The Scream franchise—which launched in 1996 as Wes Craven's brilliant deconstruction of slasher tropes—has finally done what Ghostface never could: killed itself.
Scream 7 opened this weekend to a 41% Rotten Tomatoes score and 36 on Metacritic, numbers that would be devastating for any franchise but feel especially cruel for a series that built its reputation on being smarter than other horror sequels. The film brings back Neve Campbell as Sidney Prescott and Courteney Cox as Gale Weathers, along with survivors from the recent "requel" entries, in what was supposed to be a triumphant return to form.
Instead, it's a wake for a franchise that doesn't know when to quit.
The reviews are brutal. Critics note that Scream 7 has nothing new to say about horror, franchises, or itself—it's just going through the motions, delivering kills and meta commentary without the wit that made the original films special. The script, by Kevin Williamson and Guy Busick, recycles beats from earlier entries. The direction, also by Williamson (pulling double duty), lacks Craven's visual flair and tonal control. And the kills, once inventive and shocking, now feel perfunctory.
This is about more than one bad movie. It's about requel exhaustion—the industry's reliance on reviving legacy franchises by bringing back original characters, introducing new young casts, and hoping nostalgia carries you through weak plotting. It worked for Scream (2022), which was a clever examination of toxic fandom and franchise mythology. It worked less well for Scream VI, which moved the action to New York and added Ghostface on the subway because why not.
By Scream 7, the meta commentary has become recursive to the point of meaninglessness. A franchise that critiques horror franchises while a horror franchise can only go so many levels deep before it collapses into self-parody. And unlike , which at least committed to its satire of remakes and reboots, just seems tired.
