Scream 7 review: Faults, plot holes and a dubious conclusion – but slasher franchise still has its pleasures

As macabre as it may seem, and without lingering too long over what it says about the mindsets of millions of moviegoers, the sound of a shiny blade slicing into human flesh has rarely sounded so reassuring.

The seventh spin of the Scream carousel represents a kind of homecoming, with the return of both the franchise’s most enduring heroine and the man who created the whole business 30 years ago contributing hugely to a horror that’s by no means perfect but isn’t short on pizzazz.

Neve Campbell, absent from 2023’s Scream VI reportedly due to a dispute over pay, is back as Sidney Prescott, now in her late 40s and a wife and mother of three – including a daughter, Tatum (Isabel May), the same age as her mum was in the first film.

Whereas 7’s predecessor shifted the action to the bustling beast of New York, here we’re in more usual small town territory, with Sidney enjoying an idyllic family life and running a modest coffee shop, until a menacing phone call signals another murder spree is on its way.

Sound familiar? Of course it does, because the malevolent figure of Ghostface is gearing up for slaughter again, and has a new batch of sassy teenage girls and their unconvincing bad boy beaus to focus on, not to mention fresh hell to visit upon longstanding nemesis Neve.

Naysayers might be of the opinion that no matter the changes in location or victims, the Scream series has a tendency to repeat itself; and while there’s more than a smidgen of truth in that, the seventh chapter at least displays more style and wit than the last couple of so-so outings.

Key to its more robust sensibilities is Kevin Williamson, writer of three previous entries (including the premise-establishing opening brace) and lowering himself into the director’s chair for the first time.

Williamson relishes making fun, as he always has, of instantly recognisable horror conventions in a script that also affectionately sneers at rivals (there’s a neat line about Jamie Lee Curtis’s ubiquitous Halloween roles), while liberally peppering the action with self-referential motifs, be it the franchise-within-a-franchise Stab, or a nod to Campbell not coming out to play for the previous film: “You’re lucky you sat that one out,” Sidney is told by Courteney Cox’s steely TV reporter. “It was brutal.”

Cox’s introduction this time round is terrific, a didn’t-see-that-coming moment that’s likely to have devoted fans breaking into applause, and Williamson gleefully stirs the pot by bringing back other familiar faces long thought to be deceased – a canny plot point involving FaceTime cellphone exchanges and theories of Ghostface employing AI as an accomplice providing a credulity loophole.

As is traditional, there’s no shortage of suspects and/or red herrings when Campbell and Cox team up to unmask the killer, with another character baffled by an early finger of suspicion pointing at a comparative stranger: “That’s weird; isn’t it always someone you know?”

In truth, those mystery elements could have been handled more effectively, and while the grisly attacks and fight scenes are choreographed with flair they don’t offer viewers much in the way of jaw-dropping shocks they haven’t seen before.

It could be argued that a desire to respect a well-established template prevents Scream 7 from venturing too boldly into pastures new, opting instead to concentrate on tried and tested does-what-it-says-on-the-tin tropes, but the director deserves credit for the few occasions where he manages to add a modicum of spice to the formula of his 30-year-old “baby”.

There are undeniable faults, plot holes and a dubious ending, although it’s still a crowd-pleaser executed with zest, suggesting Williamson is integral to Scream, if you wanna go faster.

Scream 7 is released in UK cinemas from Friday 27 February.

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