The new movie is doing well in theaters, actually having the biggest opening weekend of the series. However, critics haven’t been very impressed – it currently has a 37% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which is even lower than Scream 3.
A major problem with the film, for many viewers (including me), was the disappointing reveal of who was behind the Ghostface mask in the final act – it’s arguably the weakest reveal in the series’ history. The killers, Sidney’s neighbor Jessica (played by Anna Camp) and a mental institution employee named Marco (Ethan Embry), barely appear on screen – together they have less than 10 minutes of footage – making their motives feel illogical. Even Jessica’s lengthy explanation of why she targeted Sidney and her daughter Tatum, and her shocking confession about killing her own son, feels rushed and unsatisfying, leaving audiences confused rather than satisfied by the end of the movie.
Like all the Scream films, Scream 7 included a lot of false leads and misleading clues. Here are five possible endings and reveals for who was behind the Ghostface mask that could have worked with what the movie had already established – and might have made for a more exciting film than the one we saw.
A key plot point in the movie revolved around how Marco created the deepfakes. A seemingly casual comment revealed his background as a Google engineer, explaining how he had the skills to convincingly impersonate Stu Macher (played by Matthew Lillard in the original Scream) and torment Sidney.
As a big Lillard fan, I really wanted to believe Stu Macher, despite seemingly dying from a TV falling on his head decades ago, was secretly the new mastermind behind the Ghostface killings, taking over from Billy Loomis. Unfortunately, it turned out Stu was just a digital creation. However, the movie cleverly avoids confirming his death completely, pointing out there’s no record of an autopsy. So, I’m still hoping for a surprise reveal in future installments!
In Scream 3, Sidney dates a police officer named Mark, played by Patrick Dempsey, who survives a Ghostface attack. Though he’s not in Scream 4, the 2022 Scream reboot strongly suggests he’s the Mark who’s now Sidney’s husband and the father of her children. However, Scream 7 introduces a different Mark – another cop, this time played by Joel McHale. This new Mark is brutally attacked by Ghostface, and his survival seems unlikely, hinting at a possible personal motive behind the attack – perhaps revenge for being Sidney’s replacement.
Let’s be honest, this idea is mostly for fun. Though, Eli Roth’s surprisingly good film actually showed that Dempsey could be a really effective villain. Still, even if this had been the storyline, it would have been at least amusing and surprising – a lot more than the disappointing reveal about Jessica and Marco.
The film might have been a bit too bleak for a mainstream audience, but it would have been a truly surprising and thrilling twist if Sidney’s daughter, Tatum (Isabel May), was revealed to be the one tormenting her. While they’d need a believable motive for why Tatum would target her friends, it would have been a cleverly dark way to show how Sidney’s past trauma and anxieties were affecting her daughter.
The scene where two Ghostfaces attack Tatum in the coffee shop felt like a classic misdirection—a setup for a big reveal. However, it turned out Tatum was genuinely as unremarkable and helpless as she appeared, not cleverly faking it.
Imagine this: after years of enduring trauma, Sidney finally reaches her breaking point and becomes Ghostface. This would brilliantly solve a long-standing plot problem – how Jessica and Marco knew details from 1996’s Scream that only Sidney could have known. It would be a darkly satisfying twist to see Sidney succumb to her fears and become the monster she’s fought so hard against, especially considering her history of decisively and violently defeating past Ghostface killers – she always makes sure to deliver the final, fatal blow.
Surprise, Sidney: You’ve lost your mind.
I think the most interesting possibility for Scream 7 is that everything that happened was actually a product of Sidney’s imagination. It’s not far-fetched when you consider that after ten years of peace, she was once again targeted in the 2022 Scream movie. That experience would be incredibly traumatic, and could easily push someone to their mental limit.
Can you imagine the shock if the ending of Scream 7 revealed that Sidney was actually a patient in the mental institution she and Gale had visited? It would have been a Shutter Islandstyle twist, showing she was the one inside all along. This would have been a huge departure for the Scream* series, moving away from simple slasher horror and into psychological territory. Maybe that change would have been good for the franchise, which some feel has become predictable. At the very least, a storyline where everything was happening inside Sidney’s mind would have explained the weak story, poorly developed new characters, and uninspired plot.
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2026-03-03 23:06