Now playing in theaters from Paramount Pictures!
Directed by Kevin Williamson.
Written by Kevin Williamson, Guy Busick, James Vanderbilt.
Check out the trailer here!!
Sydney Prescott, now Sydney Evans (Neve Campbell) has tried to distance herself from the Woodsboro murders that have plagued her since she was a teenager. Now a happy wife to her police chief husband Mark (Joel McHale) and over-protective mother to their daughter Tatum (Isabel May). But after the Macher House is burned down, the very site where the finale of the original SCREAM played out, Sydney receives new phone calls from Ghostface (voiced once again by Roger Jackson) who is now targeting her daughter and her friends. This causes Gail Weathers (Courtney Cox) to burst onto the scene with her apprentices Mindy (Jasin Savoy Brown) and Chad (Mason Gooding) dead set on solving who is behind this murder spree. This time, though, the murderer has revealed himself already as Stu Macher (Matthew Lillard), but is Stu really back from the dead or is something more devious going on?
I guess I have been living under a rock, but I was surprised when I saw that Kevin Williamson was returning to direct this installment. Apparently, after the film series became the target for outspoken nut-balls spouting online idiocy when Melissa Barrerra was fired after she herself chose to enlighten us all with her political opinions, no one wanted to get near this sequel, so Kevin Williamson put on his big boy pants and decided to take the plunge into the director’s chair. That is the most interesting aspect of SCREAM 7 to me, as Williamson has always played the role of writer and producer aside from the time he directed the tepid TEACHING MRS. TINGLE. While I miss the elaborate and fast paced mania delivered by the Radio Silence guys, Williamson does a decent job of keeping things moving fast and violent. Williamson offers up a bit of soap operatics with the mother daughter drama which we have seen played out in the most recent HALLOWEEN reboots, but never goes so far as to make Campbell into a neurotic recluse. For that I was thankful, as that role has been played out over pretty much every legacy reboot we’ve seen over the last few years.
The story opens with a solid first kill. By this time, we know the loving couple who show up before the credits is going to get kakked, but Jimmy Tatro and Michelle Randolph make it interesting as they explore the Macher Home which has been turned into a murder house Air B&B. This opening sequence moves quick, touches upon the fandom of how the STAB series as well as the Woodsboro murders are still very much a part of popular culture in the world of the film. Thankfully, that pretty much is the extent of the meta-commentary, though Sydney’s infamy is something that seems to still haunt her to this day.
There is a nice way the film climaxes in the second act that shakes the narrative up a bit. I don’t want to reveal too much, but I did like the way the first half of this film plays out. There are some fun nods to the original SCREAM as well as HALLOWEEN, with the trio of girls walking down the road to school as well as a few scenes where the Ghostface mask emerges from the darkness like Michael Myers that was an effectively creepy moment. There’s even an inspired kill that is best left unspoiled that is definitely the most elaborate, but effective kill sequence of the film. So halfway through, I was thinking this new Williamson-lead SCREAM was going to try to do something new.
Unfortunately, the film comes to a skidding halt when the skeleton that is Courtney Cox and the plot armor twins (Jasin Savoy Brown and Mason Gooding) enter the picture. I don’t want to be mean, but I guess I have to in order to really be honest about this film. Gail Weathers needs to die. I’m sorry but Cox is 93% plastic these days and the other 7% is skin and bones. It’s painful seeing what the once gorgeous actress has done to herself in order to keep up with Hollywood’s obsession with youth and beauty. She resembles late in the game Margot Kidder in SCREAM 7 and apart from showing up for nostalgia’s sake, she really has nothing to do in the movie. Yes, it is fun seeing the love/hate relationship play out between the solitude seeking Sydney and the exploitative Gail, but finding something for Gail to do in the story seems to be an afterthought to the writers of these things and I think it’s time for Ghostface to ghost her. This human coat rack is all but absent through the climax, proving that she easily could have been left out of the film entirely. Sorry, but Gail has become a useless character, and it hurts me to look at her these days. Sorry-not-sorry. But it’s true and you know it.
Again with the sorry-not-sorry, Jasin Savoy Brown and Mason Gooding are the absolute worst things about SCREAM 7. Every line that farts from their asshole faces is covered in smugness. These two are written as if they are smarter and better than everyone around them at all times. And no matter the scene, whether it’s comical or serious, they have to have a snarky comeback. I know this is supposed to be a horror comedy, but the way their characters are handled makes them insufferable. Also, how many times do these two have to get slashed and stabbed by Ghostface for them to kick the bucket? As I said in my review for the last film, which had every character suffer a devastating stomach wound, they all should have been shitting in a bag for the rest of their lives. Tarantino damaged Hollywood films for good when he said a stomach wound takes a long time to die. Sometimes, no. Sometimes a stomach wound kills you and sorry-not-sorry, that’s the fate I wish upon these two plot armor twins. Like Gail, they added absolutely nothing to this story. It all would have been the exact same movie without them, so cut the wheat from the chaff and ditch these two jerks.
And while I’m at it with the sorry-not-sorry’s, we have this girl. I don’t want to rip on a young up-and-coming actress, but can I possibly not see Mckenna Grace in every big budget horror movie released? In just the last few years she’s been in the INDEPENDENCE DAY sequel, THE BAD SEED remake and its sequel, ANNABELLE COMES HOME, MALIGNANT, THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE, the last two GHOSTBUSTERS, FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDIES 2, that REGRETTING YOU chick-flick that told the entire story in the trailer, and is set to star in the upcoming GRAFTED-ripoff SLANTED, as well as the next HUNGER GAMES. I’m kind of just sick of seeing this little gal’s face. Thankfully her part is small in this one.
Grumpy old man griping aside, this wasn’t a terrible entry. There are some great moments such as when Ghostface chases Sydney and Tatum through their house which has been rigged with escape passages and safe rooms. I also liked how the film incorporates the cell phone into the narrative, when usually in horror films the phone is the first thing to go.
Now, the mystery is pretty weak in SCREAM 7. As soon as one actor shows up, I pretty much knew that person was going to be one of the killers. The killer/killers’ identity/identities in numerous instances is/are completely obvious. I mean, when you see a recognizable actor in a small role, it’s pretty much guaranteed that they will be pegged as the killer in the finale. There were a few red herrings tossed in for good measure, and with the SCREAM series, there’s always a chance for more than one killer. Williamson tries keep you guessing. But anyone who has been watching movies for more than a decade is going to be able to point out the Ghostface or Ghostfaces in this one.
The best parts of the movie, though, were between Sydney and Tatum. When they’re on screen the film works. The pace is fast and there are some memorable sequences. Still, what is holding this series back is the fact that it is afraid to kill key characters off. Since SCREAM 7 has crossed the billion-dollar mark, it’s a no-brainer that there’ll be another installment soon. Willaimson did a decent job with SCREAM 7. Here’s hoping the mystery is deepened and not so obvious next time. And I hope they grow the balls to knock off some key characters, like Gail and the Plot Armor twins. That is the baggage that is weighing this franchise down. As they say in the film, it’s always been all about Sydney. This installment failed in making anything else worth keeping for the next one.
