Stop Screaming

So I always get to the movie theater after the showtime, because I want to skip the previews, and on Friday, I was coming right after my run. I left late for my run, so I got to the movie a little late for me. It was on the RPX screen, so it was in a special theater. I guess it was the only showtime for the two theaters over there, because the worker was just gone. There was no one to scan my ticket. I waited by the concession stand. Nothing. I waited by the scanner. Nothing. So I scanned my own ticket and walked in. I walked in maybe a minute after the movie started, partially my fault, partially theirs. It would have been a little freaky if no one else was in the theater, but there was a smattering of others around.

Scream 7 brings back many original faces, including Sydney Prescot, who is now married and has a different last name, but everyone knows who she is, the person who survived the Ghost Face Killer(s). Of course, someone is now back as the Ghost Face Killer, and initially, they are going after Sydney’s daughter, and her friends, before they come back to focus on Sydney, but then Gail Weathers returns (again), and she helps Sydney to try to find out who is behind it this time.  

The weirdest aspect of this movie was the needle drops. They played some good songs, my favorite of which was “Who's Your Boyfriend Now” by Royal Otis, but none of the songs seemed to fit. They would start to play, and it just felt like it did not fit the vibe that they were trying to convey. It also felt like the way they were pumping the music in was off as well, like it all just sounded wrong. It really goes to show the importance of picking songs for a movie, especially popular songs. The score itself was fine and effective; it was just the actual songs. 

(Spoiler) Part of what I do not like about the franchise is the need for an ever-changing killer. It feels like in each movie, the person who is wearing the mask ends up dying, and it is not a supernatural story like Friday the 13^th or Halloween, so there is no resurrection of the killer. It is just a resurrection of the mask. So each time, they must come up with a new motivation for the killer. It honestly feels like a Scooby-Doo movie, where they take the mask off, and they’re like it was old man withers. These movies feel the same.

In Scream 7 though, they took off the masks, and it took me a minute to realize who they were. I was like that woman looks familiar… oh she was the neighbor. Then she took like five minutes to explain her motivation, and honestly, I cannot even remember what she said. Something about a book that Sydney wrote. It was just a bunch of nothing. Then the guy who was under the mask, it also took me a minute to realize who he was, and I do not remember his motivation either, but it felt like he was just along for the ride. So it was a lot of work to go through to end up not caring who the actual killer was.

There was also the red herring that is never really explained. Sydney’s daughter has a boyfriend, and she finds a video of him on his computer pretending to be the person calling her mom. She then hits him in the face with the laptop and runs away. Shortly after that he is stabbed and killed, so he was not the killer, but the video is never really explained, other than a quick handwave of them saying that he was just trying to recreate it, but in the video, he says something sinister, like I am going to kill your family. If you are going see if the technology is there, you do not have to say something creepy to practice. That is just weird.

The opening scene is the calling card of this franchise, and this one was fun, except for one thing. Jimmy Tatro. Honestly, I cannot even remember a single thing he has been in, but I know there is nothing good in his filmography, and his voice is awful. It is the definition of a frog stuck in your throat. It is awful, and he is so dumb. The idea of the opening scene occurring at the house from the first movie that was turned into an Airbnb with paraphernalia all over was fun, and the statue being fake was a good fake out, but I was so glad that he was only in the movie for like five minutes.

Other than the opening scene of the movies, especially the first one, I have never really loved the Scream franchise. The start of this movie had me interested, and the meta-aspect it has can be fun, but by the time the movie ends, I am usually worn down by all of it. This movie is no different. It started out hot, and I was really into it, but by the end, I did not care, and when I barely recognized the killers, then I was fully out. I still give it 2.5 stars due to the hot start. It did have me gripping my seat at times, and I also loved Joel Mchale.