Scream 7 Reviews: The Knives Are Out As Critics Weigh In On New Film
The Scream franchise has been dealt another blow as the latest instalment hits cinemas.
Scream 7’s roll-out has been especially rocky, largely due to the early firing of Melissa Barrera following a string of comments against Israel and in support of Palestine against the backdrop of the conflict in Gaza, followed by the departures of Jenna Ortega and the film’s original director.
Because of this, many have called for a boycott of the movie, and with the reviews for part seven having now been published, producers have even more problems on their hands.
Separate from the controversy, the film has been almost unanimously criticised in initial reviews, with even the most positive capping at three stars, and the most unimpressed slamming the film for being uninspired and derivative compared to the series’ most popular outings.
Scream 7 also has the unenviable record of holding the lowest critical score of the whole franchise on Rotten Tomatoes at 37%, while its Letterboxd score sits at a lowly 2.6 stars at the time of writing.
Here’s a round-up of what critics are saying about Scream 7…
The Hollywood Reporter
“The overfamiliarity would be more palatable if the dialogue were as fresh and funny as it was in the early instalments, or if the kills were more creatively staged. But there’s a rote quality to the proceedings that makes Scream 7 feel like a slog despite its high body count and copious gore.”
The Times (2/5)
“Scream 7 is a bland and rote bum note, a last-minute patch-up job that was apparently necessitated by the untimely departure of several personnel who made the very successful and quite brilliant Scream 6 [...] It’s as if nobody realised that a Scream movie without the irony is just a bad horror movie.”
Variety
“[Director Kevin] Williamson has gone back to basics, but the result is a Scream sequel that, while it nods in the direction of being seductively convoluted, is really just…basic.”
Empire (3/5)
“Scream 7, directed by original scribe Kevin Williamson (who also wrote the second and fourth movies), at times comes dangerously close to forgetting just what it is that the fans of the ‘Stab’/Scream franchise want.”
RogerEbert.com (1.5/4)
“Genuinely inept in every way, Scream 7 is far and away the worst of the franchise, a shallow rendering of things that worked better in other films.”
IndieWire (D+)
“Nostalgia, in the end, isn’t this sequel’s theme but its shield. It doesn’t erase the franchise’s highs, but nevertheless stains the canon with a fraught production nightmare that will be remembered as unnecessary.
“Horror can’t work without bravery, on and off screen. But Scream 7 mistook safety for survival, and in doing so, coughed up the least dangerous Ghostface yet.”
The Telegraph (2/5)
“Please put the Scream franchise out of its misery. [Scream 7] is the worst one yet. Even loyal fans are likely to shrug at its vacuous mediocrity. So what hope is there for the rest of us?”
New York Post (1/4)
“That’s all Scream 7 is – the same old regurgitated slasher mush Hamburger Helper’d with a dash of AI. It’s a near-lethal dose of nostalgia to anesthetise sad, sad millennials.”
The Daily Beast
“Sluggish, unscary, and plagiaristic in not-ingenious ways, [Scream 7 is] definitive proof that it’s time to retire Ghostface and his gravely hackneyed games.”
Digital Spy (2/5)
“The elements were there for Scream 7 to be a classic Scream movie, one that centred on Sidney and hopefully avoided any awkwardness of it being a sort-of soft reboot to the reboot. But unfortunately what we’re left with is a sequel that is repetitive, bland and ultimately generic, possibly the worst thing for a Scream movie to be.”
TheWrap
“It’s not that Scream 7 is a bad Scream movie. There are no bad Scream movies (yet). Even the worst one is kind of alright, and this is the worst one. It just never seems like there was a story that needed to be told, or a point that needed to be made.”
Den Of Geek (2/4)
“Scream 7 [is] an off-the-shelf, stock-itemed legacy sequel that previous Screams would’ve skewered for its timidity. A carbon copy of the original 1996 movie except where it counts, Scream 7 ultimately plays closer to other ’90s knockoffs that faded into obscurity. It’s the Halloween H20 of Scream movies, a heartless cash-grab sequel that brings back a genre legend in something that wants so badly to be Scream that it bleeds itself dry.”
NME (3/5)
“[Scream 7] does have surprises but they are quite tame by Scream standards. A smattering of inventive kills, for sure, the ever-reliable Courtney Cox in the fray as Gale Weathers, yes. But as for the several things some would probably call ‘spoilers’? None are that exciting, even if people might complain should they be mentioned here.
“While we’re in negative mode, let’s also be real – even for a horror film, the lighting is far too dark in almost every scene.”
The Sun (3/5)
“While it’s all entertaining enough – and there’s plenty of jumps and bloodshed – the story gets far too silly and misleading. It does what it says on the tin, but the mask has slipped a little.”
Radio Times (3/5)
“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.”
The Guardian (3/5)
“While the bar might be low outside of the franchise for not only a seventh slasher but a seventh of anything, the bar within it, for a Scream sequel is that much higher.
“There’s just about enough here to show signs of life (with tracking suggesting a huge opening, Scream 8 is an inevitability) but Williamson often feels like he’s treading water when he should be drawing blood.”
Deadline
“With a fun script that takes nothing seriously, Scream 7 should be just the ticket to get fans psyched for the further adventures of Sidney Prescott and company.”
Scream 7 is in cinemas now.