I’ve been a Scream fan since the moment I watched it in my bedroom after renting it at our local mom and pop video store. When it comes to movies, I’m VERY liberal with loving most of the films I watch. I love the entire Scream franchise. It’s absolutely one of my favorites. I openly admit that maybe rewatching all of them before Scream 7 was a bad idea. Although some of them have problems, I still love them. My expectations for a Scream film are always high because I feel like they never disappoint. Yes, I’ve left the theater not liking a sequel as much as the previous installment. However, I have never truly felt disappointed like this time. Now I know we all have our own opinions and the right to form side opinion. So I’m not writing this lightly. In fact, I hate writing anything besides a glowing review of any Scream film. Regardless of Stu’s fate, they missed opportunities, and here’s why.
Please note, from this point forward, there will be MAJOR spoilers for the movie Scream 7.
Part of the reason Scream 7 falls flat for me is that Scream 5 sets up the notion that Stu Macher is still alive. Yes, Matthew Lillard has stated many times that he felt he was still alive. I even remember an interview where he jokingly said he’d go drop a TV on his head right then and there to prove his theory. Granted, this theory is one that fans have run wild with, despite most saying it’s canon Stu Macher is dead. Once upon a time, before I heard the original idea for Scream 3, I would have agreed with you. In addition to that, if you’re paying attention to Richie watching a video on Stab 8 on YouTube in Scream 5, you can notice two suggested videos. One of them is about Kirby surviving, and the other is “Did Stu Macher survive?” It’s a wink at this theory. This moment could have lent itself to mean more in Scream 5.
This moment would have been an opportune to reveal a double motive. One about toxic fandom and one where Richie and Stu were related. This could have given us a firm “he’s dead” or “surprise, he’s alive.” I’ve always thought it would have been quite fun if we had him be Stu’s son. ‘Cause if we’re going to have a world where Billy Loomis has a daughter no one knew about, why not have something like that with Stu as well. Plus, a showdown between Stu’s son and Billy’s daughter is just a much more intriguing storyline. I can also imagine an intense moment with Sidney and Richie about putting her father in a psychiatric ward somewhere? Or even one where she killed him, robbing him of a father? I can hear Sidney practically telling him, “Looks like you’re just as crazy as he was.”
Do I hate the angle they went with in Scream 5 being about the fans? No. Did I enjoy it the first time I watched it? Also no. I was torn. In Scream 5, I believed the connection to Stu should have been much deeper. And timeline wise, why I think it would have made more sense for Richie to be Stu’s long-lost son, or have him be his nephew. After all, they’ve mentioned his sister multiple times now. Instead, they had his actual nephew die and be a new character entirely. Instead, fans are left yearning for a deeper connection other than pure nostalgia. And that leaves me hearing echoes of Sidney yelling to Roman, “I’ve heard this shit before.” Except in fans cases, we’ve seen this before re Stu being called in for mere nostalgia again in Scream 7.
But back to the fan theory for a moment.
With the start of that theory and having these little tidbits, fans of the franchise inevitably ran wild. Fans wanted to believe Stu was very much alive. When they announced that Matthew Lillard would be back for this installment, a great deal of fans concluded he didn’t die. When you add in the tagline “Face the past” and the “burn it all down” with the trailer showing Stu’s house being lit on fire, more assumptions are made. These assumptions will get your die-hard fans back in theaters, regardless. Then you have the addition of Neve Campbell’s return, who was honestly a highlight of the film for me, because of the backlash of her not being in Scream 6. When you put both things together, the expectations this is going to be the most epic Scream in the franchise is HIGH.
We’ve also been hearing in the past three sequels that the stakes are even higher than before. Not really. I feel like we’ve gotten to a point where the stakes were high for Dewey, but no one else. I love all these characters as much as the next person. However, are the stakes truly as high as the filmmakers suggest if Sidney and Gale are guaranteed to survive? Granted, no one wants to see them die, myself included, but no one wanted to see Dewey die either. And since they are presumably off the table, even though Scream 6 makes it very clear that Sam and Tara were not. Although Chad somehow survived Scream 6, which still blows my mind as much as I adore his character. Interviews emphasize high stakes, and any potential character deaths could occur, but they don’t. They instead kill random characters or new characters. By ultimately eliminating the new cast; it hinders franchise growth, a defining characteristic of the franchise. It’s always grown with the times so it can be a social commentary on the times. All Scream 7 did was rehash Scream one and set up Tatum to take over Sidney’s spot. They appear to be afraid of killing characters off too early, reminiscent of Randy in Scream 2, or of being accused of going too far.
And don’t get me wrong, I don’t think Sidney, nor Neve, are past their prime to be doing these films. Sidney Prescott’s (now Evans) return is appreciated. However, Scream 4 and Scream 5’s original concepts might have provided a more compelling story. When you take those ideas into account and toy with Sidney dying in Scream 4 while presumably Tatum was still young, Tatum is forced to learn about these things from the internet, her father, or Gale could have proven to be rather powerful as well. Despite all the bullshit she’s gone through, she is still coming out on top and being Sidney Prescott’s daughter. However, we didn’t get to see Jill getting away with it, so it’s a moot point. While I felt that Neve Campbell is Scream, I think they passed the torch along nicely to Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega. So it’s sad to not be able to see where the franchise could have gone with those characters. Would I have wanted to see Sam turn into the killer? Not until something happened to Tara, because that would have been the perfect catalyst why she snapped. Just like Derek’s death in Scream 2 could have been for Sidney.
Because let’s be real for a second. The 2025 I Know What You Did Last Summer did something that Scream has always been afraid to do. They tackled what unresolved trauma could do to someone that Scream could have also tackled with Sidney as well. We could have had the same plot, just a different franchise. Scream 7 could be magical by blending new and old, based on concepts Skeely Ulrich has mentioned recently. We could have had that epic reveal. We could have known the killers Stu Macher and Sam Carpenter the entire time. Then instead of playing it safe, we could leave a franchise where the final girl doesn’t come out on top but the villain.
Let me also say despite my complaints, I didn’t hate Scream 7. In fact, some kills were the best in the franchise. However, that’s never been the primary focus of the franchise. That’s not what originally made Scream great. Scream has always been about the whodunit reveal. Scream has always been about social commentary and its ability to poke fun at itself and the genre while having some rather serious motives. While Scream 5 and Scream 6 were criticized for being unoriginal, Scream 7 is surprisingly being celebrated for its nostalgia and hailed as the best film in the series. When you put all these pieces together, the best outcome for Scream 7 was for Sidney to actually face her past. For Sidney to actually face Stu Macher again.
Some are going to argue she faces her past in some aspects through Tatum and her boyfriend, whose name I can’t even remember. Not sure if that’s good or bad. There are even scenes that echo all this, but we’ve seen it all before. Scream 6’s family revenge motive is understandable. The motive of the new killers is beyond lackluster. Sidney wasn’t gone long enough to warrant her neighbor going insane for being out of the spotlight all that long. Not unless she has truly been out of the spotlight since the 2011 sequel. I think to make that motive work there needed to be more time in between. To keep the Scream franchise consistent, Stu should have survived and acted as an openly known killer, or Jessica should have been his sister. To avoid Sidney knowing Stu’s sister, the film could have followed Scream 2’s example, delaying their interaction until the end, similar to Mrs. Loomis.
Scream 7 felt like nostalgia for the sake of nostalgia with no plot backing it. Did I enjoy every time I saw Matthew Lillard on screen? Absolutely. But, for Stu to be merely AI instead of an actual killer felt like a huge betrayal to the original fans. And even that, I think they did wrong. I wish I hadn’t known some of these people were coming back, such as Roman and Dewey. There weren’t many surprises left between the announcements, and from what I’ve heard, the trailers and teasers (which I avoided like the plague). Seeing Mrs. Loomis again was fantastic. I think it should have been a parade of past killers. Bring them all back if it’s AI for a little cameo just for us. Without the heavy emphasis on Stu being alive, a theory fueled by Scream 3’s discarded plot, many Stu fans wouldn’t feel so betrayed. Had they just given us a deeper connection between Jessica and Stu, I don’t think we’d be so angry right now.
The reveals are what make these movies. Being left with only two VERY obvious Ghostface killers and a weak motive left me feeling beyond disappointed. It’s even more disappointing when that reveal falls flat on its face, when a lot of the press interviews stressed that this film was about family. If you’re going to latch onto that, make it more about the Scream family. The Scream 6 plot hole about Sam knowing Richie’s siblings is questionable, as his past secrecy suggests she wouldn’t have met them. Sidney admitted that the John Doe plot was better, so this one is truly the most unsatisfying third act to date. It’s even more disappointing to have a blatant bait and switch just to get fans back into seats. Until now, this franchise had no bad films. This latest one certainly made us scream, though likely not for the reasons the studios hoped.
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