The original Scream movie came out on December 20th, 1996, so technically it's the 30th anniversary of its arrival. Even with 30 years past, it's still pretty glaring that there's the 7th installment of a franchise and they didn't try to trick you by calling it something else. Nope, the 7 is right there in the title. Yes, they're proclaiming to the world: there have been 7 of these movies already. I mean...at this point, after 7 installments of a film franchise, does originality even matter anymore? Play the hits! Right? Wrap yourself up in a blanket of nostalgia. And, for the others that might watch Scream 7 that are too young to remember or even have been alive in 1996 when the original hit, or in 1997 when the sequel hit, or 2000 when the 3rd hit...if it's not nostalgia, then is it just...this is a bloody slasher pic, they're all the same, enjoy horny teens being butchered! We know this is what you all want.
There can't be that many 7th entries in a film franchise, can there? The only ones are horror and superheroes. There's definitely been more than 7 Freddy Krueger, Jason Vorhees, Michael Myers, Superman, Spider-man, and Batman movies...which means that 7 Scream films in 30 years isn't shocking or gasp-inducing or anything. What is kind of surprising is that this 7th edition is going to end up being the highest grossing installment (inflation not factored into the equation, which perhaps makes this point ultimately moot). What's also surprising is that, 7 movies in, 30 years past, we still have a movie with a few of the originals: Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, Matthew Lillard, and Kevin Williamson. It's also surprising that these four actually want anything to do with this franchise at this late stage. Is it stalled careers, barren bank accounts...I mean, they're not doing this for the art, are they? Not that a slasher pic is art, although, at least in my mind, the original Scream is a masterpiece, thanks to not only one of the greatest scripts ever written, but thanks to a bunch of fantastic performances by the B-crew of lesser stars that peaked exponentially for one film only (Cox, arguably, was the one star that was in something else more famous at the time).
So what do we have here, now, with Scream 7? What is this? What are we doing? Why does this exist? And do you care?
If you look at the Friday the 13th films, they were released consistently every year for almost a decade. The 1st one came out in 1980, and the 7th came out in 1988. Scream disappeared for a long time after the 3rd entry. There was an 11 year gap between 3 and 4. Then there was another 11 year gap between 4 and 5 (Scream 4 was the lowest grossing entry and, at $38 million domestic, a complete disappointment). The last 3 Scream movies have all been released in the last 4 years. And since Scream 7 will be the highest grossing and a total success, plus add the fact that Ellison's Paramount loves franchises and beating dead horses to milk every bit of cash out of something barely worthwhile, this franchise is going to return and return sooner than you might think or want. The problem arises with the fact that...these films are all pretty much the same. What can you do different? Or...do you even have to do anything different?
Scream 7 was co-written and directed by Kevin Williamson, the original creator of the franchise and writer of the first 2 films (and also the creator of Dawson's Creek...though, literally, he never did anything good again after his initial one-two punch of triumph). Neve Campbell is back as the main character (she sat out part 6 because she asked for more money than they wanted to give her). She's happily living in a suburban town with a husband who's the chief of police and a 16 year old daughter. The opening of the film is typical Scream territory; some cute, young kids are butchered by Ghost Face after receiving a phone call. The catch this time is that the opening takes place in the same house from the original film but now it's an Air B&B murder house! So meta, right? And, I suppose, it's fairly creative, although not awesomely original, which is kind of the big problem to this film. It's an entertaining slasher pic, it has a few good jump scares, it's an easy watch, it's what-you-expect, but any kind of shockingly great originality is totally absent. It's just another murder-mystery horror flick, been there done that.
Once the fresh, new murders occur, Neve Campbell's life is turned upside down when Ghost Face arrives in her town to threaten her daughter and her daughter's friends. Ghost Face is revealed early on to be Stu, played by Matthew Lillard, who was killed in the original film. But...wait! He's dead! Or is he? Or is it a fake? I think this entry in the franchise is definitely helped by the return of Lillard, who brings his usual zany energy to the role and is at least something fresh added to the mix.
After all the usual elements are in place, we get the usual Scream picture. The one difference is that the kills are, for whatever reason (maybe Williamson loves the Final Destination movies), especially gruesome this time around. We get a head on a spike with a mouth spewing blood, a stomach knifed open with a pile of guts splattering onto the ground, and a slow-mo knife through the head kill. And while the script is light years away from the great original script, Williamson as a director at least knows his horror movie tropes: his use of suspense, shadows, and movement. There's Ghost Face appearing and disappearing in the background. A typical suburban home becomes a terrifying maze with construction plastic tarps amidst a remodel.
Neve Campbell is too good of an actress to be in this type of a movie, because she's acting heartfelt and emotional when, hey, this is a frigging midnight Grindhouse type of a flick, right? Joel McHale, who was once on E's The Soup (remember?), is pretty good as the cop husband. Neve Campbell's daughter, the new scream queen, is played by Isabel May. She's pretty forgettable honestly, but does a decent enough job to not be glaringly problematic. There are two supposed comedy sidekicks, Courtney Cox's TV assistants. Sadly, they get nothing amusing to say or do in this film. Which is a bit of a problem because the comedy and "rules" of the original are kind of what made that film pop and made it unique. This 7th entry is not unique. That's not exactly why it's gotten bad reviews from pretty much everyone. The reason it's gotten bad reviews is because of the ending killer reveal. It's a disappointment. But as for the totality of it all: this is the 7th one and we've all been here before. You want hot babes running for their lives, being scared, and a creepy killer in a ghost costume hiding in the shadows and picking people off one by one. This film has got you covered. If you're a sicko and like that sort of thing, then you can't really go wrong with this one. These films aren't going to get better. They're just going to chug along just the same as always. And someday, if they're gone, admit it: you'll fucking miss 'em. **1/2
