Let’s start with some obvious online film review caveats before we dive in to the Scream 7 of it all, okay? Take it as read, for instance, that, a), review aggregators like Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic are inexact tools at best, b), no single number or letter grade can ever replace finding critics you trust and then using their writing to help form your own opinion, and, c), critics can often diverge pretty strongly from audiences on reviews, especially when it comes to genre fare like horror movies. We’re all on the same page here, vis-à-vis the fundamentally subjective nature of critiquing art? Awesome.
Anyway, nobody seems to like Scream VII, which is now sporting the lowest aggregated review score in the slasher franchise’s long and bloody history. That’s per both of the aforementioned review curation sites, which have been compiling ratings for Neve Campbell’s franchise return since the embargo for the movie lifted on Thursday morning. Although reviews are still being written and added to both sites’ lists, Rotten Tomatoes is currently sporting a 41 percent “Fresh” rating for the movie from 70 reviews, while Metacritic’s average is sitting at a dismal 38 percent, based off of 27 reviews. Both of those numbers represent the lowest scores for all seven films in the entire franchise, beating 2000’s Scream 3 for the lowest RT rating, and 2011’s Scream 4 for Metacritic. (Hilariously, the film’s most positive Metacritic review, from The Wrap‘s William Bibbiani, straight-up calls the movie “the worst one.”)
Both numbers, among other things, reflect a major drop from 2022’s Scream and its immediate sequel Scream VI, which feels notable in so far as producer Spyglass very publicly fumbled away those films’ stars, Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega, early in the film’s production. (Directing duo Radio Silence was already out when that all went down, but incoming director Christopher “Happy Death Day” Landon also bailed after the drama broke out.)
It’s always possible that Scream 7 will bounce back from this initial bad impression, and that writers are, even now, racing to rehabilitate the film’s image. (Not us, though: We gave it a D.) If nothing else, audience scores might end up wildly diverging from the critical consensus, allowing Scream 7 to claim the title of “The Melania of movies about Ghostface killing people.” For now, though, it’s standing as the worst-reviewed movie in a very long-running franchise, one that’s had some pretty serious lows over the years; an accomplishment, of a sort.
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