SCREAM 7 Reviewed by GREG KING
Director: Kevin Willimson
Stars: Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, Isabel May, Sam Bechner, Joel McHale, McKenna Grace, Celeste O’Connor, Anna Camp, Asa Germann, Mason Gooding, Jasmine Savoy-Brown, Jimmy Tato, Michelle Randolph, Mark Consuelo, Tim Simons, Ethan Embry, Matthew Lillard, David Arquette, Laurie Metcalf, Scott Foley, voice of Roger L Jackson..
To paraphrase Tina Turner: “We don’t need another Scream!”
This seventh film in the long running slasher franchise that began in 1996 underwent a number of changes in preproduction stage, with original cast members Melissa Barrera and Jenny Ortega leaving and director Christopher Landon (best known for the Paranormal Activity franchise) also leaving the troubled project.
For Scream 7, original writer Kevin Williamson has returned to the fold. He knows the tropes of the horror genre, and he uses this knowledge to set up a few moments of gore and scary stuff. He steps into the director’s chair. Williamson taps into the nostalgia factor, and the film tends to become a little self-referential at times, with several meta nods to the original. There are also some guest appearances from original stars.
Williamson adheres to the successful formula that has shaped the series. Scream 7 also benefits from moving away from the New York setting of the previous film and relocating to the bucolic town of Pine Grove, Indiana. Williamson uses the sleepy small-town location to good effect.
It is in this picturesque Midwest town that Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell, returning to the series after sitting out the last two Scream movies due to disagreements over payment) has settled, hoping for a quiet life in which to raise her family. She has married the town’s police chief Mark (Joel McHale) and operates a coffee shop in the town’s mainstreet. But she is at odds with her rebellious teenage daughter Tatum (Isabel May, from tv series 1883, etc) mainly due to her reluctance to open up about her past experiences, trying to shield her from some of those horrors and the traumas she endured.
Living next door to Sidney is the nosy Jessica (Anna Camp) and her teenage son Lucas (Asa Germann) who is obsessed with true crime and in particular the Ghostface killings and is keen to have Sidney on his podcast.
Scream has become a staple of pop culture over the past thirty years, especially with the inclusion of the fictitious Stab series of movies that reference the real-life events of the Scream series. When the film opens a couple of fans who are obsessed with Scream and the legend of Ghostface rent out the famed Macher House which now operates as an AirBnB offering the complete Scream experience. The visit does not end well as Ghostface (again voiced by Roger L Jackson, a mainstay of the series) quickly dispatches the couple. He burns the house to the ground before moving on to Pine Grove where he cuts a swathe through a number of teens with a connection to Tatum and Sidney.
Intrepid, unflappable and hardnosed journalist Gale Weathers (series regular Courtney Cox) arrives in Pine Grove at an important moment to help Sidney and Tatum deal with the threat posed by Ghostface. She insinuates herself into the investigation of the crime spree and is accompanied by a couple of eager wannabe tv reporters (Mason Gooding and Jasmine Savoy-Brown).
Again the question of the identity of the killer behind the Ghostface mask adds an element of intrigue to proceedings. But there are plenty of red herrings and misdirection along the way.
Cinematographer Ramsey Nickell (who has mainly worked in television) bathes many scenes in dark lighting that is meant to create a certain unsettling mood and an element of suspense but makes the film seem bleak.
Campbell steps back into the role of Sidney with ease and provides a strong focus here. Her return to the series is welcome. She suffuses Sidney with a feisty, resilient quality. However, after making a dramatic entrance Cox’s Gale goes missing for long periods of time and her absence is felt.
Ultimately Scream 7 is not the worst film in the franchise, but it has proved to be one of the most successful at the box office. However, the film seems a little tired and lacking in both originality and any legitimate reason for this latest instalment in the series to exist.
★★☆
