“Scream 7” was co-written & directed by Kevin Williamson, is the 7th film in the franchise & the third film in the reboot trilogy following 2023’s “Scream 6”. The film sees Neve Campbell return to her lead role & joined by Courtney Cox, Jasmin Savoy Brown & Mason Gooding. Newcomers include Isabel May, Mckenna Grace, Jimmy Tatro, Mark Consuelos, Joel McHale, Anna Camp & Ethan Embry. In the previous film, Neve Campbell was not involved with the project due a financial issue but was brought on to this movie after Paramount fired Melissa Barrerra, the star of the previous 2 films. Shortly after, Jenna Ortega & the directors of the previous 2 films also left the project, leaving massive holes in the script & casting. Although Ortega’s departure was because of the “Wednesday” schedule, the directors left due to their film, “Abigail” being green lit by Universal. Christopher Landon was originally supposed to direct but ultimately left the project after Barrera & Ortega. Patrick Dempsey was also rumored to return but scheduling conflicts put his decision on hold but it was wildfires in California in July 2025 that led to him not returning to the franchise. The departures of Barrera & Ortega also led to Skeet Ulrich’s character being removed from this film despite being a major plot point in the previous 2 films as well as the original.
In Piney Woods, Indiana, Sydney Prescott (Campbell) is living a new life with her husband, police officer Mark Evans (McHale) & their teenage daughter, Tatum (May). Sydney received a phone call from a familiar voice in the form of the Ghostface killer. Having heard this voice for so many years, she’s unbothered by the caller until the call turns into a video call. Sydney is horrified when the video call is at the same location as Tatum & springs into action. The 2 are saved by Gale Weathers (Cox), the famed reporter & author and her new assistants, Mindy (Brown) & Chad (Gooding), the remaining survivors the previous 2 films. Ghostface is found dead by the authorities after being hit by Gale’s car & is revealed be a random stranger that didn’t have any connections to Sydney or Tatum. Things take a dark & twisted when the calls return & another Ghostface begins stalking everyone once again. Sydney & Tatum must stayed ahead of the killer while Gale & her team dig into finding out more information on this new killer before the horrors of past repeat the previous massacres.
Losing the previous film’s stars & directors was one thing but then moving forward this new with original stars felt like a “studio involved” move. They basically said, “We’ve already announce this movie but lost our 2 main characters & we can’t stop now.” This movie was a massive disappointment on both ends of the spectrum. From a filmmaking prospective, it sucks because I really enjoyed the previous 2 films with our new leading ladies, so to can that and move in another was red flag in itself. From a storyline prospective, the new trilogy storyline is ruined because we now have to deviate from the previous story arch & go in a completely different direction. Much like the “Star Wars” sequel trilogy, the tone in movie is completely off cause there’s no mention of previous events or outcomes but yet we have a majority of the previous film’s characters. It was great to see Neve Campbell return but once again this feels the same as the first 4 films which heavily relies on nostalgia to whereas the previous 2 films felt like a fresh take within this universe but then much that was based that the studio wanting to continue the franchise after its original director, Wes Craven, passed away. In all of previous films, the reveal the killers worked because of the connections to main characters. In this film, the reveal made no sense & had no real weight behind it & really felt pointless altogether cause there’s no motive or story arch that links everything together. This new trilogy was going in an interesting direction but once the main stars left & the original heroine returned, it felt the same once again. Overall, a disappointing movie.
The film hit theaters nationwide on February 27, 2026 and was the first film in the series to be shot in IMAX. At the time of this post, talks of a 8th film are being discussed but no official word has been announced.