Matthias Mojallali || Opinions Editor || Issue 17
WARNING: MILD SPOILERS
Scream 7 has finally been released after its extreme hype over the past year. Opening weekend, people did everything from dressing up as the killer from the movie, Ghostface, to the premiere to waiting in line outside the cinema door for Ghostface popcorn buckets. Despite Scream 7’s rocky past with the frankly uncalled for firing of Melissa Barrera (fired for speaking out against the genocide in Palestine), this film still managed to turn Scream into a billion-dollar franchise. But was it worth the wait?
This film starts out exciting with a cool opening scene and rather solid acting from the main characters. There’s many scenes that made me excited in the theater, such as the return of an important past villain. Ghostface’s scenes are also quite terrifying in this film. There’s a lot of scenes of him coming out of the dark in creepy ways and attack scenes that add horror into the film. However, that’s where the great parts of the film end.
The Scream franchise is known for its self aware commentary on horror films, and this film tries to add that in. However, it falls flat since there’s no more self aware commentary to add. Especially with the token inclusion of some characters who were known for adding self aware commentary into the last two films. There’s a little bit of self aware commentary when “nostalgia-bait” films are mentioned, but that’s about it.
The acting from the lead actors, while solid, sometimes feels like they just want to get this movie over with. This makes the audience feel the same type of “Alright, let’s get this over with…” sort of feeling as well. Even Roger L. Jackson, who plays Ghostface’s infamous voice, feels like he’s not trying very hard.
Scream over the years has kind of lost its soul, but I still did enjoy Scream (2022) and Scream VI a great deal. Nevertheless, I was having a good time while watching this film until the end. Every Scream film has a shocking killer reveal, but this film’s freaks felt like they grabbed two random characters and had them in the costumes. That completely took me out of the movie and made the earlier scenes feel like they weren’t building up to anything.
Overall, while this film is fine, I feel like its whole excitement and horror falls short in the end. I’d say watch this if you’re a Scream fan, but be prepared for the disappointing parts. This is a scary movie that needs work, but maybe Scream 8 will redeem it.
The Hudsonian 