Scream 7 (Re-Review)

Plot Synopsis:

Sidney Prescott once again finds herself fighting off a Ghostface killer. The main difference is that this time Ghostface is also targeting her eldest daughter, Tatum.

Positives:

As always, Neve Campbell is putting her all into this role. It’s evident she loves the character. There’s a couple of really gnarly kills here too. A few other actors are trying as well. Finally, as someone who loves the character of Tatum from the original, I’m glad this movie actually acknowledges her beyond a throwaway line.

Mixed:

To start, upon reflection, I have mixed feelings on the twins. I ultimately like the actors, and think they have good chemistry with one another. However, they feel tacked on. This movie really helped me pinpoint why Mindy is my least favorite of the core four. It kind of boils down to this: She’s an idiot, but the writers don’t seem to realize it. I don’t hate the character, and I think that mostly comes down to Jasmin Savoy Brown as an actress. Next, there’s the use of Matthew Lillard. I think he’s doing a good job with the little he’s given, and I ultimately like that he’s utilized as a red herring. The problem stems from the fact that it’s painfully obvious he’s the red herring. Another actor I have mixed feelings on in this movie is Joel McHale. I don’t think he’s bad necessarily. But, it’s painfully obvious he’s in the movie because Patrick Dempsey couldn’t do it. The character’s name is Mark, and he’s a cop. Finally, there’s the opening scene. I think it’s a good scene on its own. When you factor in the rest of the movie, it feels isolated. 

Negatives:

In the positives, I mentioned a couple of the actors are good. The characters they’re playing is another matter. In particular, Mckenna Grace and Celeste O’Connor are seriously underutilized. Any personality you get out of these characters come solely from the actresses. Isabel May is solid as Tatum. Unfortunately, the character is whiny and bratty. There's also a lot of mention that she's shy and timid. That's something that never comes across. What it ultimately comes down to is this is easily the worst-written film in the franchise. Most of the new characters are thinner than paper. The movie largely does what 4 and 5 did, and did better. This movie copies and pastes scenes from the original movie. The movie is directed and co-written by Kevin Williamson, who wrote the first, second, and fourth films, and it really feels like he’s lost a lot of his spark. The commentary is the weakest it’s ever been. It makes surface level comments on true crime and AI. The meta commentary is practically nonexistent. One thing I never expected to say is that Courteney Cox gives a bad performance. Gale is useless in this movie, and Cox herself feels like she’s just here to collect a paycheck. The murder mystery in this movie has to be the weakest of the franchise. So many characters are introduced as red herrings and then dropped almost as quickly. Or, they feel so on the nose that you know it can't possibly be them. But, the movie’s greatest failing has to be it’s Ghostface killers. The main killer’s motive feels like the writers took it personally that fans bitched about Sidney not being in 6. She spends her monologue whining because Sid wasn’t in New York (side note: it’s incredibly annoying how much the movie brings up that Sid wasn’t there). The side Ghostfaces are only in two scenes each. One of them doesn’t have any lines and only clocks in for about 30 seconds of screen time. The other isn’t even named in the course of the movie. All you really learn about him is he worked at Google and knows about AI. He’s never even given a motive. It doesn’t even feel like they were thinking of the possibility of "it's scarier with no motive." It feels like they just forgot to give him a motive. 

Final Thoughts:

It's funny. Where years have been nothing but kind to Scream 3 (What I previously thought was the weakest of the series), three months have done the opposite for Scream 7. My initial review was a three star review. Now I look back, and can safely say this is the one thing I had hoped would never come for this franchise: a bad movie. There are two thoughts I have about the film. One, this feels like a first draft script. Two: this feels like one of the movies that was made to cash in on the success of Scream. The one thing I can say it truly does not feel like is Scream. 

🩸1/2