Longevity isn’t easy.
No matter if you are thinking in terms of sports, the arts, or pop culture, it ain’t easy maintaining quality, and impact over time.
The “Scream” franchise is a rare exception where there are more good entries than bad. For me the worst one was part six, just because it didn’t have the same impact as most of the other films. With part seven, you have an awkward case of getting the band back together, after it had been replaced.
Thing of “Scream 7” in the same way you think of a classic rock band which replaces some of the members over time, but still tours.
You love hearing the classic tunes, and seeing some familiar faces, but there is a point where you feel like they are just a glorified cover band, even with some of the core in place.
So it is with “Scream 7”: it’s fun, and hits a lot of great notes, but it feels like it’s time for some radical changes.
“Scream 7” finds Sydney Prescott/Evans happy and far away from her past in Woodsboro. She has a husband. She has a family. She has moved on, as best as she is able. While she has moved on, though, her past has not, and Ghostface emerges once more to remind her how vulnerable she and everyone she loves is.
Let’s get to it: this is a fun movie. It’s well made, well acted, and hits a lot of the notes that make us love these films. Neve Campbell is so good as Sidney, as is Courtney Cox as Gail Weathers. They are great, and it is lovely to see them. It was nice that they found a way to incorporate two characters from the most recent left turn the franchise took. They fit into the film, and are fun characters. There are so many call-backs to the rest of the series and it’s great fun. If you like these films, you will like this one.
I have two quibbles, though.
Sid’s story, for me, ended with part three.
Seeing the ending, it was her ending, and she earned it.
I hate that they have dragged her through this because the thing I have about horror movies and scream queens is that you can’t keep torturing a character before it 1. becomes a cartoon and 2. it becomes “trauma porn.”
That is where we are with Sid.
The franchise has taken the same path as the DIE HARD series and the BEVERLY HILLS COP series has. It’s the same idea, over and over, and over.
And I love SCREAM, and the series, and all that, and there are things you can do with it, but it has to be done without Sid.
She deserves to retire.
These are not reality, of course, but the cool thing about this franchise is that Ghostface is a character beyond who is in the costume. That means that ANYONE can be Ghostface. MEANING that it can live beyond Sid.
A great example of this was the initial MTV series, which had its own story, characters, and vibe.
And was fun.
This series can, AND did live beyond Sid.
She can always be an anchor point, but it’s time to let her retire, and to move on.
What I would love to see is the series focus less on young people, but on older, adults. Few slasher films do that.
The core is there: stories about revenge/redemption and about people’s history.
I know I am dreaming of a thing that won’t happen, but I wish that the new film they are working on would move on from this story, and evolve.
Back to S7.
It’s a decent movie, but it feels like a really well-made riff on the original series.
We have ridden the nostalgia train a lot in this series, and we need something new.
There are new wrinkles here, for sure, but by the time the movie ends, there are few things that set it apart from the other films.
And the killer/s/whatever: In many ways, slasher films are popcorn giallo films, and as such, it’s all about the Who Done It?
Here?
It’s…it felt, as part six did, a big ‘meh’ burger. Not bad, at all, and interesting, but it’s another outcropping of my feeling toward the series.
It’s time to move on.
I hope they do, because the quality, as far as story, is dipping rapidly.
TL;DR: A fun addition to the series that shows the seams in the costume, and that we’re in need of a course correction.
3 out of 5
The Spooky World of Chris Ringler 