Scream 7

Ghostface is back. 

"Show me four popcorn right now, or you're dead." (A little humor for those who have played Funko's Scream party game.)

Warning: there are spoilers ahead.

In the latest installment of the Scream franchise, Sidney Prescott has built a new life for herself in Pine Grove, Indiana. She is married to a police officer and has a teenage daughter named Tatum, who will quickly become the focal point of Ghostface's attacks.

As typical of a Scream film, a slew of innocent people are murdered in brutal fashion to build tension that our protagonist or other beloved franchise staples could be next. (McKenna Grace characters really can't catch a break in these films lately.)

We are actually treated to three Ghostface killers in this edition, as Gale Weathers makes her dramatic entrance by running over the first masked man with her car -- a former mental institute patient by the name of Karl Gibbs.

As the film progresses, it is ultimately revealed that the mastermind behind this carnage is Sidney's neighbor Jessica. Having read Sidney's autobiography many years ago, Jessica began to idolize Sidney for killing those who tormented her. Sidney inadvertently gave her the strength to take her abusive husband's life.

However, as Sidney disappeared during the New York City killings (recall that Neve Campbell was not in Scream VI), a disappointed Jessica decided that Sidney could no longer fill her role as the "final girl" in these killing sprees. Instead, during her time at the mental institution, Jessica turned to fellow killer Marco, and concocted a plan to have Sidney's daughter Tatum replace Sidney in this role.

Jessica's motivation is suspect, these killers never fully stood a chance at winning the final battle, Sidney's husband somehow survives "unsurvivable" wounds, and they all live happily never after.

My rating? 7 out of 10.

There is a certain bias inherent to following a series of films and the development of its characters, particularly over multiple decades. It's a television series quality that has always appealed to me more than standalone films.

I loved the willingness of this franchise to modernize itself -- the usage of AI was quite intriguing, and those deepfakes could have easily been explored even further. Had Stu Macher actually survived somehow, it would have cheapened the original and made my rating lower.

However, I'd say the biggest pitfall for Scream 7 is the motivation of its villains. There are plenty of memes out there depicting increasingly outrageous motives as the films progress, but by Scream 15, it genuinely could be Sidney's great-grandchild looking at someone wrong in a coffee shop that sets this whole thing off.

Admittedly, you have to suspend disbelief in any slasher film, but to comprehend Jessica offing her son because he suddenly reminds her too much of her husband, or tracking Sidney across the country to torment her for not being connected to the Ghostface killings in Scream VI seems a bit far-fetched.

What were your thoughts on Scream 7? Feel free to leave a note in the comments below, let's discuss :)