The Stream: How many times can we tell the same story over and over again?

The Big Screen: Sydney Prescott is back.

The Final Bill: The return of Sydney isn’t enough to make this sequel worth the time.

– Trip Fontaine
Director: Kevin Williamson
Writers: Kevin Williamson & Guy Busick; story by Guy Busick & James Vanderbilt
Stars: Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Isabel May, Mason Gooding, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Anna Camp, Joel McHale
Genre: Horror, Mystery
Rating: R for strong bloody violence, gore, and language.
Runtime: 1 hour 48 minutes
Production Companies: Paramount Pictures, Outerbanks Entertainment, Project X Entertainment, Radio Silence Productions, Spyglass Media Group
Platform: In theaters February 27, 2026
Notable Trailers: Disclosure Day, The Bride, The Devil Wears Prada 2, Passenger, Scary Movie 6, Is God Is

What’s up, Streamers! These Scream sequels seem to come out every other year without much variation to its formula. Now, we’re up to the seventh installment of this franchise, and I’m wondering whether there’s still any blood in this old turnip. In Scream (2022) and Scream VI, we got new main cast members who had connections to the original killers who were being terrorized by their own Ghostface – a classic legacy sequel. Well, Scream 7 goes back to the well by reintroducing Sydney Prescott (Neve Campbell) and her teenage daughter, Tatum (Isabel May). Yes, this installment has a new Ghostface on a killing spree targeting Sydney and her daughter in her quiet home of Pine Grove. To protect her family, Sydney has to face her past and figure out who this new Ghostface is before her time runs out. Voice changing slasher hijinks ensue.

Actually, I don’t want to spend a lot of time on this. If you have seen the previous Scream movies, then you know exactly what you are going to get. It’s a tired formula that the filmmakers, apparently, have no interest in shaking up. There are kills of side characters. There are red herrings and obvious suspects throughout. Sydney screams and cries. Her daughter is whiny and dumb. Of course, characters from the previous films show up to add their two cents. It’s all very “been there, done that.” There’s nothing new or interesting that makes this movie worth running out to see. It’s not even very funny like some of the previous movies. While it is good to have the story focused on Sydney Prescott as a mother trying to protect her family, there’s nothing done with that aspect that requires anyone to head to the theater for this. There is one pretty gruesome kill that is eye-catching, but I can’t recommend a movie for a 2-minute sequence.

Ultimately, Scream 7 is just more of the same with diminishing returns. It is good to see Sydney Prescott again as the focus of the movie, but there is nothing done with her character to make this worthwhile. The kills are boring, and it’s pretty obvious who the killer(s) is. This movie is not essential viewing, so only one popped kernel for now.