Scream 7 Reviews: Early Criticism Piles Up as Neve Campbell Returns and Rotten Tomatoes Score Drops
The first wave of scream 7 reviews has landed with clear division: critics praise Neve Campbell’s performance and some brutal set pieces, yet the film sits at a weak Rotten Tomatoes score that marks a low point for the franchise. The split matters now because the initial consensus — revealed after review embargoes lifted — shapes expectations ahead of the film’s wide opening.
Neve Campbell and Sidney Prescott
Neve Campbell returns as Sidney Prescott in a film co-written and directed by Kevin Williamson, and many critics single out Campbell’s presence as central to the sequel’s identity. Several reactions emphasize the mother–daughter dynamic and the way Sidney’s role anchors the story, while others contend that nearly every scene exists to underline how important Sidney is to the franchise. The net effect is a performance widely described as fierce and emotionally grounding, even by reviews that critique the broader film.
Scream 7 Reviews and Rotten Tomatoes Score
With critic review embargoes lifted early Thursday morning, the film registered a 42 percent positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes across 50 reviews, placing it below prior entries in the series. That figure is lower than the 45 percent recorded by the franchise’s third installment and well under earlier highs, including the 61 percent mark for the 2011 entry and the 83 percent peak achieved by the 1997 sequel. The immediate consequence: Scream 7 now ranks as the lowest-scoring film in the franchise on that aggregator, a numerical benchmark that critics on both sides reference when assessing the sequel’s worth.
Early reviewers are divided in measurable ways. Some call the film a return to form, praising Williamson’s steering and a handful of inventive kills; others label it overfamiliar, sluggish, or the weakest entry yet. The split is underscored by concrete criticisms about tone, dialogue freshness, and a perceived reliance on franchise conventions rather than inventive horror filmmaking.
Kevin Williamson’s Direction and Box Office Outlook
Kevin Williamson’s role as co-writer and director has been a focal point for commentators, who credit Williamson with putting Sidney at the center and returning to the series’ roots in some respects. At the same time, detractors argue that those choices have left the film feeling rote, with some reviewers pointing to repetitive visual and narrative beats as evidence that the series’ usual tricks have been exhausted.
Despite the mixed critical reception and the low aggregator score, industry expectation holds that the film will be largely review-proof on opening weekend. Forecasts cited in early coverage place the worldwide opening around $60 million, a figure that would be the franchise’s second-best start. That projected box-office performance illustrates a familiar cause-and-effect pattern: strong brand recognition and the return of a franchise stalwart can blunt the commercial impact of critical negativity.
What makes this notable is the tension between critical metrics and commercial momentum. A 42 percent Rotten Tomatoes rating across 50 reviews establishes a clear, measurable position in the franchise’s critical history, but the projected $60 million global opening suggests audiences may respond differently in practice. How that gap resolves over the film’s first weeks will determine whether this installment reshapes perceptions of the series or confirms the critics who call for a quieter end to Ghostface’s run.
In short, early scream 7 reviews present a fractured picture: Campbell’s return and Williamson’s creative choices earn praise in specific quarters, yet the aggregate score and a raft of negative assessments name the film as possibly the franchise’s weakest entry. The coming days of box-office receipts and additional reviews will reveal whether the divided first response proves decisive or merely a noisy opening salvo.
