Photo courtesy of IMDb
Actress Neve Campbell appears in a scene of ‘Scream 7.’

After nearly 30 years of masked mayhem, meta-jokes and increasingly improbable family connections, the “Scream” franchise returns with “Scream 7” — a film that arrives with knives out, but not much bite left. The big news is the return of Neve Campbell as Sidney Prescott, the franchise’s original Final Girl and the one person who can make Ghostface reconsider his life choices.

Her absence in “Scream VI” was so deeply felt that this movie practically opens by apologizing for it. “It’s not the same without you,” a character tells her early on. For once, a horror movie character is absolutely correct.

Sidney is now living in Pine Grove, a suburban community so artificial it looks like it was assembled from a starter kit. She runs a café, raises a rebellious 17-year-old daughter and tries very hard to pretend she hasn’t spent decades being chased by masked lunatics. Naturally, this peaceful existence lasts about as long as a teenager in a prologue. Ghostface returns, and Sidney’s past — which she has shoved into a “memory hole,” as the film puts it — comes roaring back.

Franchise creator Kevin Williamson returns to direct for the first time, co-writing with series veteran Guy Busick. You’d think that combination would spark something fresh. Instead, the film feels slack and oddly lethargic, weighed down by B-movie acting, clunky dialogue and editing choices that generate more accidental comedy than dread. The movie slips repeatedly in its own puddles of gore, which is at least on-brand.

The kills, to the film’s credit, are inventive — if you’re grading on a curve. Victims are dispatched via beer taps, fire extinguishers, meat mallets and one particularly grisly moment involving a high-school theater rigging system. It’s all very bloody, very loud and very familiar. The movie insists “It’s always someone you know,” but by the time the big reveal arrives, you may find yourself wishing it were someone you didn’t.

Campbell remains the film’s strongest asset. Sidney Prescott is still the franchise’s emotional anchor, even if the script gives her little to do beyond looking exhausted and muttering lines like “This isn’t going to stop unless I stop it.” Courteney Cox returns as Gale Weathers, the only character to appear in all seven films — a distinction the movie treats like a badge of honor rather than a cry for help. Even Gale gets in a jab about Sidney skipping Scream VI: “You’re lucky you sat that one out. It was brutal.” She’s not wrong.

Critics have not been kind. The film currently sits at a franchise-worst 34 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, well below even “Scream 3,” long considered the series’ low point. Reviews range from “shockingly terrible” to “competent but unremarkable,” with a few brave souls insisting it’s a return to form.

The Hollywood Reporter called it “rote” and “a slog,” while The Daily Beast declared it definitive proof the franchise should be retired. Others, like Mashable and UPI, found it fun, energetic or at least more brutal in its kill scenes. In other words: chaos, which feels appropriate for a Scream movie.

The film tries to update its meta-commentary for 2026, tossing in references to deepfakes, helicopter parents and the ever-expanding rules of horror franchises. But the self-awareness that once felt clever now feels like a tired reflex. The movie knows it’s repeating itself, but instead of doing something about it, it just shrugs and keeps going.

There’s even an attempt — a stab, if you will — at exploring PTSD and generational trauma. But choosing Scream as the vehicle for that conversation is… ambitious. It’s hard to reflect on emotional wounds when a masked killer is smashing someone’s skull with a fire extinguisher every five minutes.

By the time the film limps toward its finale, it becomes clear that “Scream 7” is a franchise staggering forward on muscle memory alone. It isn’t fresh, it isn’t scary and it isn’t particularly clever. But it is loud, bloody and determined to keep going, even if the audience isn’t sure why.

Perhaps Sidney says it best: “This isn’t going to stop unless I stop it.” At this point, that might be less a line of dialogue and more a plea.

Rating: R

Runtime: 114 minutes

Grade: C-

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Greg Williams is a reporter and Weekend Editor for The Sentinel. A Mifflin County native, he has been writing for The Sentinel since 1991.