Why Scream 7’s Ghostface Killers Are the Worst in the Entire Franchise

Scream 7 is now streaming on Paramount+, and a much wider audience is getting to check it out. As such, social media is once again lighting up wth reactions to the film, and the overall consensus seems clear: many fans are saying that Scream 7 has the worst Ghostface Killer reveals of the entire series. And, given some of the reveals the Scream franchise has tried to pull off, that’s really saying something.

The story of Scream 7 sees franchise heroine Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) trying to live a quiet life, running a coffee shop, and living with her husband Mark (Joel McHale) and their kids. Sidney’s eldest daughter, Tatum (Isabel May) is a teenager who is (shockingly) constantly butting heads with her infamous mom. But when a new Ghostface decides that Tatum is the one to die, Sidney goes to war to protect her family.

Scream 7: Who Is the Ghostface Killer? (SPOILERS)

Throughout Scream 7, Sidney is plagued by “video” from the original Ghostface, Stu Macher (Matthew Lillard), who claims to have survived the first film and is coming to exact his revenge on Tatum. However, by the time the showdown happens (with Ghostface taking Tatum hostage), it’s revealed that the killer is actually Marco Davis (Ethan Embry), a supervisor at a mental institution who formed a twisted Sidney Prescott “fan club” with two inmates, Karl Gibbs (Kraig Dane) and Jessica Bowdwn (Anna Camp).

The trio wanted to “retire” Sidney as a “final girl,” but Karl dies early on in a botched raid on Sidney’s house. Marco and Jessica instead plan to kill Sidney and make Tatum witness it, thereby repeating the same trauma Sidney endured as a teen, forging Tatum into the new final girl of the Stab series based on Sidney’s life. Of course, Sidney, Tatum, and Mark come together and kill Marco and Jessica, ending the threat.

Why Scream 7’s Ghostface Reveal is So Bad

The Scream series is distinguished from other horror properties by its meta awareness of the genre and its staples. That meta humor is missing from most of Scream 7, as the film is instead a more straightforward story of Sidney and her family battling Ghostface. However, the finale tries to pull off the clever “twist” of making the killers into satirical metaphors for toxic fandoms and their overly obsessive fans, while poking fun at the entire argument about whether Scream needs Neve Campbell and Sidney Prescott to still be Scream, or if the franchise can move on without her (like it tried to do with Scream VI). Sure, it may have been clever on a meta level, but it really did disappoint as a killer reveal. Most fans called it from the moment they saw character actors like Ethan Embry (Empire Records, Can’t Hardly Wait) and Anna Camp (Pitch Perfect, The Help) being cast – two actors we all knew would be perfect for some deranged monologuing once the masks were off.

The original Scream (1996) is certainly remembered for pioneering a new age of self-aware horror, such as Randy’s (Jamie Kennedy) famous speech about “The Rules” of horror flicks. However, Scream‘s enduring legacy really came from the climactic reveal that both Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich) and Stu Macher were Ghostface. The series has since made a staple out of climactic killer reveals that feature a character (or characters) we’ve already met, who also have some kind of relevant tie to Sidney or the characters and events of previous films. Granted, that’s a hard act to keep pulling off as the Scream franchise goes on, but that’s the challenge the filmmakers are expected to meet.

Scream 7 not only breaks the pact with viewers about what kind of mystery they’ll get, it also arguably pulls the rug out from under fans while simultaneously mocking the fandom for being so impassioned about the series. What’s even worse is that Kevin Williamson (who wrote Scream 1 – 4) both wrote and directed this seventh installment. It feels like there’s a personal grudge being worked out through this film, and while it may have been cathartic for Williamson (and arguably Neve Campbell), it wasn’t very much fun for fans.

Scream VI had plenty going for it (characters, lore) that would’ve carried the franchise forward. Despite scoring the highest box office in the franchise, Scream 7 feels like a final gasp from the original franchise and its characters, which we didn’t really need.

What are your thoughts on Scream 7? Do you want the Scream VI storyline to continue? We’re discussing it all on the ComicBook Forum!

Scream 7’s Returning Cameos, Big Kills, & The Future Broken Down in Writer’s SPOILER Interview [Exclusive]