Summary
- Scream 4 underperformed at the box office and wasn’t well received by fans or critics.
- To avoid past mistakes, Scream 7 should focus on Sidney Prescott and include legacy cast members.
- Fans of the franchise prefer a high body count and hope that Scream 7 will not disappoint like Scream 4.
Horror sequels only have one of two choices: follow the formula of the previous movies or do something that feels totally out of left field. Since Scream 7 has had many delays and fans are only recently hearing casting news, people aren’t sure which road it’s going to go down. I love this slasher franchise more than any other and hope that the movie is as impressive as I know it can be. But reflecting on the history of the franchise, it’s clear that not every movie lived up to high audience expectations. And some people wonder if they’re going to be disappointed this time around.
Critical reception and box office numbers weren’t great for Scream 4. Although Scream (2022) and Scream 6 were more popular than the fourth one, does that mean that the next installment will be as beloved as previous ones? I have a few concerns about Scream 7, and I have some ideas for how Scream 7 can avoid the fate of Scream 4.
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What Was The Problem With Scream 4 And How Can Scream 7 Make Fans Happy?
The main issue that many horror fans have with Scream 4 is it didn’t feel like the slasher franchise was evolving. It was released in 2011, which was eleven years after Scream 3. Although the movie could have felt contemporary, it still felt like a 1990s horror movie thanks to its cheesy tone and focus on the teenage characters. Sure, everyone loves Kirby Reed (Hayden Panettiere), but some feel like the other characters, such as Jill Roberts (Emma Roberts), are mean and uninteresting.
Scream 4 was also the lowest-grossing of all the Scream movies. According to Box Office Mojo, Scream 4 grossed only grossed $38,180,928 domestically. Forbes reported that Scream (2022) earned more money than Scream 4 in a single week. Since so many people prefer to watch movies at home now and they wait for them to appear on streaming, it’s possible that not enough horror fans will head to the theater to see Scream 7.
Scream 7 can feel like the next natural progression in the slasher franchise by making most of the story about Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) instead of giving the new characters all the good and meaty storylines. Although young stars like Mckenna Grace have been cast in Scream 7, and Isabel May will play Sidney’s daughter, audiences are most interested in seeing where Sidney is now. The focus should be one the person whom everyone loves the most, not on new characters who might not be as intriguing or compelling. Horror fans will appreciate if the body count is high in Scream 7, and that might explain why there are so many new cast members.
Scream 7 should combine the best parts of the originals and the rebooted movies by casting more legacy cast members. If Jasmin Savoy Brown and Courteney Cox who plays the great journalist Gale Weathers appear in the movie, then that could drive people to the theaters. Since there have been so many delays and Scream 7 only recently got a release date, I think that fans need some good news and a reason to be excited about the sequel.
What Was The Fan And Critical Response To Scream 4?
Scream 4 has a 60% rating on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer and 57% on the Popcornmeter. Audiences didn’t love the fourth movie as much as the first film in the franchise, and critics weren’t happy, either. The Guardian gave the movie a three-star review and called it “uninspiring” and “unoriginally postmodern.” JoBlo said the film was “inspired.”
How did fans feel about Scream 4? Many have discussed their thoughts on Reddit. Redditor @johnnysweatband wrote:
“my problems hit with the end. Basically, I was so into the idea of the killer/s getting away with it and I thought that it would have opened the doors for a whole new and exciting path for the movies to take.”
Redditor @Kailetto also doesn’t love Scream 4 and explained:
“4 is often quite ugly to watch from a cinematographic perspective, with its horrible, hazy filter and weird colour grading. I also find it almost entirely devoid of tension, and underpinned by very unfunny attempts at humour… It just feels like a very tonally strange film, with mostly weak chases and kills, and a very weak killer post-reveal (Charlie).”
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