Review and Haiku: Scream 7

SPOILERS – CHECK OUT NOW IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN IT

An old foe returns

Casting doubts into the past

Stu, deepfake or not

Neve Campbell. She’s back as Sidney and just as great as always. She slipped easily back into her role. Sydney is a final girl for many reasons and iconic too and Neve is the reason for that. Loved seeing her return and Courtney too and the other two cast members Jasmin and Mason from the last two movies. Nice to see them back even though all three were underused. 

Seeing Matthew Lillard return as Stu, even as a deep fake, lots of fun was had with that, and the other couple of quick cameos from past killers too – nice touch. Enjoyed seeing Dewey in those deep facts as well.

The rest of the cast is solid. No issues at all with any of them. Neve’s daughter Tatum (nice callback) played by Isablel May liked her performance. Solid in the final girl role.  

Gore and Effects:

Top notch. A Few nasty kills. Never seen someone’s head drove through a bar tap and said tap spills beer and blood onto the floor. Mckeena Grace, who also did a great job, had a nasty kill, very creative, even though spilling guts is almost cliche now. Still works for the desired effect but it might be time to retire that style of kill. Beyond those kills, gore is plentiful, and if you like blood, you get lots of it. 

Story, Script, and Directing: 

I thought Kevin Williamson did a great job behind the lens. Movie never lagged or dragged. Shots were clean and crisp and you could see the action clearly. 

Story and script by Kevin and Guy Busick is the one negative you could glom onto from this one. If you want or need a negative. It’s not the tightest story or script in this franchise, might be one of the weakest, but I don’t tune into these movies for that. Sure, I enjoy great characters, I enjoy the mystery, who’s doing it, things like that, and great reveals, but what I enjoy the most is what this one gave me. Thrills, chills, chase scenes, gore, laughs, jump scares, etc. that’s why you watch these movies and it did a great job with all that. 

Score:

Can’t complain about the music it fit where it was needed. Nice to hear Red Right Hand – feels like a scream movie when that song plays.

Last thing, the Killer, Ghostface, Iconic, Roger Jackson was back with his voice, loved that, and the costume never ever fails. Always enjoyed the look of Ghostface.

The killer reveals are not as strong as past killer reveals but I kind of liked the fact that they were sort of just random people and not tied to a family member or a friend group. Anna Camp, solid, as the architect of the killings. I still don’t understand her motives one hundred percent, future watches will clear that up, but even if that part is a tad bit weak that doesn’t bother me.

I do kind of wish it would have been Stu doing the killings. Rising up to be the mastermind. We’re at the point in time in a franchise where that kind of insanity actually would work. And Matthew Lillard hamming it up with the big speech at the end would have elevated this movie a lot. 

Also really liked the opening too. Lots of good red herrings with that animatronic Ghostface, liked having it in the background, kept you on edge. Opening kills were brutal too. 

All in all, no complaints with this one. I enjoyed it. It gave me what I wanted from a Scream movie and that’s all you can ask of it. Future viewings may change my thoughts but for now that’s where I stand. 

If there is a Scream 8 – my idea for it – comment with yours. I want to see Ghostface running through the woods, chasing camp counselors, and slaughtering them beside a lake. Easy enough to do. Counselor goes wrong, loves the Stab movies and Friday the 13th, and decides to combine them. One killer. No ties to anyone in the previous entries. Just a straight up Slasher movie. Very similar to Friday the 13th Part 5. That’s what I want to see in Part 8 and maybe going forward just make each one not tie into the other 7. New cast, no legacy characters. Just find a way to put Ghostface into a movie and get him or her doing what he or she does best. 

And that’s it. What are your thoughts about Scream 7? Don’t just say it sucks or say I suck for enjoy it. Just give me good reasons why you did or didn’t enjoy it. Keep it civil.

If you want to see the video to this script you can find it here. Disembodied Screams