SPOILER ALERT: This is your only warning that I will be discussing Scream 7 in full detail, along with the previous six films. Do not read any further if you don’t want answers or if you haven’t seen the other six movies—do not continue reading. Come back afterward once you’ve caught up on everything. I have not watched the anthology TV show, so I cannot comment on how that ties in.

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Growing up, I was never a big horror movie fan—simply put, I was a chicken. Ironically, I have distinct memories of Halloween trick-or-treating nights where I was a fearless child, only caring about the candy. Who can blame me? We all love our sweets! The original Jurassic Park movie was shown to me when I was about eight, and we got up to the T-Rex scene towards the end, which led to a sobbing breakdown for me; no, we did not finish the movie.

To this day, I have seen it several times now, including some of the later and newest releases. I’m not entirely fearless, but I have a different appreciation and enjoyment for horror movies now. I especially love a good thriller suspense that may not actually have a killer, but delivers a super creepy feeling that gives you goosebumps while watching. Gory films are a hit or miss; I can handle blood and needles, generally speaking. However, the 2026 release of Primate was TERRIFYING. The kill scenes, with the gore and squelching sounds paired together, created a whole different level of experience. I admit that I watched most of that film while hiding under a blanket in theaters.

I’m getting a little off track here—all just to remind you that everyone has different enjoyments, and we change as people over time.

I was introduced to the first Scream movie last October because, well, you have to watch spooky-themed movies all month—I don’t make the rules. I LOVED it so much. So when I found out a new one was coming out, I wanted to make sure I was ready for it. My husband had only seen the first one, so getting to watch Scream 2–6 together was a fun, new experience for both of us. About seven weeks before the official release of Scream 7, we watched one of the movies each week.

The part I enjoyed most about the films was that they’re kind of set up like a murder-mystery killer movie, so we always tried to guess who Ghostface was before the final revelation. I was pretty close—or on the spot—with a majority, which makes me feel pretty good. Maybe that means I’d survive? I don’t know. I don’t think I really want to know, to be honest.

Anyway, I’m a pretty firm believer that original movies and/or the book are almost always the best version. Sequels are almost never as good, because sometimes I think the plot gets lost—particularly when there’s a time jump in the storyline. Oftentimes, I think there are plot holes left unanswered, and the gaping holes are not something I can overlook; I need answers!

I’m going to gloss over the specifics for the Scream movies because if you’ve read this far, then you have either seen all seven films or don’t care about spoilers. I’m just going to provide a couple of bullet points as a recap before I actually dive into my overall thoughts on Scream 7 and the movies prior. If you make it to the very end, I’ll even throw in my personal ranking of them all.

1. Our main protagonist and final girl — Sidney Prescott
2. Never trust the love interest!
3. New final girl introduced in Scream 5 and main for Scream 6 — Sam Carpenter
4. Always shoot them in the head, or they will come back…
5. Dewey Riley and Gale Weathers were endgame; you cannot change my mind.
6. The number of Ghostfaces changes throughout the franchise. Beware!

I loved the first Scream — no notes at all. The final reveal and fighting scene are both laughable and terrifying, from the quotable lines to the casting choice for our main Ghostface. Skeet Ulrich does a phenomenal job playing the seemingly sweet boyfriend who’s psychopathic and driven by revenge. I especially love Stu Macher’s character because sometimes he just feels like he’s dying, man.

From there, the movies were about what I expected. I will give major props to Scream 6, even though it’s the only movie not featuring Sidney at all. I loved the twist at the end, where we get not one, not two, but THREE Ghostfaces. The twist on how the killers connect with Sam somewhat parallels Scream 2 and how it connected to Sidney. The counterpoints in the movies and how they’re connected are well done, making this one of the first franchises to keep me interested. There are still bits that leave me questioning, and for me personally, I think some casting choices could have been better. But up to Scream 6 — well done. Then there is Scream 7.

Scream 4 was not especially my favorite, just because it felt a little copycat to Scream 3, and the casting choices were okay. Scream 7 is sloppy and poorly written. I understand there were rewrites and that a lot was changed, but that’s still no excuse. Also, I need movies to last longer than “a week or two” in the storyline. That makes the pacing feel rushed and makes no sense when the final reveal comes at the end.

My biggest issue was that Ghostface did not have any “real” connection to Sidney Prescott and her daughter, Tatum, other than that she was obsessed with their lives. Her end goal was to create her daughter into the new “final girl,” which maybe hints at Scream 8. I have nothing against the killer being a weird, obsessed fan—it’s fine—but we don’t really know much about her character, Jessica Bowden, other than that they’re neighbors and her son’s a little bit weird.

In all six past movies, Ghostface is driven by hate, revenge, and jealousy. Jessica portrays all these characteristics but has no personal vendetta against Sidney, except that she wants the story to start over. For what real purpose, though?

Additionally, the movie starts off with the burning down of the OG killer house from the first Scream. For what? They also never mention or refer to it, which makes no sense to me. There were three Ghostfaces in the movie, and we get one right off the bat because he gets run over by a car. No one shoots him in the head, though?! What happened to that?

This one is even more bizarre because his character, Karl Gibbs, gets screen time for all of a few seconds when Sidney serves up his coffee at the little café she works at. Then the next thing we know, he’s dead after Gale Weathers runs him over with her car. What was even the point of using him?

The buildup throughout the movie to its big finale is a letdown. The kill sequences and jump scares are great. From a cinematic point of view, it was done very well. But overall, the storyline—and the movie as a whole—flopped big time. I’m pretty certain Scream 8 is already planned and in the works; they’ve got some big shoes to fill after this one. It was a tremendous disappointment, especially considering I really enjoyed Scream 6.

MY OVERALL RANKINGS:

1. Scream 1: 10/10 — No notes, it ate and devoured, left no crumbs
2. Scream 6: 9.5/10 — Too many characters, missing quotable lines
3. Scream 2: 8/10 — Solid movie and plot, maybe would have liked a bigger Ghostface twist
4. Scream 5: 7.5/10 — I didn’t like the “underage” relationship and felt too predictable
5. Scream 3: 7/10 — Decent storyline, but for one Ghostface, needed someone more unhinged
6. Scream 4: 5/10 — Copycat of Scream 3 imo, casting choice was fine
7. Scream 7: 2/10 — Sloppy, bad pacing and timeline, it was bad