Scream 7 (2026)

Scream 7 (2026)

Here we go again!!!

When a new Ghostface emerges in the peaceful town where Sidney Prescott has rebuilt her life, her worst nightmares resurface. With her daughter becoming the next target, Sidney has no choice but to take up the fight once more. Determined to protect her loved ones, she must confront the demons of her past to try to put an end to the bloodbath once and for all.

I’ve been hoping for a while now that they wouldn’t make any more. After the sixth one, I promised myself I wouldn’t watch the sequels. And yet!

What made me change my mind? Mckenna Grace, plain and simple! Yes, as soon as I saw her name in the cast, I didn’t hesitate. Still, what a disappointment to see that she doesn’t have the lead role (and that she only has a tiny part), because I would have been over the moon if she had. But I’ll admit it’s nice to see Neve Campbell again. As for Courteney Cox, she’s never missed a beat! You could almost say she is Scream! She’s the only one who’s appeared in all seven films. And I absolutely love her! In everything she does—especially since she also plays the drums on top of being one of the funniest people on Earth.

As for the two previous installments, it was Jenna Ortega who gave me the same motivation. As for Jurassic World: Renaissance (2025), it was Scarlett Johansson who made me rush out to see it. But let’s not get sidetracked!

Kevin Williamson! Unbelievable! I hadn’t heard that director’s name since… Mrs. Tingle (1999), which is probably the only one of his films I’ve seen. I don’t know if his movies have actually become famous, but I really don’t think so. In any case, with this Scream, he’s going to make a name for himself.

No, I’m joking, of course! Kevin is best known as the screenwriter of the first Scream (1996) and also appeared as an actor in one of the Halloween films! More specifically, in Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998). He wrote the screenplay for the first episode of the Scream series, served as executive producer on Scream 2 (1997), Scream 5 (2022), and Scream 6 (2023). He produced Scream 3 (2000) and Scream 4 (2011), among others. Yes, his resume is quite extensive.

“AI? I’m against it: it’s the death of civilization!” Scream always stays current and up-to-date. And each time, there’s a little twist that surprises with its subtlety, as well as its attention to detail and fidelity to the other installments. Here, we get to see deepfakes.

In Scream 5 (2022), we returned to the house from the first film. We also brought back Skeet Ulrich, as unlikely as that may seem. Here, we’re celebrating the franchise’s 30th anniversary… and we’re also returning to that famous house, which has become… a museum! So… the film plays heavily on nostalgia while simultaneously making nods and jabs. It pokes fun, but it stays true. It innovates and revisits.

It’s pretty cool to see a Duran Duran poster in Tatum’s room, considering that this ’80s band is still around today! A band that existed before this movie franchise and will probably still be around after it.

Neve Campbell wasn’t in the previous film due to a dispute over her pay. As is often the case, they managed to work that into the script. Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) tells Sidney Prescott that she was lucky not to have been in New York. And during a brief argument, it’s clear that Sidney knows about Dewey’s death.

Yes, there are nods to all the important and memorable characters from the first movie, like Matthew Lillard, David Arquette, and Skeet Ulrich. I’d like to point out that Rose McGowan was also part of the cast with this group. It seems to me that people tend to forget her. Yet Sidney’s daughter is named Tatum in tribute to her late best friend. As for Drew Barrymore, it’s the opposite: it’s very hard to forget her performance, which was the second most acclaimed (even if it’s extremely brief) after Neve’s. Perhaps because she was the film’s most famous actress at the time. In my mind, she’s always the very first victim in these movies, even though her boyfriend dies right before her eyes.

Scream 7 is really good, but it inevitably has its flaws too. It delivers the same thrills, with even more extreme violence. Yes, there are scenes that are unbearable for the faint of heart, some pretty gory murders with guts spilling out, and there are even knives in heads, skulls, and faces. But the cast is decent, even though I don’t think Isabel May has much charisma.

There’s always some over-the-top action, good humor mixed with very dark humor. Of course, there are inconsistencies, but the pace is so frenetic that you don’t really have time to get bored or dwell on questions of logic. Overall, there are scenes that are annoying, protagonists who always do the opposite of what you would do in their place, jump scares, but everything is pretty well balanced.

Scream spawned a whole wave of films in the genre, like Urban Legend (1998). The year before, there was the final I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025). I get the impression it had an impact on this film. Sometimes, we draw inspiration from others before being inspired by those we’ve inspired. This can happen in music or in any form of art. But it’s not always a good thing! In fact, when you discover the identity of the criminal(s), it can often be a letdown, especially if you have no clues to try to guess who they are or if the reason for the crimes is truly ridiculous.

The fifth one isn’t as good as the one before it or the one after it. This one follows in the footsteps of the sixth. But these action-packed movies are easy to watch and easy to forget! It’s easy to mix them up and lose track of which scenes belong to which movies.

The end credits are really cool. It’s always a huge pleasure for me to see the actors’ faces when their names appear.

This time, the film is dedicated to Ron Lynch, who was a key producer on the “Scream” films, as well as something of an unsung Hollywood legend. Unfortunately, Lynch passed away in December 2024, which means he wasn’t able to see this film through to the end. Yet he had been instrumental in bringing Scream back from the dead after more than a decade-long hiatus following 2011’s Scream 4 (which itself came eleven years after the third installment), which served as Wes Craven’s unintended farewell. It was his last film, as he died in 2015. The next one was dedicated to him. Craven had saved the slasher genre with the very first Scream in the series.

Ron Lynch is credited as an executive producer on this Scream 7, but unfortunately, he passed away long before the film was wrapped.

Note that Mckenna Grace sings on one of the film’s tracks, “Twisting the Knife,” alongside Ice Nine Kills.

Spoiler Alert!!!

There aren’t any overly twisted plot twists this time. They don’t bring back a major character just to kill them off. And Neve Campbell really has a great role. She’s not just the mom who watches her daughter’s adventures from afar. She’s truly still fully immersed in what remains her most memorable role.