‘Scream’ing for help

The three-decade-long franchise that made the villain, ‘Ghostface’, legendary appears to be stuttering in this last-ditch attempt to score riches. After six issues, the plotting has obviously gone stale and the writing has become tiresome.

Nostalgia appears to be the key meant to unlock memories of cult moments from the past.

Of late, the franchise seems to have lost its ability to make meta comments on genre fixations within the movie itself. It’s all come down to squeezing brand loyalty from a faithful audience that’s clamouring for more thrills rather than tricks. Despite franchise faithful Kevin Williamson taking on the onus as writer-director, there’s nothing fresh or alluring to captivate new audiences. Of course, he is no horror maestro even if he has written most of the ‘Scream’ films.

Wes Craven’s original four were worthy enough to drive the franchise to cult pickings. This one fails to rise to the occasion. The writing is uninspired. As expected, there’s no logic in the plotting. Characters are shown to have survived the grisliest of attacks. One character is doused in petrol and torched while another spills his gut. It’s sickeningly crude.

A survivor from the previous films, Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), has built a new life for herself in a new town (nowhere close to Woodsboro, Indiana), with her police chief husband Mark (Joel McHale) and their three children. Teenage daughter Tatum (Isabel May) lives with her parents while the other two are staying with their grandparents.

Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox), Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown) and Chad Meeks-Martin (Mason Gooding) are also around but the characters played by Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega in the previous issues have been left out.

A new Ghostface, Stu Macher (Matthew Lillard), appears to be stalking Sidney’s daughter… so, it’s back to old tricks.

Sidney Prescott has apparently survived two serial killers and has even become the subject of a movie made about it. She is fed up of Ghostfaces crowding up her life, but here she is expected to face the horrors of her past and put an end to the bloodshed… but will it ever be over?

Heavy reliance on nostalgia and little else marks this the flimsiest entry in the franchise to date. The inclusion of AI into the mix may lend it a topical slant, but the content is so slavish towards past highs that newer elements slide past without registering.

Neve Campbell may have been paid big bucks to return to the franchise after sitting it out for ‘Scream 6’, but she has nothing much to do other than repeatedly warn her daughter that she is making a big mistake taking up with an unsuitable paramour.

This seventh instalment of the slasher horror franchise is basically running on empty. The final reveal about the killer is a surefire downer. The uneven tone, haphazard pacing and exhausting reliance on past ghosts make this film a pointless reboot. The only scream you’ll hear is that of outrage from the faithful viewer, who has spent his hard-earned earnings on such repetitive drivel.