A brief recap of the Scream franchise and my hopes for Scream 7

 I am a horror movie fan from way back. I remember being at university and I’d rent horror movies from the video store, back when video stores were still around. I watched some b-grade horror movies like Bloody Murder (which I’m sure none of you have heard of but basically it’s a slasher flick that follows some teens as they camp at a cabin in the woods). It follows the standard horror movie formula.  A couple of other favourites of mine are the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Nightmare on Elm Street and psychological thrillers like Taboo. When I’d watch horror movies while I was at uni I was often way too scared to walk home or go out in case there was some serial killer lurking somewhere and ready to pounce. 

You’d have to have been living under a rock the last few months to not realise that Scream 7 is being released later this month on the 27th of February, 2026 (that’s the US date, for international audiences it will be the 28th of February). Neve Campbell is reprising her role as the film’s hero, Sidney Prescott after an absence from Scream VI due to a pay dispute with the film’s producers. That meant that Courteney Cox, as reporter Gale Weathers was left as the only remaining original cast member after David Arquette’s Dewey Riley was killed off in Scream 5.  This excludes Roger L. Jackson who is the voice of Ghostface.

Despite being killed off in earlier movies, Matthew Lillard reprises his role of Stu Macher who was one of the killers in the original Scream movie with Sidney Prescott’s boyfriend Billy Loomis played by Skeet Ulrich. Scott Foley is also back as Roman Bridger from Scream 3.

In anticipation of Scream 7 coming out in a few weeks time I thought I would revisit the first six movies in chronological order.

Let’s start with Scream 1. Scream 1 was first released in 1996 and marked the start of a new generation of iconic horror movies. I won’t go over the plot in great detail because everyone knows the plot. In short, a crazy guy goes around terrorising high school students and then Sidney Prescott (the movie’s hero) kills him and his accomplice. In the first movie the killers were Sidney’s boyfriend, Billy Loomis and his friend Stu Macher. 

One of my favourite things about the movie is the character Randy Meeks played by Jamie Kennedy. He was a film geek who worked at the local video store and knew everything there was to know about films, including the rules to survive a horror movie. I also really liked Rose McGowan’s performance as Tatum Riley, Sidney’s best friend and Dewey’s sister. Unfortunately she was killed off in the movie like Drew Barrymore’s Casey Becker, both of whom did an excellent job in their roles.

Scream 2 was the next installment and was released a year later in 1997. The film starts with two film attendees, Maureen Evans and Phil Stevens being killed at the premiere of Stab 2, which was based on the Woodsboro killings (the town where all the killings take place) and it eventuates in more characters being killed off including fan favourite Randy Meeks. Randy is killed about midway through the movie when he taunts Ghostface, later revealed at Billy Loomis’s mum, Nancy. That was the film’s biggest loss. Jamie Kennedy brought a comedic tone to the role that was much needed and in many ways his character bridged the gap between the audience and the film’s universe.

Scream 3 is the weakest of the original trilogy and centres around the cast of Stab 3. Each of them gradually gets killed off by the killer, later revealed as director Roman Bridger who was the product of an affair Sidney Prescott’s mother, Maureen Prescott had when she was working as an actor well before Sidney was born. One of the best parts of the movie though is when Randy Meeks made a video appearance. Before he had been killed in Scream 2 he had made a video that he wanted people to watch if he didn’t make it. The video contained the rules of a horror trilogy and what each of the characters should do to survive. The movie was weak because the plot was very slow moving and there wasn’t as much anticipation as the first two movies had. This was partially because the film was made in 2000, just one year after the Columbine High School massacre.

The next instalment, Scream 4 wasn’t until 2011 when Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson decided to revive the franchise. It was one of the weakest movies which isn’t surprising given how long it had been since the last Scream movie was released. The plot centred around the killer wanting to re-enact the Woodsboro killings and the Stab franchise. Only the opening sequence was surprising. Unlike the other movies produced so far, Scream 4’s killers, Jill Roberts (Sidney’s cousin) and Charlie Walker had the weakest motives and the story wasn’t as well developed as with the previous movies. It was still satisfying seeing Sidney, Gale and Dewey beat the killers at the end of the film.

Scream five was released after another long break. It was released in 2022 and was titled Scream, basically setting it up to be a reboot of the original series. Original characters, Sidney, Gale and Dewey all returned to solve the mystery of who Ghostface was in this installment.  New cast members included Jenna Ortega as Tara Carpenter and Melissa Barrera as Sam Carpenter. Skeet Ulrich reprised his role of Billy Loomis appearing in a flashback and Marley Shelton came back again as Judy Hicks. Original Scream character, Randy Meeks’ family was further expanded with the addition of Jasmin Savoy Brown as Mindy Meeks-Martin and Mason Gooding as her twin, Chad Meeks-Martin.

Scream 5 simply titled Scream continues the story in Woodsboro with Gale, Sidney and Dewey returning. Unfortunately Dewey is killed off, as is Sheriff Judy Hicks who debuted in Scream 4, and her son, Wes Hicks, named in honour of franchise creator Wes Craven. Several new characters are introduced indicating that the purpose of this movie is to restart the franchise with new leads. The new characters are the Carpenter sisters, Tara and Sam played by Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega respectively. Sam is revealed to be the illegitimate child of one of the original killers, Billy Loomis. Other new characters include Randy Meeks’ niece and nephew, twins Chad Meeks-Martin and Mindy Meeks-Martin who are portrayed by Mason Gooding and Jasmin Savoy Brown. Other new characters are Richie Kirsch played by Jack Quaid and Amber Freeman played by Mikey Madison, both of whom are the new movie’s killers. Their motives are similar to others that have gone before them, they want to make a requel of the in-universe franchise, Stab. For those not familiar with the term, a requel introduces new characters while also starring legacy characters. In this case, Sidney Prescott and Gale Weathers are the legacy characters. Some argue that a requel is a lazy reboot. I disagree with this however and would argue that complete reboots are never as good as the original. Just look at the American Pie spin offs. While they were in the same universe they didn’t follow the original timeline of the first three movies and instead followed different characters. I quite liked Scream 5 with the introduction of Chad and Mindy who survived the killers. I would say Scream 5 is the best in the franchise since the first and second movie. My only criticism of the movie is that Neve Campbell had a much smaller role than in previous instalments. 

Let’s move onto Scream 6 now. Scream 6 is the first movie to be made without Neve Campbell’s Sidney Prescott due to a pay dispute. Courteney Cox returns as Gale Weathers, Melissa Barrera as Sam Carpenter, Jenna Ortega as Tara Carpenter, Jasmin Savoy Brown as Mindy Meeks-Martin,  Mason Gooding as Chad Meeks-Martin, Skeet Ulrich as Billy Loomis and Hayden Panettiere as Detective Kirby Reed, who first appeared in Scream 4 but did not appear in Scream 5. 

Similar to the very first movie, the group of friends is the core focus or as Chad says “Core Fucking Four”. All of them survive with the only differences between this and other movies in the franchise being that Gale Weathers comes extremely close to death and the twist that this time there are three killers (Quinn, Bailey and Ethan who are out for revenge against the Carpenter sisters because they killed their brother Richie in Scream 5. The only characters to actually die in this movie are minor characters that nobody really has any strong connection to.

It’s quite cool how in this instalment, Sam has hallucinations of her father, Billy Loomis and that the characters question if Stu Macher from Scream 1 did actually die when the TV was smashed on his head. I think the purpose of that scene was to set him up as a possible killer for the next instalment. The movie also hinted at the fact that not even legacy characters are safe given it’s a franchise. I also really liked the ladder scene. I won’t give any further details but that was so creative and well executed. The train scenes were also well executed and extremely disturbing.

The one issue with Scream 6, other than the movie not featuring Neve Campbell as Sidney Prescott is that some of the kill scenes used AI and it was very obvious AI. It wasn’t like the CGI that had been used in previous movies where it looked good. The use of AI, particularly in the stabbing scenes just looked sloppy.

So now that I’ve talked about the first six Scream movies, it’s time to talk about what I hope happens in the next installment. There are some things we already know. We already know that Sidney Prescott will not be killed off as a condition of Neve Campbell’s contract. Given what’s been said and done in previous movies, the character that is at the biggest risk of succumbing to Ghostface is Gale Weathers. She has survived six movies so far and I would argue that she shouldn’t be killed off but the franchise is self-referential and so her being killed off cannot actually be ruled out. I hope that she is not killed off though. It also can’t be ruled out that she is the new Ghostface who’s out for revenge after losing her husband Dewey and having a flailing writing career. She could be looking to get revenge on Sidney Prescott for those things, however I don’t think that the writers would suddenly flip Gale Weathers from being an ally to being the main antagonist/villain. It would basically be a total rewrite of history and would damage the franchise.

Media coverage has reported that Matthew Lillard will be returning as Stu Macher despite supposedly dying in the first installment. I would not rule out that he is the new Ghostface. Promotions say that this next installment has been 30 years in the making and that this killer is out for blood. Lillard has also said in media interviews that he was supposed to be the killer in Scream 3 but the script was revised following the Columbine High School massacre. While I would be curious to see how this would play out in the film I’m not sure that it would provide the audience with enough suspense.

I’m keen to see what theories Chad and Mindy come up with in Scream 7 to justify the new series of killings and what motive the killer has. If the killer is in fact Stu Macher I think that would be very interesting and I’d love to know what he’s been doing the last 30 years. 

My biggest hopes for the movie are that both Sidney AND Gale make it out alive. I think Gale is just as integral to the movie as Sidney is. I also hope that Chad and Mindy survive as they have a connection to Randy (who is one of my favourite characters from the franchise). For future movies in the franchise I would love to see Randy return. He could potentially return as a vision, especially if Chad or Mindy are in danger.

Whatever the case is, there isn’t long to go, with the next installment being released in just a couple of weeks.