The Scream franchise has never shied away from the self-referential, from the very first film opening with Ghostface asking Drew Barrymore about her favorite scary movie, to the 2022 soft reboot that was all about soft reboots. In recent years, however, Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson’s iconic slasher series has been bogged down in controversy, and it’s been bleeding stars in the process.
And so we have Scream 7, a back-to-basics take starring Neve Campbell as Sidney Prescott, the franchise’s eternal final girl. The first trailer shows us just how heavily Sidney will feature in the new movie, for better or worse. Check it out below.
Many of Scream’s hallmarks are here, like an opening that focuses on Ghostface’s pop culture impact. But then the focus shifts to Sidney, who’s now living a quiet life with her daughter Tatum (Isabel May), only to find Ghostface haunting them yet again.
That’s not the only spectre haunting this movie, as a few characters are conspicuously absent. Melissa Barrea, who starred in Scream VI, was fired from Scream 7 in the wake of her comments on Israel and Palestine, and then her co-star Jenna Ortega left the project, citing creative differences. Behind the camera, directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, who’d directed the last two Scream movies, were unavailable due to scheduling issues, so Christopher Landon was hired to replace them. But after Barrera’s firing, Landon left the project and was replaced by Kevin Williamson, who wrote the original Scream but whose directing resumé is limited to the 1999 black comedy Teaching Mrs. Tingle.
How do you get back on track after all those changes? Apparently, by casting as many iconic Scream actors as possible, regardless of whether their characters are alive. Aside from Neve Campbell as Sidney, Courtney Cox is returning yet again as Gale Weathers, David Arquette is returning as Dewey Riley (despite being dead as of two movies ago), Matthew Lillard is returning as Stu Macher (despite being dead since Scream), and Scott Foley is returning as Roman Bridger (despite being dead since Scream 3).
Unfortunately, it looks like Scream is becoming what it’s been skewering for years: the unnecessary sequel that exists purely for fans to see familiar faces. Maybe the movie will include the franchise’s signature self-awareness, but this trailer seems to suggest the “requel” is alive and well, just like the many Scream characters who’ve risen from the dead.
