Highlights
- Christopher Landon’s involvement as the director of Scream 7 opens up the opportunity for the franchise to make some changes and freshen up the format.
- The whodunit mystery element of the previous films in the franchise needs to be reevaluated in order to keep the audience guessing and engaged.
- To keep the stakes high and maintain the element of surprise, Scream 7 should consider killing off at least two of the eight survivors from previous films and potentially bring back Stu Macher as the final villain to end the series on a high note.
The Scream franchise has been a massive success since it burst onto the scene in 1996, and reinvented the slasher genre, inspiring a new generation of directors to enter the industry. One of those directors was Christopher Landon who was heavily inspired by the 90s classic, and went on to direct slasher hits like Happy Death Day and Freaky. It was announced a while back that Landon would be in the hot seat to direct Scream 7, taking the reins from Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, as they focus on other projects, albeit returning to co produce the new film.
Landon’s involvement in the new film paves the way for the sequel to do a few things a bit differently from its predecessors, and it’s about time there were some changes made. Gillett and Bettinelli-Olpin did make some significant changes to the franchise when they took over and helmed Scream (2022) and Scream 6, but there was still too much of the same, which led to complaints from a large selection of the fan base. If Scream 7 is going to match the success of the previous films, there is a lot Christopher Landon needs to do differently.
RELATED: Scream 7: Who Is The Horror Franchise’s New Director?
The Format Needs To Change For the Next Film
|
Director |
Christopher Landon |
|---|---|
|
Writers (rumored) |
Christopher Landon, James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick |
|
Cast (rumored) |
Melissa Berrera, Jenna Ortega, Jasmin Sayoy Brown, Mason Gooding, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Hayden Panettiere and Josh Segarra |
|
Producers |
Tyler Gillett, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Christopher Landon and Kevin Williamson |
Every Scream film has followed the same format, which consists of a whodunit mystery to find out who is behind the Ghostface mask. This has served the franchise very well over the years, standing out against other slasher movies, for its originality and focus on plot. However, as good as the last two films have been, the whodunit element hasn’t really worked as well as it has been quite obvious who the killers are before they have revealed themselves.
This was particularly evident in Scream 6 with so many characters from previous films returning for the sequel, with logic suggesting none of these characters would be the killer, leaving very few suspects to choose from. There was a brief moment where Kirby was put forward as a suspect, but nobody really believed she would be involved as she was such a fan favorite. Scream 7 either needs to rethink how they approach the whodunit mystery, or make one of the survivors become the killer to keep the audience on their toes.
Christopher Landon is the perfect choice to enact these changes in Scream 7, and give the upcoming sequel the boost it needs to keep it fresh moving forward. He’s been a massive fan of the franchise from the start, and he recently spoke to SiriusXM’s The Jess Cagle Show, about how he came to get the job of directing Scream 7.
My understanding is that there were conversations happening for some time. But I think it was just an opportunity that really arose because the other directors who did the last two films, Tyler and Matt, they wanted to do something else. They were ready to kind of do something different. That’s when they obviously had to find someone new, and I’ve known Kevin Williamson, who wrote the original film, for a long, long time and he’s a friend. I think he threw my name into the hat and everybody kind of said, ‘Yeah, that makes sense. That seems to make sense.’ And I was just thrilled that I got that call because it felt very, it felt like kismet, it felt like a thing that like was always meant to be
Kill Off At Least Two Survivors To Raise The Stakes
One of the best things Scream 5 did was to make it known that nobody was safe from Ghostface, including the legacy characters. This raised the stakes more so than the previous two sequels which played it safe, keeping Sidney, Gale Weathers (who almost died in Scream 6) and Dewey alive. Scream 5 ripped up the rule book and killed off Dewey Riley, leading to a nail-biting finale, not knowing who was going to live or die.
Scream 6 did the opposite and featured the highest amount of survivors of any film in the series, with the Core 4 all surviving, despite Chad’s brutal attack which arguably should’ve killed him, and Kirby and Gale also surviving brutal attacks to pave the way for their potential appearances in Scream 7. In addition to these six survivors, new fan favorite Danny also made it out alive, after sitting out the final showdown and calling the police to come to the rescue instead. This leaves seven survivors from Scream 6 who will likely return in Scream 7, but surely not all of these characters can survive another round with the Ghostface killer? If rumors are to believed to be true, Neve Campbell might also be returning in Scream 7 as Sidney Prescott after sitting out the last film due to a pay dispute. So that leaves eight survivors from previous films potentially returning in the upcoming sequel.
If Scream 7 is to keep the audience gripped to their seats, the film needs to kill off at least two of the eight survivors or else it will return to the same old issues they had in earlier films, where the audience knew they wouldn’t kill off the core characters. There’s an argument for killing more than two as this still leaves six characters left. At this point in time, they probably can’t kill Sam or Sidney as that might be a step too far, and in many ways it would be a shame to break up the Core 4, but it might be necessary to keep the franchise fresh. Chad has cheated death twice, so it could be third time unlucky for him, with Danny most likely to join him on the mortuary table. That would essentially leave six final girls left in Sam, Tara, Sidney, Gale, Mindy and Kirby for one final showdown with Ghostface to potentially end the series. This would be a pretty badass way for the franchise to end.
Bring Stu Macher Back to Lead A Cult Of Ghostface Killers
If Scream 7 is to be the last entry in the series, the killer or killers need to be the best the franchise has ever produced to end on a high. So who could the main killer be to bring the curtain down on this iconic slasher series?
There has been a rumor circulating for many years now to suggest that Stu Macher from the original Scream might still be alive. This theory originally came about as far back as Scream 3, when Kevin Williamson wrote the initial script for the planned end to the trilogy involving the return of Stu Macher, who it turned out was orchestrating all the Ghostface killings from prison via a cult of high school Ghostface followers. Due to the Columbine massacre, this idea was shelved, and a lighter tone was adopted for the eventual Scream 3, which ended up being the weakest entry in the series to date.
If Stu Macher was to return, it would have to be done in the right way, or it could risk tarnishing the series forever. Matthew Lillard has made it known that he would be interested in reprising his role as the twisted killer, and the “Stu is Alive” theory is gaining traction, with many podcast hosts pushing for this theory to become a reality.
Stu would be a fitting final villain for Scream 7, bringing the series full circle and well and truly back to its roots. The Scream 3 plot of him leading a cult of Ghostface killers would be an interesting route for the series to take. There is an argument that a cult of killers already exists and is in active circulation in Scream 6, with Jason Carvey’s killing of Laura Crane at the start of the film being totally separate to the main Ghostface killers. Jason and his accomplice Greg Bruckner were quickly disposed of after Laura’s death, but there is a suggestion that they were part of a network of killers. This was further hinted upon when Kirby mentions she has an interest in Ghostface killings, suggesting there have been more attacks around the country. So it’s more than possible that Stu Macher could be orchestrating these attacks, leading to his long awaited return in Scream 7.
Scream
The Scream movie and TV franchise began with the release of the first film in 1996. Directed by horror master Wes Craven and written by Kevin Williamson, the deconstruction of slasher movies was an instant cultural, critical, and financial hit. Neve Campbell, who plays ongoing final girl Sidney Prescott, has become a horror icon in her own right, along with Ghostface, the only horror villain whose identity is always changing. Nearly three decades later, the Scream franchise shows no signs of slowing down.
- Created by
- Wes Craven, Kevin Williamson
- First Film
- Scream
- Cast
- Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Mason Gooding
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