Scream 7 - The Legacy Sequel, Requel...Sequel?

Thirty years. That's how long this franchise has been around. It was thought to end on a trilogy. Then a fourth came out. Then a requel. Sequel the requel. Then finally, Scream 7.

I first saw Scream when I rented it one weekend back in high school. I was staying at my aunt's house with my brother, Travis, and after my cousins were asleep I popped it in. The opening is one of the best openings of a horror movie. It grips you with unease and fear as Drew Barrymore gets a call from Ghostface. Once it was done, my brother requested I stop watching. Just listening freaked him out. With a sigh, I complied and watched it later. It was clever and gripping and flipped the horror movie genre on its head. It kept the tropes, but was meta about it, while at the same time making something new.

Scream 2 I saw in theaters. Once again, it makes fun of the horror movie sequel tropes...sequels suck. This one didn't. It built out the universe a little more. We saw some new faces with bigger and more elaborate deaths...including the love of my life (celeb crush since 1997 Sarah Michelle Gellar). That one stung a little cause her character Cici was brave and fought off the killer. We lost one of our favorites, but he still manages a presence throughout the series. It was a worthy sequel to the franchise.

A few years later, Scream 3 arrived and it became, what we thought at the time, the final part of a trilogy. It wasn't the best. There was something off about it. While it continued Sydney's story, it was removed from Woodsboro and the small town feel to Los Angeles. Stab 3 is in production and someone wants to make the final cut. The past is revealed and the true killer of Sydney's mom is revealed. Sydney, who was at the start hidden away due to trauma, is ready to take on the world. But fans don't like endings...they always want more.

Scream 4, aside from the first, is the only one I didn't see in theaters. I managed to catch it on cable or streaming. To me, this was one of the weaker ones. As I sit here, I'm trying to remember it (been awhile since I've rewatched). It's forgetable and the killer reveal/revelation wasn't great. It was supposed to become another trilogy of films aligning with Sydney's journey, albiet different. It was the movies that could have been, but it wasn't.

Eleven years later and the franchise is given new life...Scream V. New characters, old characters and a familiar costume and killer. Its a requel ya'll! A reboot and sequel all in one. There was a certain magic to this one. Moving the franchise forward, while following a new group with the legacy characters there to help out. It felt new and created a new storyline that was supposed to be a new trilogy...but more on that in the main review.

A sequel followed, leaving the safety of the small town into the big city. Scream VI headed to NYC. The city that never sleeps. We continue following our new main characters as they run from another Ghostface killer while linking the legacy of one of the OG killers with the victim of today. It was such an intriguing premise that she began slipping into that mania and we needed one more to finish her story...but we didn't.

Melissa Barra as Sam made her opinions on something known and she was let go from the franchise. In solidarity, Jenna Ortega, her sister in the movies, left as well. So, the next one had to be retooled and that's where we truly begin our review.

The requel characters are now in the past except for Randy's cousins. We're back focused on Sydney and her family. She has a 17 year old daughter (same age as Syd when the first round of killings began) and some little ones (safe at the grandparents house). The killer is back and more savage than ever.

From the start, the movie tries to hit that nostalgia button. A couple head to a AirBnB, Billy Loomis' house. It's set up to cash in on the Stab movies and it ends like you would expect. They dead, and the killer torches the house as they leave.

Much like the first movie, we begin with Tatum (Syd's daughter) and her boyfriend who snuck into the house through the window. Sydney is hyper-overprotective of her daughter, but given the past, its understandable. We meet her group of friends and our suspects for the movie.

The killers in this one are pretty relentless and hard to kill. Like Sydney said a few times, you need to shoot them in the head. She's in full Momma Bear mode, ready to protect her family and life she's built. Gale comes by as the killings begin to help Sydney and, of course, capitalize on the story (with Randy's cousins from the requels as her interns).

The movie was good. It flowed well and you follow the mystery, trying to figure out who's behind the Ghostface mask. This is where the movie kind of breaks apart. The build up to the resolution was the high point. You cared about the new characters, even when they made dumb choices. Sometimes REALLY dumb choices. I mean breaking curfew to drink beer and eat pizza while figuring out in a group who the killer is with no adults or protection?

A big part of the movie is the theory that the killer is Stu Macher who died in the first movie. Then you see him on a video call and start to wonder...could he be alive? NO! A big tube TV fell on his face. Those things weigh a ton. Dude was dead. The faces of the past that reappeared were AI.

One thing I pride myself in, is usually figuring out or coming close to figuring out who the killer or killers are. You run through the suspects, see who's where when the killings happen, search for motives that are lightly touched upon. When the reveal happens and they go through the why, it makes sense and you're like, "Yeah, should have seen that coming."

The reveal here? I'm sorry to say was terrible. It made absolutely zero sense. This time around they went with three killers like in the previous one. The first was a throw away and was nothing more than a lacky. The two main?...I won't go into the spoiler of it, but it was weak. Very weak.

Even the big drawn out explanation had you thinking...Seriously?! That's what your going with? The reveal was a major stumble in an otherwise ok horror movie sequel. It was at the very least enjoyable at that point. It's the seventh Scream movie, so you can move forward, address the past, change the formula, but it's still part of a franchise. It'll still be hit and miss while trying to evolve.

The original plan was a trilogy with Samantha...Billy Loomis' daughter. She was starting to descend into the crazy of her father in the Scream 6, seeing him while being stalked by the killers in the movie. The one that almost was may have dug deeper into that storyline while another killer is making itself known...perhaps Sam would have been the killer in a fugue state. It's sad that we didn't see the end of their story.

Instead, they course corrected and we ended up with what's hopefully the last one. But, given that it did so well opening weekend...time will tell if Syd's daughter will continue the franchise.

3/5...lost points with that ending.