Scream 7 Is The Final Chance To Fix A Tiresome Ghostface Mistake That Almost Ruined Scream 6

Scream made one big mistake by playing things too safe; Scream 7 needs to put things right if it hopes to keep the threat of Ghostface alive.

Scream 6 leaned heavily on one of the franchise's most irritating trends, but it’s not too late for Scream 7 to make things right. After successfully revitalizing the franchise with the reboot/sequel (or “re-quel”) Scream 5 in 2022, new franchise directors Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin continued their streak with 2023’s Scream 6. There’s plenty to like about the film, which continues the journey of new series protagonists Sam and Tara Carpenter to similarly strong critical and commercial response. The movies are worthy follow-ups to the Wes Craven-directed originals and carefully thread the needle of honoring the precursors while invigorating the franchise with a new perspective.

However, not every holdover from Craven’s Scream movies is worth continuing. Indeed, Scream 6’s most significant problem manifests in a reliance on an irritating indulgence that has plagued Scream movies since the original film. The trend is particularly egregious in Scream 6 and, if it continues in the upcoming Scream 7, puts the entire franchise at risk of losing touch with its horror roots. Scream 6 loses its nerve when it comes to meaningful Ghostface kills; as the franchise sheds its original cast, the filmmakers seem overly attached to the new one, but such attachment makes great horror nearly impossible.

Scream 6 Was Scared To Kill Its Main Characters

It wouldn’t be fair to claim a lack of brutal kills in Scream 6. The sequel certainly fulfills the high body count required of a Scream franchise installment. However, the movie is also the most timid of any Scream film when it comes to killing its core characters. While Mindy’s initial “rules” speech talks a big game about legacy characters being “cannon fodder,” the opposite ends up being true. The film is precious with its legacy characters. By the time the smoke clears in Scream 6’s ending, not a single returning character has been killed off.

While it’s not necessarily a bad thing for Scream 6 to keep its main characters alive, what’s frustrating is the way that the film continuously tries to have its cake and eat it, too, seemingly inflicting fatal wounds on its major characters in chilling kill sequences, only to have them pull through. While this is nothing new for the Scream franchise, Scream 6 is the most egregious outing by far; Mindy, Chad, Gale, and Kirby all survive seemingly fatal attacks. What’s more, it marks the second time the move is pulled on Chad and Kirby, both of whom suffer seemingly lethal injuries in earlier Scream movies.

Scream Is At Its Best When It’s Killing Its Stars

The more the Scream franchise allows its characters to pull through after apparent Ghostface kills, the less power those kill sequences have. With Scream 6’s repeated survival trend, the reboots have set up an expectation that characters can easily survive brutal stabbings, particularly if they are valuable to the IP. Scream thrives on the tense notion that any character can die at any time. Indeed, while earlier Scream movies are guilty of having some characters survive seemingly fatal stabbings, these survivals feel earned when counterpointed with the franchise’s penchant for shocking and devastating kills.

The Scream franchise is at its best when it’s at its boldest, killing fan favorites such as Randy in Scream 2 and Dewey in Scream 5, or even unexpectedly dispatching the movie’s biggest star, Drew Barrymore, in the original Scream’s iconic opening scene. Horror relies on emotional investment. If the viewer doesn’t care about the person being killed, it isn’t distressing. When Scream 6 kills off characters like Sam’s unlikable therapist or Ghostface wannabe Jason Carvey, there’s no profound sense of horror. Likewise, when a film shows its major characters repeatedly surviving brutal stabbings, the viewer is taught to place less emotional investment on the apparent “kills.”

Scream 7 Is In A Perfect Position To Correct Its Mistake

This reluctance to kill major characters can be traced back to Scream re-quel directors Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin. The Scream 5 and 6 directors refused to kill off core characters because, in their words, “it just felt callous.” This callousness, which has long been a core part of the bloodthirsty Scream franchise’s appeal, could come back with the upcoming Scream 7 since Christopher Landon is set to direct. The sequel is now in a strong position to emotionally devastate its audience since the persistent survival of Scream 5 and Scream 6’s “core four” would make any of their deaths in Scream 7 all the more powerful.