Film Review: SCREAM 7 (2026): Neve Campbell is Back in a Sequel That Meanders and Often Disappoints
Scream 7 Review
Scream 7 (2026) Film Review, a movie directed by Kevin Williamson, written by Guy Busick, James Vanderbilt and Kevin Williamson and starring Neve Campbell, Isabel May, Courteney Cox, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Mason Gooding, Matthew Lillard, Mark Consuelos, Anna Camp, Joel McHale, Mckenna Grace, Michelle Randolph, Jimmy Tatro, Asa Germann, Celeste O’Connor, Sam Rechner, Ethan Embry, David Arquette and Timothy Simons.
Filmmaker Kevin Williamson’s mediocre Scream 7 brings Neve Campbell back to the Scream franchise after monetary disputes kept Campbell out of the exciting last film in the series. Williamson’s new picture is as familiar as they come and doesn’t have the edge the last Scream picture possessed. Scream 7 is sort of flat, and meandering as it follows the basic structure of the earlier Scream movies but doesn’t really stand out from them in any exciting sort of way. It’s great to have Campbell back in the action as Sidney Prescott, but the film has aged her and although her character isn’t “past her prime,” she’s awfully predictable in terms of every move her character makes.
Scream 7 opens strongly. We see a couple well-played by Michelle Randolph and Jimmy Tatro who rent a house where murders from a previous film took place. This home comes complete with a fake Ghostface replica who makes noises and is pretty darn creepy. All of a sudden, a real Ghostface appears to take out his first couple of victims before the opening title of the film appears. This is not on Drew Barrymore/Scream 1 territory, but it’s enjoyable enough to kick-start the new picture.
Soon, Sidney discovers that her student daughter, Tatum (Isabel May), is in grave danger from a freak dressed in a Ghostface mask and wearing the appropriate attire for a killer. Tatum’s friend, Hannah (Mckenna Grace), is literally swinging back and forth on-stage when she’s brutally murdered which sets the events into motion for the mystery of the film’s often bland story line.
A terrific suspense scene has Tatum and Sidney escaping from the clutches of the killer into a safe room. They move behind the walls of the house as Ghostface tracks them from the other side and sticks his knife through the wall to try to kill our heroines. If you think they’re going to get killed, you haven’t seen a movie like this before, but it’s a series of immensely entertaining moments.
Meanwhile, a supposed deepfake of Matthew Lillard’s old character from the series appears to haunt Sidney and that presents a mystery in the picture regarding whether or not Lillard’s character is alive or not. Also on board are some young folks from previous films, played by Jasmin Savoy Brown and Mason Gooding. They’re basically winging it here and are just present for the sake of being there. One scene presents a pizza on the table as characters talk, and the uneaten pizza looks more appetizing than any of the dialogue is.
Mr. Kelly Ripa, Mark Consuelos, is cast as an annoying reporter, and this part of the film is the worst part as Consuelos seems to be coming from another movie altogether with his goofy performance. Courteney Cox sufficiently reprises her role as reporter, Gale Weathers, which makes for an interview scene that is designed to lure the real Ghostface into action, but this sequence is a bit bland when considering that Cox and Campbell aren’t living up to expectations in it.
Tossed into the action is the usually reliable Anna Camp as Jessica Bowden. Camp is hit-and-miss in the role she possesses within the picture. It’s hard to know who’s wasted more here: Camp or Mckenna Grace. Both actresses float through their scenes with so little screen presence that if you blink, you’ll miss their efforts to stand-out from the crowd. Camp has the bigger part, and more opportunity to make an impression but is, alas, predictable in terms of how she plays Jessica.
OK, Scream 7 is certainly entertaining in spurts. Campbell is interesting to see back on screen, for whatever reason, but if she received a big payday for re-playing Sidney, it’s not reflected too much in her by-the-numbers performance. She and Cox are going through the motions, although when Weathers helps hit the first Ghostface in the film with a car, it makes for some needed humor that the film succeeds in mixing into the scarier scenes in the picture rather fluidly.
Scream 7 has no real distinct purpose for being other than as a mild cinematic distraction. This film could have been written by AI if you plugged the elements of the other movies into a computer. While the last film offered cleverness and ingenuity, this new picture doesn’t offer viewers anything other than a basic Scream film with just a few distinguishing characteristics.
Isabel May is probably the film’s standout in terms of the cast members, playing her rebellious type of young character who often gets to engage in conversations with Campbell as the two ably portray a mother-daughter bond on-screen. The killings are rather lackluster, but the movie still gets a few things right. It’s not a total loss, but many Scream fans will be expecting so much more.
Rating: 6/10
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