Scream 7 review

Just when you thought it was safe to pick up the phone again… Ghostface is back!

Directed by: Kevin Williamson
Written by: Kevin Williamson, Guy Busick & James Vanderbilt
Starring: Neve Campbell, Isabel May, Courteney Cox
Rated R for strong bloody violence, gore, and language
Release Date: February 27, 2026
Runtime: 1:54

---

This review may contain spoilers

“… it’s like, right out of a horror movie or something.”

30 years of stabbing and meta horror. Scream started off in 1996, poking fun at horror films while being a horror film. We loved it, and it got a sequel and another sequel, and now it’s a long-standing film franchise.

Now, Scream is back, and another killer is stabbing victims as Ghostface. Most importantly, Sidney is back, proving to be the most badass and resilient final girl in horror!

“Welcome home, Sidney”

Another Ghostface killer is on the loose, trailing Sidney (Scream’s final girl Neve Campbell) to Indiana, where she is making a new life after surviving multiple Ghostface attacks in the past. Now she and her teenage daughter Tatum (Isabel May, Paramount+’s 1883) are targets, and the killer is digging up Sidney’s past to haunt her even more – including bringing back a killer thought to be long dead.

From scriptwriting to the director’s chair

Kevin Williamson directed and wrote the script for this sequel. He also wrote the first, second, and fourth movies. So Williamson has a long history in the Scream series, including writing one of my favorite Scream lines, “Don’t fuck with the original!”

“… To see what your insides look like”

Ghostface has some impressive kills this time, instead of just stabby stab stabbing. One shocking kill in the beginning was a slow stab to the side of the head, and the audience can see the knife slicing through the eye in the eye socket (fucking brutal!). Another kill in the movie is executing the victim stuck on high wires, which ends in a cool death shot. Someone wanted to show off their cinematography skills.

That gets a theater applause!

“Because I want to know who I’m looking at.”

Ghostface’s voice in all Scream movies is voiced by Roger Jackson. It’s a great spooky voice that can go from passively kind and innocent to downright menacing and threatening.

Fun fact: Jackson is also the voice of The Powerpuff Girls’ monkey villain Mojo Jojo. This has nothing to do with the movie or series, but it’s just weird. Like finding out The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’s Uncle Phil is also the voice of the ‘80s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ Shredder.

“Who gives a fuck about movies?!”

What really separated Scream from other slasher movies was its meta talk about horror movies. Not that everyone was necessarily aware they were in a horror movie, but they knew that the killer was following rules set in well-known horror franchises. So kinda self-aware, kinda not…

This was the fun from the Scream movies.

This time, Scream 7 didn’t give us that. No rules to follow (or ignore as the usual case), not what kind of horror film we are in. Nothing.

Each film was clear what it was – they’re in a horror movie (Scream 1), sequel (Scream 2), trilogy (Scream 3), remake/reboot (Scream 4), requel/legacyuel (Scream 5), or sequel to the requel (Scream 6). But they don’t get into what Scream 7 is, and it kills the mood for Scream fans.

What is it, a sequel to the sequel of the requel? Or a requel trilogy, despite the third one being massively different from the last two? Or re-trilogy? Give us something, dammit!

“Twisting the Knife”

Since 2018, metal band Ice Nine Kills (shortened to INK) has started centering its songs on horror movies. They’ve covered just about anyone you can think of: Freddy Krueger (“American Nightmare”), Jason Voorhees (“Thank God It’s Friday”), American Psycho (“Hip to be Scared”), The Devil’s Rejects (“Freak Flag”), Jaws (“Rocking the Boat”), and even a recent single about Terrifier’s Art the Clown (“A Work of Art”). Terrifier 3 even played their song during the ending credits!

So, a week before Scream 7, INK released a new single, titled “Twisting the Knife,” all about guess-who. I’m actually shocked they didn’t cover Ghostface before.

And like Terrifier 3, the song is played during the end credits.

Bonus – there’s a music video. I didn’t know music videos were still a thing since the days of MTV actually having music. Not only does INK make music videos for their songs, but they are damn good: relevant to the subject and lyrics, and get gory.

Bonus bonus – the film’s own Mckenna Grace joins the music video and also sings for the song.

Pro-Palestine Boycott

If you’re following the Scream series, you might notice a complete lack of Jenna Ortega and Melissa Barrera from the previous two Screams.

Well, to cut things short (and not digging too much in geo-political affairs), Barrera was reportedly fired after showing her support for Palestine. However, one of the film’s production companies, Spyglass Media Group, clarified that her online posts were interpreted as “antisemitic.”

Sounds more like a big company doing a PR statement to cover unjustifiable firings, but what do I know? I mean, how often does that even happen? Just ask Gina Carano or James Gunn.

Ortega left the movie a day later, leaving people to think it had to do with Barrera’s firing or even salary disputes. But in an interview, she explained that things were just falling apart after Barrera’s firing and the original directors’ leaving.

Once the movie was released, the premiere was met with a Pro-Palestine protest in response to the news of Barrera’s support getting her fired.

“What’s your favorite scary movie?”

Scream 7 is fine… It’s just fine. It’s not my favorite of the newest of Screams, but it’s not bad. Breaking away from horror rules and trailing away from the meta feel of the series really killed it for me and makes Number 7 just another slasher sequel, sadly.

It falls even harder when you get into spoiler territory and hear the reasoning for this film’s killer(s). It’s pretty weak.

Scream 7 is currently slashing in theaters.