(https://i.imgur.com/VFgwNge.png)
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Release Date: 6/16/2026
Rating: R
Film Grade: C+
The Story: Sidney Prescott has left her hometown and past behind, starting a new life with husband Mark and daughter Tatum. But that’s not enough to escape the attention of the Ghost Face Killer, who once again seeks to kill her.
My Take: This is a return to the franchise for original scripter Kevin Williamson, who not only cowrote but also directs this entry. The writing chores are shared with Guy Busick (Scream VI, Abigail, and Final Destination: Bloodlines) and James Vanderbilt (Nuremberg, The Amazing Spider-Man). With those pedigrees, I had high hopes for the story.
It starts out very promising. The Macher House has been turned into an air B&B/museum, offering a once in a lifetime opportunity for fans of the Stab movie franchise to visit their favorite destination. It comes with chalk outlines of the victims’ bodies, fake blood, artifacts from the killings, and even an interactive horror trivia phone call. But, like earlier entries, you don’t want to be the first characters introduced in the movie. This is a fun and clever introduction to this installment that honors the prior movies while also giving them a freshly reverential take.
The movie then picks up with Sidney’s current life and her overprotective nature as Tatum’s mother. Her days are spent at her coffee shop, and nights are spent at home with Tatum and Mark, who also happens to be the town’s police chief. It’s a peaceful life, far from her earlier traumatic days. Or at least until she gets a video call from someone from her past. Someone who was thought to be long dead.
This starts the typical plot of these stories. Suspects abound, at least until they start getting knocked off, one by one. Ther’s a large cast to work through, as we meet Tatum’s classmates and various citizens of the town. Everyone is a suspect.
It’s in the third act where the movie lost me. A large part of it deals with modern technology, yet the characters seemingly forget all about it when it could have been used in their favor. All of the interesting things that happen in the first two acts of the movie suffer from how the third act plays out. It’s one of the challenges in writing these kinds of movies; often the only way to write a character into or out of a situation is by having them do stupid things or conveniently forget about something. This flaw is repeated multiple times by the end of the movie.
Neve Campbell is still a strong Sidney, and Isabel May is believable as her daughter. Joel McHale tosses aside his comedic personality for the serious role of Mark. Other old favorites return, but I won’t mention them for fear of ruining the surprise of how they’re used. There isn’t a bad performance from the ensemble, so Williamson deserves credit for his direction. At the same time, one would hope that such an accomplished writer could have recognized some of the flaws in the third act and tightened them up before filming.
Visuals: The 4K disc is sharp and filled with contrast and deep blacks that are perfect for the genre. Action is always clear, with colors appearing realistic. Glistening blood is captured in a perfectly horrifying way. This is a great looking movie.
Audio: The Atmos mix easily passes my bird test, with chirping heard in the tops during outdoor scenes. Wides are also used more than is typical for recent releases. I did notice voices reproduced at low levels in both the tops and wides. I’d assume this is meant to represent the space that the characters are in, but they’re even used that way outdoors, which wouldn’t have any reflective surfaces, making me question that.
Like many mixes, music is heard extensively in the tops and wides throughout the movie. The soundtrack has a good mix of music, including the always effective Red Right Hand by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds. The score is by Marco Beltrami (Scream 1-4) and is perfectly matched to the movie. This includes some effective jump scare moments.
Special Features: There’s a good assortment of information in the extras. Some of the actor interviews are on the superficial side, where everyone loves everyone else, but the production information is interesting. There’s a shared appreciation for Williamson and original director Wes Craven that comes through with everyone that was involved with the original. Of the deleted scenes, the first two would have added to the story, the others were best left on the cutting room floor.
Featurettes:
Scar Tissue: The Making Of Scream 7
- Kevin Williamson takes the helm! Watch the legacy cast survive the set of the most personal Scream yet. Don't forget the rules.
Building Tension: Production Design
- Discover the designs behind the goriest death traps and get an inside look at the making of the iconic Macher house!
Dance Of Death: Stunts
- What does it take to be a final girl? Go inside the choreography of the film’s most intense chases and physical face-offs with Ghostface.
Music Video:
- Ice Nine Kills Presents "Twisting The Knife" Featuring Mckenna Grace *Extended version available on digital. Standard version available on Blu-ray and 4K UHD disc. Ice Nine Kills and Mckenna Grace team up for the ultimate slasher anthem. Watch the extended cut of this killer musical collaboration when you buy on digital.
Deleted Scenes: Dive into the deleted scenes that were slashed from the final cut. Not every moment could survive the edit!
- Scott Is Ghostface
- Chloe And Lucas Connect
- Tatum And Ben Say Goodbye
- Jessica And Sidney Chat
- Tatum And Ben Leave Bar
- Chad And Mindy
Final Verdict: I had heard a lot of good things about this most recent installment, and attributed that to Williamson’s return to the franchise. Things start out promising with an opening scene that is a love letter to the series that both honors and brings it into the modern day. But everything becomes rote after that, falling into the formula that we’re all familiar with. As much fun as we may have while trying to guess who’s behind this new batch of killings, we also have to sit through too many, “why don’t they just do . . .” moments. The result feels frustrating, knowing that there was the potential for a much better story that was missed.
Fans of the series will want to pick this up, since it is faithful to the original and all of its meta glory. For casual viewers, I’d recommend watching it first prior to buying, to see how much replay value you’ll find with it.
Good Setup Line: “Ah, but did she kill him? You heard the podcast.”
https://youtu.be/uXZ9MNTOUwM
This review was written by a human without the use of AI.
My Review System:
JVC DLA-RS3100 4K Ultra High-Definition Front Projector
Elite Screens Sable Frame B2 117” Width with Infinitely Variable Height
Monolith by Monoprice HTP-1 16 Channel Processor with Dirac Live
Monolith by Monoprice 7x200 Watts Amp
Monolith by Monoprice 3x200 Watts + 6x100 Watts Amp
JBL Studio 590 for Left, Center, Right, Wides, and Rears
JBL Studio 580 for Side Surrounds
JBL Studio SCS 8 for Tops
JTR Captivator 1400 Subwoofer X 4
Panasonic DP-UB420 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Player
NVIDIA Shield Android TV - 4K
Xbox One X
HTPC Running madVR (work in progress)
Remote: URC MX-780
Mini DSP 2X4 HD controlling all subwoofers
APC S15 Power Conditioner with Battery Backup