Scream 7 bad. We already mentioned that in our review. And while there are plenty of non-spoiler reasons given to explain that, digging into the spoilers really helps solidify it. So let’s do that. Who is Ghostface? What is the motive? Are there any interesting suspects? Does everyone understand? Let’s break it down.

One of the very few things we liked Scream 7 is the idea of ​​most of the film that Stu Macher, Matthew Lillard’s character from the first film, is behind the murders. We see Stu die. Everyone thought he was dead. But this is the seventh entry in a horror franchise. Maybe, maybe, he wasn’t.

And the movie leans on that with the FaceTime calls he sets up with Sidney (Neve Campbell), showing all kinds of injuries on his face, and even a visit to a mental institution, where a character—played by a famous actor who has never appeared before, Ethan Embry—claims that Stu was there. Not a red flag.

But if Stu is really dead, how can we see him? Everyone believes that someone is creating AI-driven deepfakes. Which makes sense. There is a timely. In addition, the film literally has Sidney’s daughter, Tatum (Isabel May), looking for an open, powered laptop in his girlfriend’s car with software open to her doing that. It’s obvious that he’s the killer, right? No one is that stupid or obvious. Who leaves a laptop open with their car running software?

Beyond that dumb thing, the film does an honest kind of cool and interesting thing by unmasking Ghostface in the middle. Not just Stu. It was a random guy that Sidney saw in his coffee shop. An escaped mental patient from the aforementioned institution, where the too-famous-for-a-small-role actor has all the answers.

Of course, yes, we finally know that Ghostface Scream 7 actually three people. There’s the random mental patient, who dies and doesn’t have a mask. There is the neat character of Ethan Embry from the mental institution and, shockingly, the next-door neighbor, played by Pitch Perfect star Anna Camp. He’s on tangents for most of the film, pretending to be Sidney’s friend. But, like Embry, he’s a shade too famous to be pointless. So, he is the big, final boss, mastermind killer.

So what does he want? What is dynamic? This is where things go from bad to worse. Now, excuse me. I’ve only seen the movie once, so I could be wrong about this. But, to be fair, it’s very confusing and can happen quickly. Basically, Camp’s character has an abusive husband, and she is so inspired by Sidney’s book that she kills her husband, gets away with it, and then moves to Sidney’s town to be closer to him. Along the way, he also found himself in a mental institution, where he met two other men. Oh, and one of them—Embry’s character—works at Google? That’s how they deepfaked not only Stu, but also Roman (Scott Foley), Nancy (Laurie Metcalf), and even Dewey (David Arquette).

Let’s start there. The AI/deepfake thing is beyond dumb. If the movie was about that in any larger context, it might have something. But it was so haphazard that the script had to explain it with a throwaway “I worked at Google before going to a mental institution” line. In addition, any kind of skill is lowered minutes earlier by the boyfriend and his laptop. Clearly, deepfaking Stu isn’t a particularly difficult thing to do, and nothing else in the movie is about the dangers of technology. Just sprinkled it in there for a little relevance.

Again, to each Yelling Ghostface has a very clear motive. Your mom destroyed my family. You killed my son. We want to recreate the movies. I want to be famous. Etc. But the enthusiasm of Scream 7 Does that mean you’re such a fan of Sidney that you want to kill him and his daughter? That you love him so much, you want to end their cycle of trauma? That’s weak. Are you really going through all this just for that? And why would the other two men join you?

Again, I’m probably missing one or two small points here that got buried in the whole “WTF” moment. But, for the most part, the three Ghostfaces here are pretty obvious and a bit confusing and lack any real imagination or thematic purpose.

Which is kind of the whole movie in a nutshell. Do you remember the opening? That fun little meta moment where two actors we know (Michelle Randolph and Jimmy Tatro) go to Macher’s old house, which is now an Airbnb Yelling museum? The idea of ​​bringing back moments from past movies is a cold mockery of, “Oh, this movie is about looking back.” Except Ghostface (what? We don’t know) then kills them both and burns the house down. Are they trying to wipe the slate clean? Does it serve literally any greater purpose besides looking cool? Absolutely not.

And where is the talk between Sam (Melissa Barrera) and Tara (Jenna Ortega)? We know why they are not in this movie in our reality. But in the reality of this movie, it’s pretty weak that Mindy and Chad (Jasmin Savoy Brown and Mason Gooding) come back and don’t talk about the other survivors. The movie always refers to Scream 6 as “New York” over and over again and think that covers it. It doesn’t exist. (Also, are we really supposed to believe that the super smart, looking Mindy and Chad want to break into traditional news media? Come on.)

Oh! And should we recognize or feel any admiration for the leather jacket? What was that? Okay, okay. Good. I could go on and on about all the things this movie did poorly or went wrong, but we think that’s enough for one article. Feel free to expand on them yourself in the comments below.

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