“Scream 7” is shrieking into theaters surrounded by a fair amount of controversy.
The film, co-written and directed by Kevin Williamson, whose original spec script (then titled “Scary Movie”) kicked off the entire franchise, sees Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) trying to enjoy a quiet life with her family, including teenage daughter Tatum (Isabel May), when – wouldn’t you know it? – she is stalked and harassed by a serial killer in a Ghostface mask.
When the franchise was resurrected with 2022’s “Scream,” the focus had been squarely on two new characters, Sam Carpenter (Melissa Barrera) and her half-sister Tara Carpenter (Jenna Ortega), who found that they were connected to the original characters in a fascinating way – Sam was revealed to be the daughter of Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich). And the other characters in the new entries, particularly 2022’s “Scream,” had some familial connection to the characters, including twins Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown) and Chad (Mason Gooding), who are the niece and nephew of Randy Meeks (Jamie Kennedy). It was a nice way of introducing “Scream – The Next Generation” to the big screen.
Many of the characters continued onto 2023’s “Scream VI,” which set the action in New York City and, towards the end of the movie, added in more questions as to whether Sam would follow in her father’s footsteps.
Of course, real life intervened to derail whatever plans had been laid.
Barrera was fired from the franchise after sharing Pro-Palestinian posts on her social media. (Production company Spyglass deemed the posts antisemitic but exact details of her termination remain fuzzy.) Prior to Barrera’s dismissal, Ortega had already left the project, citing scheduling conflicts with her ongoing Netflix series “Wednesday.” But suddenly, a franchise that was being rebuilt around two new characters and the actors who portrayed them, had to start over from square one.
Tellingly, they returned to Campbell, who had sat out “Scream VI” because of a salary dispute. She was reportedly paid $7 million to come back for “Scream 7,” more than Cox. And so the focus shifted again, this time to her young daughter, Tatum, played by May, a veteran of Taylor Sheridan’s “Yellowstone” universe who has appeared in “1883” and served as a narrator for “1923” and, during its final season, the mainline series.
But the question remains – how does the movie address the absence of the two main characters from the last two installments?
Mild spoiler warning, if you want to go into “Scream 7” fresh.
Still there?
Okay, “Scream 7” addresses their absence by not addressing their absence at all. The Carpenter sisters are not mentioned, they aren’t referenced, and, somewhat tellingly, in a movie where AI allows for formerly deceased characters to return, Billy Loomis is nowhere to be found. Apparently, the idea of them is so radioactive that they couldn’t bring in characters that are even related to them.
What makes this even stranger is that two of the characters’ buddies, played by Brown and Gooding, are in the movie and don’t mention their friends, the Carpenter sisters, whom they had already survived two deadly adventures with. Just … nothing.
And you wouldn’t think that “Scream” would pull any punches; this is a series known for its meta commentary and willingness to incorporate the real-life drama of its actors into the narrative (see also: the ever-fluctuating nature of Cox and David Arquette’s relationship). In fact, in “Scream 7,” there are repeated references to Campbell sitting out “Scream VI,” with Cox’s character, now a freelance reporter, saying that she hadn’t been fired but her contract hadn’t been renewed. (This is being misinterpreted by some fans as a dig on Barrera, but to me it reads more as a commentary on Campbell’s thorny contract negotiations.)
So, if you were looking for any acknowledgement of the firestorm (and the smart, sassy “Scream” take on said firestorm), you are out of luck. The Carpenter sisters have vanished, like Ghostface escaping into the fog.
“Scream 7” is out now.
