When it was announced that Neve Campbell would be returning to the Scream franchise, fans were delighted. I know I was.
Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) is the heart of the Scream movies. Doing one without her doesn’t really feel right. But while Scream 6 was a solid installment, not having Sidney makes the experience incomplete. Her being back just might revitalize the public’s interest in the movie after the controversy behind the departure of key people from the last film.
The question now is, did it?
Sadly, Scream 7 was more like a nostalgic fan service than a solid horror slasher.
Understandably, movies like this will always have that element that makes people relive their excitement and experience when they watched the first few films. Nostalgia can be an effective plot device. When used properly, it can be a powerful storytelling tool, too.
There was no shortage of nostalgia in Scream 7.
It’s great especially if you’ve been a long-time fan. Not so good if you’re not.
While it’s great to see references to the old films, they need to push the story forward. With each easter egg that appears on the screen, viewers expect more. The nostalgia element is expected to build up tension; people want it to pay off in the end. Like when Tatum (Isabel May), Sidney’s daughter, found her mother’s leather jacket from Scream 2, you hoped it would have some significance down the road. (Spoiler: it did not.)
The only thing nostalgia did for the movie was it got us fans all hyped up before it hit cinemas–and then disappointed after leaving. It still pains me that the movie didn’t live up to its legacy and potential.
For the uninitiated, Scream 7 follows Sidney in a small, quiet town of Pine Grove. Now a wife and mother to a teenage girl, she also runs a coffee shop. She’s gotten accustomed to people pranking her with Ghostface calls, which is why she didn’t initially take it seriously when she received a call from the actual Ghostface who threatens to kill her daughter.
When the caller revealed that he is Stu (Matthew Lillard) and that he was never dead, and more importantly, he is outside Tatum’s high school, Sidney had to listen. The thing that happened to her 30 years ago is now happening to her daughter. But what raises the stakes even higher is that the same killer who tried to end Sidney might be the same guy trying to kill her daughter.
Now that’s a solid fear-jerker. If only the script was able to sustain the terror.
While it’s pretty clear from the start that it’s possible Stu was either going to be a ghost, like Billy Loomis in Scream 5 and Scream 6, or a by-product of AI, the very small possibility that he might actually be alive is a terrifying idea–and a very good one because that would be a full-circle moment for everyone especially with the “Stu is alive” theory that’s been around since the second movie.
With each scene where Sidney is tormented by Stu via video call, our minds start to try and piece together potential scenarios where he is really alive and has been biding his time for an iconic comeback.
Of course, that’s wishful thinking for an OG fan. There’s no way Stu Macher is alive or coming back as a ghost mainly because Billy Loomis already appeared as a ghost. When news about David Arquette (who played Dewey Riley) and Scott Foley (Roman Bridger, Sidney’s step-brother and Ghostface in Scream 3) reprising their roles broke, it’s also become clear that they are just going to be either part of flashbacks or appear in dream sequences; it would be quite difficult to justify them being not dead after all this time.
In hindsight, if the studio had to reveal these cameos early on, one might wonder that the final product may not be strong enough to make an impact. There would have to be a reason why they had to pre-empt their cameos to get fans excited.
Imagine if no one knew Stu, Dewey, and Roman were part of the new movie and then they suddenly appear on the big screen. That would have sent fans to the edge.
The nods to the past were not all bad, however. It was nice to watch certain scenes and see something that would remind you of the past films. Tatum being part of the theater club was a cute reminder that Sidney was a theater actress in Scream 2. Mark Consuelos’ Robbie Rivers remind us of a younger and hungry reporter Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) in the first movie. And then there’s Gale’s familiar red outfit from the very first film.
Even some of the kills had familiar elements. When Ghostface first appeared at the high school, he showed up on stage, like on Scream 2. He disemboweled his victim, similar to what happened to Olivia Morris (Marielle Jaffe) in Scream 4.
The opening kill was the weakest in the franchise. It feels like most of the creativity went into setting up the Macher house and not the actual kill. However, there was a small win: when Madison (Michelle Randolph) was talking to Ghostface in the kitchen, she was holding a knife the same way Casey (Drew Barrymore) did in the first movie.
That first kill was a bit of a letdown even with Ghostface burning down the house.
Perhaps the biggest letdown was the Ghostface reveal. The stakes were too high only to end the way it did. But what saved the final act for me was how brutal Sidney was. Plus, there’s the scene where mother and daughter finally put an end to Ghostface with so much gore.
And I think that’s the term I can’t seem to put my finger on the entire time: ‘gore.’ But it’s not what I was looking for.
I was looking for “fear’ or ‘terror’ because these are what Scream movies are supposed to be first.
Scream 7 is now showing in cinemas.
Image courtesy of Paramount Pictures
