REVIEW: SCREAM 7 (2026)

 By Stephen Pytak

I think the most memorable thing about Scream 7 (2026) is the music video made to promote it.

Twisting the Knife (2026) by Ice Nine Kills, and starring and featuring vocals by actress McKenna Grace, is a masterpiece, one of the best music videos made to promote a horror film.

It's quite a production, and it plays out like a title sequence for one of Daniel Craig's James Bond films. No doubt the 007 theme was chosen because it's promoting the seventh entry in the Scream series.

It's full of fun stuff, all put together with some real creative juice. And it makes you curious about what the new film is going to deliver. Oh, and the song is really good too.

The film, unfortunately, doesn't have as much joie de vivre.

Ghostface plays with fire in "Scream 7 (2026)." Copyright 2026 by Spyglass Media Group.

At the end of the day, Scream 7 is an okey doke, run-of-the-mill slasher picture. It's not cutting edge stuff. It's not as fun as Eli Roth's Thanksgiving (2023). But it's a little better than Steve Miner's Halloween H20 (1998).

Fans of the series will know Scream 7 had a troubled production history, and I won't go into all of that here. But the bottom line is the man who wrote the original and a few of the sequels, Kevin Williamson, was eventually brought on board to direct.

The news got the attention of the fan base. Heck, I was curious about what he would do with this property.

Did he have a concept in mind? Or was this simply a chance for a high profile gig and an incredible payday?

Honestly, I'm not sure what he was given to work with. I'm not sure what his marching orders were. And I don't know what kind of deadline pressure he was under.

He had a few good actors to work with.

The studio paid to bring back legendary final girl "Sydney (Prescott) Evans," (played by Neve Campbell) and a few legacy characters for good measure. Courtney Cox is here. So is Mason Gooding. 

And Williamson and his crew had the opportunity to introduce some new players, most importantly one of Sydney's three children, "Tatum (Isabel May)."

Williamson and writers Guy Busick and James Vanderbilt came up with a story which had some potential. Some of it is kind of interesting actually. 

But the end result doesn't quite work.

Before I saw the film at an "Opening Night Fan Event" at Cinemark Montage Mountain 20 and XD, Moosic, Pennsylvania, on Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026, the Rotten Tomatoes score was revealed.

It was 41. That made it the lowest rated film in the franchise according to this review aggregation website.

While I usually enjoy these movies, I'm not a hard core fan. I wasn't asking for a seventh entry. Honestly, when I saw Wes Craven's original in a theater back in the day, I thought it was simply a fun one-shot. Little did I know there would be a sequel in the can a year later. So, I wasn't upset by what the critics were saying about part seven.

I didn't really have any expectations for Scream 7. And I cleared my head before I went into the theater. I was still curious what the film had to offer, if anything.

I am going to try to avoid spoilers, because I think fans of the genre and the franchise should give it a go. But I will share a few things I liked about the film, and talk a bit about what didn't work.

Scream 7 is a good-looking film. 

And the opening sequence isn't bad. Actually, I'm still wondering which character was behind the mask in that first 10 minutes. Was it someone who was revealed by the end of the film? Or somebody else who's planning on coming back for the sequel? Hmmmmm...

If you enjoy watching "Ghostface" do the stalk-and-slash routine, you'll get your money's worth with Scream 7. The costume looks great! And the actors behind the mask do some nice work bringing the iconic character to life.

The killer is much more aggressive this time out and he, or she, is always fun to watch.

In recent times, we've seen a number of films with plots involving the threat of Artificial Intelligence. They include Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning (2025) and, more recently Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die (2025), which I really enjoyed. 

This is a bit of a spoiler, but in Scream 7 the new Ghostface does use AI and deepfake technology to cause chaos. And I enjoyed that aspect of the plot. It is something we deal with in the modern world, so it makes sense that our villains would be savvy enough to use it. 

I was glad to see the return of two characters from Scream (2022) and Scream VI (2023): Mason Gooding as "Chad" and Jasmin Savoy Brown as his sister "Mindy." If the series continues, I hope they continue to be part of it.

I was intrigued by the big reveal, that point when we got to see who was behind the mask the whole time.

But I got more out of the ending of I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025).

Neve Campbell does okay with what she has to work with. But she can only do so much.

I was disappointed that McKenna Grace wasn't given more to do.

While there are some really cool songs on the soundtrack, three songs from the first film were reused. Not sure why. But this kind of recycling doesn't always work. 

Red Right Hand by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds is like an anthem in this series. And it was included here, in a bit which really felt uninspired, something that could have been cut for pace. I wish the filmmakers had commissioned someone to do a some kind of updated version of the track. That might have helped. 

The script is okay. The cast is serviceable. But it's not the best ensemble. And while some of the action sequences are well-staged, the film doesn't have enough juice to really engage audiences for an hour and 54 minutes.

There's an attempt to establish "Tatum" as a lead character in this universe. But it doesn't feel fresh. At times you feel like you're watching something that was just churned out, something made for streaming. 

Again, I sympathize with the cast and crew to some degree. While many were no doubt paid well, they weren't quite up to the task. They weren't able to conjure that bit of magic that kept audiences coming back to see them time and time again.

By the way, I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025) isn't perfect either. And I debated writing a review of that film. Like Scream 7, it has its moments. And I'm going to give both films the same rating.

RATING (On a scale of 1 to 5): 3.