Scream 7’s Big Twist Is Soulless Nostalgia at Its Worst

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Spoilers ahead for the plot and ending of Scream 7.

Since the second Scream movie in 1997 cleverly mirrored the opening of the first, the series has consistently referenced itself. The best installments also offer broader commentary on horror movies or society in general. So, it’s fitting that the latest film, Scream 7, begins at the house from the climaxes of both the original 1996 Scream and the 2022 reboot. Following that, the movie recreates a famous scene from the first film: a character imitates the villain Billy Loomis appearing outside Sidney Prescott’s window, all while the song “(Don’t Fear) the Reaper” plays – this time, it’s Sidney’s daughter, Tatum, who gets the fright.

Despite their charming appearance, the Easter eggs in the movie are easily missed. The plot truly falls apart when Scream 7 starts bringing characters back from the dead. Ghostface now terrorizes Sidney and her family in a new town, and isn’t just relying on his signature creepy voice. When he video calls Sidney, she’s shocked to see Stu Macher (Matthew Lillard) – the villain she famously killed in the first movie – looking older and scarred, but still recognizable. The idea that Stu survived has been a popular fan theory online for years, originating in an early draft of Scream 3, but it always felt illogical. As Mindy (Jasmine Savoy Brown) points out, it’s a ridiculous plot twist. The 2022 Scream also introduced Billy Loomis’s secret child, Sam Carpenter (Melissa Barrera), who is notably absent in this film, making anything possible. When Sidney and Gale (Courteney Cox) visit a psychiatric hospital, an employee named Marco (Ethan Embry) confirms that Stu was a patient recently released, suggesting the calls are genuinely coming from the real Stu.

Okay, so let me tell you what happened in Scream 7. Everyone’s wondering if Stu is really back, but of course, he isn’t. The movie basically mirrored the very beginning of the first Scream – someone was tied up like Steve was, this time Tatum. But then it turned out this ‘Stu’ was just a really convincing deepfake created with AI! They brought back so many old faces – Laurie Metcalf as Mrs. Loomis, Scott Foley as Roman, and even David Arquette as Dewey, even though he was supposed to be gone! The killers behind it all were Marco, a tech guy who used to work at Google, and shockingly, Sidney’s friend and neighbor, Jessica. Honestly, their reasons for doing all of this were kind of confusing. Jessica seemed upset that Sidney didn’t come to New York, which was a nod to Neve Campbell not being in Scream VI. But neither of them actually had any connection to Sidney’s past or anyone they were pretending to be. After saving her daughter, Sidney finally shoots both Marco and Jessica – Tatum even helped with the last one – but we still didn’t get a clear explanation of why they did any of it.

The most jarring thing about the deepfake scenes in Scream 7 isn’t necessarily their quality – the actors actually filmed new material. Unlike some previous digital recreations, Doug Lillard, Mason Metcalf, and others all participated. This means the film’s choice to use noticeably artificial versions of these characters is intentional. However, a bigger issue is that these digital appearances don’t serve the story. Even if we ignore how technically difficult it would have been to recreate these characters from old footage, bringing them back feels like pointless fan service. While Jessica and Marco briefly distract Sidney, their attempts at deception don’t make much sense, and the cameos ultimately feel forced and unearned – they were included simply because the script required them.

The idea of bringing back characters from the past could have worked if the killers were truly driven by nostalgia, as one character briefly suggests. However, the latest Scream movie is too messy to pull that off. The new killers don’t seem to have any connection to past events or even the Stab movies, and the film itself can’t decide if it wants to celebrate the franchise’s history or reject it. The opening scene, with the killing of tourists and the burning of a familiar house, feels like it belongs to a completely different version of the script. The movie seems torn between honoring the 30-year legacy – potentially explaining the use of AI – and embracing a “burn it all down” approach, as its tagline suggests. This confusion extends to the film’s self-aware humor, which both acknowledges the absence of a key character and seems to blame the actress who chose not to return. Ultimately, Scream 7 feels like a desperate attempt to recapture the past while simultaneously alienating its fans.

Honestly, picking apart all the bad decisions in the new Scream feels like giving it too much credit. It feels pretty clear the main goal was just to make money, and to cover up the mess caused by the firing of a key actor, which really threw everything off and led to calls for a boycott. Looking at it that way, the AI stuff – the deepfakes – just seems like a distraction, a way to make us forget that two important characters are missing. The fact that the returns of dead characters were leaked ages ago makes me think they always intended to distract us. But a good Scream movie could have used those deepfakes to say something interesting. What if it explored how we’re obsessed with nostalgia, how old properties are prioritized over new ideas, or even how dangerous AI is, especially when it’s used to bring back actors who’ve passed away? Sadly, there’s none of that here. Without the smart, biting commentary that used to define the series, all we get are empty visuals and the depressing feeling that a once-great franchise is just fading away.

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2026-02-27 22:55