stab films, or legacy killers. This time, the obsession is Sidney herself.
Giving us a number of red herrings and would-be suspects that are almost comical, Williamson and Busick’s script lacks any convincing motive for the killer; They can’t just blame it on the movies this time. By the time Ghostface is unmasked, the reveal is more of a shrug than a scream.
Still, Campbell’s return carries weight. After sitting out Scream 6, the return of the Canadian star refocuses the franchise. The actress and the film team were able to reach an agreement for the latest installment – and the filmmakers want you to know it. The first character to comment how Sidney missed out on the New York killing spree of the last outing gets some laughs, but by the next mention, it’s already worn a little thin. Williamson and Busick, who did not write the scripts for the previous two films, take digs at them frequently, to the point where it feels like overkill.
This movie clearly went back to the drawing board a few times – and it shows. After the exit of Scream 5 and 6 stars, Jenna Ortega and Melissa Barrera, the franchise had no choice but to hit reset. Now, a figure from the past appears to be stalking Sidney, but in true 2026 fashion, you can’t believe everything you see. Deepfakes and AI paranoia creep into the plot, positioning technology as part of the horror. It’s one of the film’s fresher ideas, tapping into digital age anxieties that would have felt like sci-fi when the franchise began, even though it never digs as deep as it could.
After surviving an attack in the last movie, Courteney Cox is back and sharp as ever as Gale Weathers, who, despite scant screentime, still manages to pack a punch. The chemistry between Campbell and Cox is one of the film’s strongest assets, building towards a cathartic moment 30 years in the making.
Mason Gooding and Jasmin Savoy-Brown reprise their roles as the Meeks-Martin twins but the story struggles to justify their presence. They’re sidelined as Gale’s sidekicks in a subplot that never fully lands, leaving audiences wishing they’d perhaps gone out in a more memorable, bloody way in the last movie instead of sticking around for this.
Scream 7’s biggest issue is how rushed it all feels. Sidney’s daughter, Tatum, is the most compelling of the new characters, but credit for that is shared between Isabel May’s solid performance and the fact that the character is the only one who seems fleshed out enough for audiences to care about. Most victims barely register before Ghostface slices them out of the story in brutally creative fashion. The kills here do feel fresh, but not enough to lift the rest of the film..
Despite its flaws, Scream 7 remains required viewing for series completists. It’s not the franchise at its sharpest, but nostalgia will carry it a long way. There’s something comforting in seeing this character and this very simple formula play out on the big screen one more time.
Scream 7 is now in theatres.
