Internet Janitor
At this point, the most unbelievable thing about the character of Sidney Prescott is that, after being hunted on five separate occasions with friends or family being murdered is still a functional human being. There’s no way she could hide or become anonymous at that point. If this were real life and someone introduced you to Sidney and you stuck around, you’re clearly suicidal. You kids out there won’t get this one, but it’s like if Angela Lansbury from Murder She Wrote showed up at your party or event, someone is going to die, and it’s on you for staying.
Many years after the events of Scream 4, Sidney (played by Neve Campbell again) has moved to a small town, endangering the lives of everyone around her. She has a teenage daughter, Tatum (played by Isabel May from Young Sheldon), named after her friend in the first movie who died in a garage door. Everything is peachy until, once again, the killings start again. However, this time Ghost Face seems intent on a larger body count and fewer games. Gale Weathers (about nine facelifts later) shows up as one of the few remaining characters still alive from the first movie to help out.
First, the bad. If you’ve seen the trailer, you’ve seen like 90% of the opening sequence. Why they would give it away is beyond me, but it is also the weakest of the lot. The concept is a good one, but it’s just not up to the standard of any of the previous films. Secondly, the marketing of “burn it all down” isn’t mentioned beyond the opening fire.
The greatest strength of Scream 7 is that it takes the expectations you have after six movies and uses them against you. The rules are different this time around, and anyone could be the killer. At first, I was a little disappointed by the reveal at the end, but then it made sense. Yes, their motivation isn’t great, but most of the killers are in the same boat on that one.
The most impressive part of the film is the fine direction from the series creator and first-time director, Kevin Williamson. Yes, his writing is VERY hit or miss with me (with series of The Vampire Diaries and Cursed to his name), but he knows how to set the mood. There are some very, very well-crafted sequences here. I thought Radio Silence is an amazing job with parts 5 and 6, but I would like to see more of the style from 7. Also, how the film incorporates current events and technologies is well done. I won’t hint at or elaborate any further so as not to be one of the jackasses online spoiling it for others.
So. Where to from here? Yes, I enjoyed it an awful lot. The direction, some of the performances, surprises and twists. However, it’s still VERY much otherwise like the others. They started to rewrite the rules with this one, and next time, they need to do away with them altogether.
So until next time, and if you come up against a Ghost Face and get the better of them… aim for the head.