LOS ALAMITOS, Calif. — After 30 years of the slasher series, “Scream 7” draws its audience back in with another thrilling and mysterious sequel. Sidney Evans née Prescott (Neve Campbell) and her daughter, Tatum Evans (Isabel May), enter the game of survival against the return of Ghostface (voiced by Roger L. Jackson). Evans is now 17, the same age as Prescott during the first movie in 1996, and Ghostface is following tradition, beginning to target the new generation.
This time, however, the new Ghostface is ruthless, and instead of just the classic knife, the killer invents new, brutal ways of murder.
It’s not just Prescott who’s back — Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox), returns to the scene, microphone in hand, ready to cover yet another Ghostface attack, along with two young protegés: Chad Meeks-Martin (Mason Gooding) and Mindy Meeks-Martin (Jasmin Savoy Brown). The two young adults are the niece and nephew of Randy Meeks (Jaime Kennedy), the famous “horror movie geek” who helped people survive Ghostface.
In addition to the wonderful cast in this film, the crew is incredibly talented. Kevin Williamson wrote and directed this movie, as well as the original screenplay of the Scream franchise, and the second and fourth screenplays of Scream. He has also worked on many other famous thriller-horror films, including “I Know What You Did Last Summer” (1997) and “Teaching Mrs. Tingle” (1999). Williamson brings a new sense of creativity to the slasher series that viewers haven’t seen since the early installments. Prescott, now having experienced five Ghostface attacks, has equipped her home with proper safety measures, and Williamson uses this to his advantage; secret rooms, weapons and novel technology increase the stakes of this film.
The overall plot was fast-paced and thrilling, with a side of heartwarming mother-daughter relationship development as the two fight for their lives. Isabel May, the actress for Tatum Evans, did a wonderful job portraying the true guttural feeling of pure terror, especially considering that “Scream 7” is her first horror film. Courtney Cox, who played Gale Weathers, returned with the kind of sarcasm and wit that viewers haven’t seen since the first few movies in the series. The long-anticipated killer reveal was very different from the last films, and although the final scene had weak points, it was just as adrenaline-inducing and entertaining.
Recent horror cinema has had trouble making its audience really feel connected to the characters and feel as though they are watching a story, instead of a documentary of people dying brutal deaths. “Scream 7” beautifully balances character and story development with creative, riveting deaths. “Scream 7” does exactly what the title says: it makes its audience scream.
