Shadows on the Wall

Scream 7

dir Kevin Williamson
scr Kevin Williamson, Guy Busick
prd James Vanderbilt, Paul Neinstein, William Sherak
with Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Isabel May, Joel McHale, Matthew Lillard, Anna Camp, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Mason Gooding, Sam Rechner, Mckenna Grace, Celeste O'Connor, Ethan Embry, Timothy Simons, David Arquette, Laurie Metcalf, Scott Foley
release US/UK 27.Feb.26
26/US Paramount 1h54

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Oddly, although this seventh instalment in the long-running franchise involves the first movie's writer Kevin Williamson (now also directing), this is the least engaging entry so far. It's neither scary nor funny, and meta-jokes are limited to few passing comments about the final scream queen standing. What's even more frustrating is how the plot never quite kicks into gear, spinning in circles before a wildly over-the-top final confrontation.

Hiding out in small-town Indiana, Sidney (Campbell) lives with her police-chief husband Mark (McHale) and sparky teen daughter Tatum (May). Then Sidney is chilled to get a video call from presumed-dead original killer Stu (Lillard). Surely it's a deep-fake, but his taunts are accompanied by a string of ghost-face murders that get increasingly violent. And they are zeroing in on Tatum. As Sidney kicks into overprotective-mother mode, journalist Gale (Cox) and her sidekicks (Brown and Gooding) turn up to get the story, which seems to be rooted in shady residents of a nearby mental hospital.

References to Sidney's memoir and the franchise-within-the-franchise Stab, which dramatised her nightmare, add connective tissue to the saga, as do legacy cameos by deceased characters from previous chapters. Meanwhile, side figures become suspicious, such as Camp's eerily observant neighbour, Rechner as Tatum's tech-savvy boyfriend, Embry's psych-ward orderly and Simons as the school's scowly drama teacher. But the mystery isn't compelling enough for us to care about either unmasking the villain or who might die next.

Campbell has earthy presence as the understandably tetchy Sidney, adding dry humour that helps undercut the script's shameless sentimentality. Her scenes with the terrific May offer nuance that keeps us engaged. And Cox is a blast of wonderfully scabrous energy as Gale, so when she vanishes for a large chunk of time we really feel it. There is a nice attempt to push this central friendship between Sidney and Gale a bit further, but it's never more than mutual nostalgia.

You know there is a problem when the biggest laughs emerge from references to this franchise's behind-the-scenes troubles. And the most entertaining moments are the ones that are just outrageously silly, including a particularly ridiculous rambling explanation from the villain in the climactic scene. Even so, while Williamson never manages to create suspense, or even decent jump scares, at least he doesn't scrimp on the grotesque violence. It's gleefully exaggerated in a way that might keep the fans happy by distracting them from the thin plot.

themes, language, violence 25.Feb.26

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