Scream 7 is playing in UK cinemas now from Paramount Pictures, the film releases in the US on February 27, 2026.
Synopsis
When a new Ghostface killer emerges in the quiet town where Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) has built a new life, her darkest fears are realized as her daughter (Isabel May) becomes the next target. Determined to protect her family, Sidney must face the horrors of her past to put an end to the bloodshed once and for all.
Review
Thirty years after it first appeared on our screens the Scream franchise is coming full circle. Original final girl Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) has returned from the exile which saw her sit out Scream 6. Franchise creator Kevin Williamson also lands in the director’s chair for the first time. Though the final result is a mixed-bag, Scream 7 offers an entertaining, gruesome popcorn experience.
The film arrives in cinemas in the middle of a maelstrom brought about by behind-the-scenes changes. Plenty has been written about circumstances which have forced the studio to pivot from its original plans. Online discourse will undoubtedly overshadow the experience of some cinema goers. But for those willing to board the rollercoaster those issues never permeate the screen.
Scream 7 puts the spotlight squarely on Sidney, now a happily married mother of three, who has left Woodsboro behind for the Indiana town of Pine Grove. Sidney’s daughter Tatum (Isabel May), named for Rose McGowan’s character in the original, is now the same age her mother was in the first film and that naturally makes her a target for a brand new Ghostface killer. But something is different this time. This time Ghostface is embracing the past in a way which shakes Sidney to her core and plays into cinema’s current obsession with nostalgia.
Its rather packed script is credited to the returning Williamson alongside Scream V and VI writers James Vanderbilt & Guy Busick. Elements from the previous films are heavily referenced in a way that some won’t be expecting. Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) in particular carries a heavy burden from events which took place in New York in the last film. The inclusion of Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown) and Chad (Mason Gooding) furthers the connective tissue which has become more of a narrative staple following the franchise’s return in 2022. Also along for the ride is the meta sense of humour which has somehow become vital to its ongoing success. It’s the kind of modern slasher soup that shouldn’t work, a tonal bewilderment that still manages to beguile its audience as it jerks between brutal kills and crowd-pleasing laughs.
There’s a sense that Scream is struggling to find an identity in the current cinematic landscape. Whilst some of that could be down to scrambling to create a new script, it seems more endemic of a franchise whose audience spans multiple generations. The need to please audiences old and young is never more evident than in how Scream 7 treats its kills. This franchise has never shied away from inventive deaths. The OG Tatum’s unfortunate tussle with a garage door in 1996 is the stuff of cinematic legend. But whilst it showed a knack for innovative storytelling what it was never callous. The name of the game was entertainment-in-horror. Scream 7 still has exhibits that creativity, a scene in a local bar in Pine Grove features a beer-infused death which elicited a wide-range of loud reactions from our audience. But it exhibits a crudity which sees one character doused in petrol and torched whilst another quite literally spills their guts across a stage. The mix of old and new isn’t strictly impossible. It just isn’t as well integrated enough to allow these elements to play well together.
Where Williamson does succeed as a director is creating a sense of tension. There are elements of the plot which attempt to confuse the audience by taking a different path to traditional Scream films. Cox’s soon-to-be iconic entrance in this film dispatches a Ghostface early in its 114 minute runtime. Gale and Sidney’s brief moment of relief actually ratchets up the tension for the audience. Something which happens again when its somewhat perplexing AI subplot muddies the water with the suggestion that Stu Macher (Matthew Lillard) is still alive. The inclusion of modern technology as a new way to torment Sidney isn’t a ginormous narrative leap. But its sloppy execution becomes more of an excuse to see old faces than a true device for psychological torture.
As is traditional from the Scream franchise, all of that tension brings the audience to the peak of the rollercoaster before hurtling at full speed into a melodramatic final showdown. But this is where Scream 7 hits its biggest stumbling block, the killer reveal. It’s a befuddling moment which dissolves all tension in the room. I’m unsure if it’s meant as social commentary, a conclusion where Sidney’s survival matters more than the killer’s identity. Or if Williamson simply undercooked the motives behind this latest wave of killings. Whatever the intention it doesn’t play well despite leading to some truly merciless mother-daughter bonding.
Scream 7 will succeed thanks to the dedication of its cast. There’s no side-stepping how much Campbell and Cox demonstrate their dedication to continuing Scream’s story. Brown and Gooding are a crowd-pleasing reminder of the versatility that was instrumental to the success of the last two films. Whilst newcomers Isabel May and Joel McHale are great additions to the Prescott-Evans family with May easily able to carry the franchise moving forwards. Together this ensemble is able to surmount the turmoil surrounding the franchise and ensure fans leave the cinema entertained.
Verdict
Scream 7 is a franchise searching for new meaning in unfamiliar territory, bolstered by a cast who refuse to let it stumble. Campbell and Cox deliver exactly what fans need, whilst Isabel May announces herself as more than capable of carrying the knife franchise into the future.
⭐⭐⭐
