Don’t answer the door.

Don’t leave the house.

Don’t answer the phone.

But most importantly, Don’t SCREAM!

As avid horror fans likely know, the first-ever Scream was produced in December 1996. For those new to the Scream fandom realm, here is a recap: On a chilly, late, Wednesday night of 1996, the first victim–Casey Becker (Drew Barrymore)–receives a phone call from an unknown number. “Ever heard the saying Don’t talk to strangers?”  Nothing could be truer. The caller proceeds to drill Casey on horror movie trivia questions that soon lead to life-or-death consequences. While striving to answer the trivia, Casey’s boyfriend–Steve Ortho–is killed on her back patio by virtue of a wrong answer. This dangerous “game” leads to Casey’s death…and an opening introduction to the movie’s antagonist and killer: Ghostface.

Later the next day, audiences are introduced to the main protagonist: Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), who is also targeted by Ghostface with the start of a call. Notice the pattern? This call takes place exactly one year after Sidney’s mother’s murder. The killer is revealed to be her boyfriend Billy Loomis (Skeet Urich) and his “sidekick” Stu Macher (Matthew Lillard). 

Playing off the famous line of Macher–“I’ll be right back”–the Scream movies have come back not twice but seven times!

Released on Friday, Feb. 27, Scream 7 is rooted in the original storyline of Scream…but with a twist and a new generational version! With the official trailer releasing just a few days before the movie itself, audiences learn that the return of Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) and her now trauma-bonded friendship with Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox) will anchor the storyline to the past. However, there is also an introduction of new characters, including Sidney’s daughter Tatum Evans (Isabel May).

It all seems to start when a new Ghostface emerges into a quiet, little town in Pine Grove, where Sidney has attempted to move on with her past life. Cheers to Sidney for building a new life and staying unbothered, while leaving the last behind her… so she thought. Her darkest fears soon come back to haunt her, just like dreams and memories, as she realizes that her daughter Tatum Evans is now the next target.

Is there some repetition to the story as it relates to bloodlines?–a determined mother, who will do anything for her family and their protection, who will face her hauntings of the past… and now the present. Yes. But, the bigger question is this: Will Sidney Prescott be able to put an end to the continuous haunting of Ghostface after the continuous 30 years…? 

Based on its “okay” rating, audiences didn’t get the answers they were looking for in Scream 7. With a 31% on Rotten Tomatoes, and 76%  Kylie Brown, a former Sophomore at Elkhart High School states, “I have been dragged to the movie theater by my sister, who is a HUGE fan of the Scream series ever since the second Scream movie came out.” Brown describes it as a “tradition” with being dragged to the movies to watch ALL of the most recent Scream movies. 

So, in Brown’s estimation, how did it compare to the original movie? She appreciates that Scream 7  “presented some original characters,” but notes that the movie had more focus on “Scream 4 than the first and original scream.”

When exploring the plot of the movie, Brown proclaims her reasoning why the movie was ranked merely as “okay.” “I wish it didn’t try to continue the plot of someone coming back from the dead.” Brown also expresses her disappointment at the ending, as it was “predictable.”

Agreeing with both Rotten Tomatoes and Brown, the movie was “okay.” They should have just kept Scream as a singular movie itself, instead of expanding the franchise beyond its capabilities of being original and resorting to the same, old predictable plots.