The following article contains major spoilers for the Scream franchise.
Fans were thrilled for the long-awaited Scream 7, which was released on Feb. 27, but not everyone who left the theater was satisfied with the film. On Rotten Tomatoes, the Tomatometer, which measures critics’ reviews, is 31%, and the Popcornmeter, which measures general audience reviews, is 76%. While this is not a very low audience review, it is the lowest Tomatometer score that any of the Scream movies have received.
On the Scream Instagram, there have been debates in the comments section about whether the movie met expectations or was a disappointment. While I agree with those who were a bit disappointed by the movie’s ending, I enjoyed the film and think it had many great scenes. I’ll start with what I think were the good parts.
PARTS THAT HAD ME SCREAMING WITH JOY
- The Return of Chad and Mindy
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Although Randy Meeks, the original comedic relief and “rules expert” in the Scream series, dies in Scream 2, his legacy is revived in Scream 5. In the fifth movie, Mindy and Chad Meeks, Randy’s niece and nephew, become main characters, some of the only survivors, and the newest rule experts. In Scream 7, this memorable duo returns with reporter Gale Weathers as beginning journalists.
Although Chad hints that they agreed they would stop bringing up the rules, Mindy can’t seem to help herself when trying to determine who the killer is. Fans recognize this scene as a testament to the beloved character Randy and understand the importance of the rules in the first movie. As a big fan of the first Scream myself, I really enjoyed seeing Randy’s legacy live on in this movie through these two characters.
@hellosidneycom on Instagram - “I’ll Be Right Back”
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Speaking of the rules, one of them is to “never ever ever, under any circumstances, say I’ll be right back.” Of course, Stu Macher says the phrase immediately after which foreshadows the fact that he is the killer. Knowing Scream fans will remember this, at the end of Scream 7, after the killers are revealed, one of them says, “I’ll be right back,” just before leaving the scene. This was especially special since, throughout the movie, she had been masking her identity behind an A.I.-generated Stu Macher, one of the original killers that fans have come to love.
Although this scene contained one of the more memorable references to the original movie, it is also the biggest issue I and other fans had with the movie.
PARTS That HURT LIKE A STAB
- STU MACHER WAS NOT THE KILLER
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In the official trailer, all signs pointed to Stu Macher returning as Ghostface in this seventh movie. Not only is the opening scene filmed in his house from Scream 1, but Matthew Lillard’s voice, the actor who plays Stu Macher, is also heard at the end of the trailer saying, “This is gonna be fun.” Fans were overjoyed by the trailer’s hint that the character would be returning, which made the ending that much more disappointing.
While many are happy just because of Matthew Lillard’s work in the movie, others were disappointed that he was only an AI-generated mask. The movie even took the scene a step further by implying that anyone who believed Stu could still be alive was ridiculous. While this didn’t ruin the movie for me, it definitely made the scene less enjoyable, since I was really looking forward to Sidney Prescott facing off against Stu one last time.
@ParamountPictures on YouTube - THE KILLERS’ SCREEN TIME
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While Billy Loomis and Stu Macher are widely considered to be the best Ghostface killers, there have been others who have been memorable. However, I think this movie truly failed in making a good killer, aside from the initial disappointment.
One of the things that makes the movies so enjoyable is that audiences get to play along with the characters as they guess who the killer is. Because of this, killers should be characters who have a decent amount of screen time, appearing frequently around the main characters, either as a friend, a love interest, or another significant side character. However, in Scream 7, one of the killers, Jessica Bowden, played by Anna Camp, appears in only about two scenes and is mostly portrayed as the mother of a major side character. While fans could guess she is the killer, they still do not get to see much of her before the reveal.
Similarly, if not worse, the second killer only has one scene before the reveal. The character Marco Davis first appears as a worker at Fallbrook Psychiatric Hospital and is later revealed to be the Ghostface Killer. With less than five minutes of screen time, this character is rarely seen interacting with Sidney, and I think it simply makes for an underwhelming reveal. This sense of disappointment I felt continued until his death, a few minutes after the reveal, when he was shot in the head. None of the Ghostface killers have had such a quick and unremarkable death, and that moment added to my confusion about why the writers decided to make him a killer in the first place.
Despite the parts of the movie that I disagree with, I still think Scream 7 was another great slasher film. Although Scream 8 has not yet been confirmed, Matthew Lillard has stated that he is campaigning for Stu Macher to actually return as Ghostface, as he thinks Scream 7 is the perfect setup for this twist. While no one knows for sure, I don’t think this is the end of the Ghostface killings, and I am excited to find out what comes next.