SCREAM 7
*
Directed by Kevin Williamson.
Starring Neve Campbell, Isabel May, Courtney Cox.
Horror, US, 114 Minutes, Certificate 18.
Released in Cinemas in the UK on 26th February by Paramount
After going through a number of development problems, the seventh installment of the meta franchise finally stumbles onto screens just shy of thirty years after the first entry struck such a chord with audiences. While the unceremonious firing of Melissa Barrera over her comments on the Israel and Gaza conflict triggered a massive backlash among fans, the walkaway of co-star Jenna Ortega and original director Christopher Landon, taking over the reins from the Radio Silence duo of Matt Bettenelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillet, only seemed to compound things. There seemed to be little point in continuing the saga which in recent years had seen a real uptick in audience support. So, how to continue then? How about wooing back the series’ original Final Girl, Neve Campbell with a hefty payday after she opted out of the previous entry for not being paid enough. If that isn’t enough, then how about bringing back original screenwriter Kevin Williamson into the directors chair to steer it in a bold new direction? It feels hard not to take all of this into account when approaching this seventh entry, so can it be judged as a film on its own? Of course it can, and the fact is SCREAM 7 is not a good film at all.
Mostly ignoring the previous two films for the above reasons, this is a turgid exercise in half-hearted nostalgia. In bringing Campbell back as Sidney Prescott, the film writes itself into a corner it struggles to get out of. There are only so many times she can face off against killers in Ghostface masks before it all gets a little ridiculous.The plot here tries to elevate matters when a new, or is it?, Ghostface targets not only Sidney but her seventeen year old daughter Tatum (callback!) and her own high school friends. Courtney Cox turns up as well.
The meta element that dominated the previous films, to varying degrees of success and increasing smugness is shoved to the background here. There are flickers of interesting ideas in here; the life of a Final Girl and her continuing traumas years later and her perceived legacy, but that was also explored in the recent HALLOWEEN reboot trilogy as well as 1998’s HALLOWEEN: H20, also written by Williamson to much more entertaining effect. Whatever creative impulses Williamson had in the late 90’s that made him write believable and likable teen characters are completely missing three decades later. The new cast members here are completely uninspired and fail to rise above their thinly written archetypes (the blonde one, the kooky one, buff boyfriend and weird boy). Faces from the past also make return appearances here, with only one of any real significance that had been spoiled months ago online, rendering what could have been a surprise completely inert.
In an age where social media is plagued with deepfakes and pop culture figures regurgitated into unimaginative AI slop, there could have been an attempt to examine how this could play into such a storyline here with its meta tinged edges. However it is only ever really touched upon in the most basic and pandering way, making the film a missed opportunity in so many ways. Never mind comparing it to the classic first film, in comparison to the pale, half hearted imitations that rose up in its wake this is every bit as bad and maybe even worse. Despite two instances of brutal gore that seem out of place in such a franchise, there is nothing on offer here that stands out in the memory. The dialogue is perfunctory, the direction pedestrian and the comedy jettisoned completely in favour of half hearted attempts to remind us of the franchises importance. At one point nu-Tatum puts on an old jacket of her mothers. It is a scene that I think is supposed to be a call out to fans of the original trilogy, but I can’t be too sure. If my overriding lingering memory of this film is what sequel that jacket was in and why it was important, I think it is safe to say that it’s time to put this franchise in the ground.
Iain MacLeod