“Scream 7” came out in theaters on Feb. 27. True to its name, this film is the seventh installment in the “Scream” franchise, which spans across three decades since the first one was released in 1996.
Over the course of the first six movies, the story has followed Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), the main protagonist, but in “Scream”—with the fifth movie bearing the same title as the first—we follow a new character named Sam Carpenter (Melissa Barrera). Sidney is still in the movie, but she is no longer the central focus; in “Scream 6,” Sam is still the main character and Sidney does not appear at all. But now, in the seventh movie, Sidney is finally back as the main character, alongside her daughter, Tatem (Isabel May).
Throughout the Scream movies, there is always a killer—Ghostface—with a past reason to harm the main character or those around them. This movie was very good at creating completely new ideas and types of scenes while also not changing from the first movies too much. It keeps you on edge the entire time, while still using all of the exciting and scary elements of the other movies. Even after six other movies, you never know what will happen next.
The director of this movie, Kevin Williamson, has written the first, second and fourth “Scream” movies, along with this one. The overall story was very exciting and suspenseful, and the character development in this movie was compelling. We get to see how Sidney’s past has now affected not only her but also her daughter because Tatem wants to know more about her mother’s past. Sidney is hesitant to tell her daughter about it because she would rather try to forget a lot of her experiences with Ghostface so that she can keep her family away from those memories.
An interesting thing to see in “Scream 7” is how much security Sidney has, now that Ghostface has come back so many times. Now that she has a family, she feels a lot more responsible for keeping her house secure. She seems to be very prepared to protect herself and her family from another attack, even though she moved to a new town farther from the one where the attacks happened. But as it usually is in these movies, Ghostface finds a way around obstacles.
The existence of AI was discussed in the movie, which was an interesting addition that helped separate this film from the others. The characters in “Scream 7” have to try and navigate through everything that happens, and over time, they collect clues until they can figure out who the killer might be. On top of that, with the existence of new technology, the characters find themselves having to question whether some of the clues are true. In the other movies, none of the characters had to do this, which makes this movie even more interesting and mysterious.
Overall, this movie was very thrilling to watch because it added something new to the franchise while not straying too far from the classic feel of the original movies. It explained what Sidney did and where she went after the fifth movie,it gave more depth to some characters while introducing some new ones and used the existence of AI to make it feel more modern and more unpredictable. Knowing at least some of the story from the previous movies would make “Scream 7” much more captivating, but I would recommend this movie to anyone who likes suspense and does not mind a lot of violence—no matter who you are, you are sure to scream.
