Early in “Scream 7,” in one of those blasts of the franchise's signature, self-mocking irony, Neve Campbell is taunted for sitting out “Scream VI.”
“It's not the same without you,” she is told.
It's true: Campbell's Sidney Prescott is the plucky heart of this series, the original Scream Queen, the so-called Final Girl, who bites her lip and yet leaps into action when needed. “Scream VI” tried to put defibrillator paddles on the Ghostface killer franchise without Campbell, and it felt like a stutter-step.
So it's a welcome back for Sidney Prescott in this seventh edition, which is a messy mix of horror and humor that's clearly only for “Scream” completists, those hardy folk who refuse logic or vivid filmmaking in their quest to see a dude in a cape and mask stab people.
Sidney is now a mom to a rebellious 17-year-old daughter, a wife to the town's police chief and a cafe owner in the very artificial suburban community of Pine Grove. She has pushed her traumatic past into a memory hole and thus has created a tension with her daughter, played by a very bratty Isabel May. Her calm life is upended when her past comes to find her.
Franchise creator Kevin Williamson returns to direct and co-write the screenplay with series veteran Guy Busick, but it's all very slack, a ton of B-acting joined by a plot, dialogue and editing that produces less dread than inadvertent humor, slipping over and over in its own puddle of gore.
“Scream 7” mixes old and new franchise characters, adds new horrific ways to die — like being slit open while suspended over a high school theater stage or having your skull impaled on a beer tap — with a desperate search for whoever is doing the killings. It's never who you think it is and you'll never figure this one out, either. “It's always someone you know” is one helpful tip.
Campbell is joined by Courteney Cox, who reprises her role as Gale Weathers, an annoying TV journalist who is the only character to appear in all seven “Scream” films. (Is that really something to boast about?)
Even Cox has some shade to share with Sidney about missing the franchise's last jaunt to New York City in “Scream VI:” “You're lucky you sat that one out. It was brutal.” Preach, sister. We watched it.
“Scream 7” is all about 2026, embracing deepfake videos, trying to absorb a messy past and deal with helicopter parents. It also embraces such interesting ways to kill people as fire extinguishers to the noggin, meat mallets and a slide across a bar into broken shot glass shards.
At one point, Sidney and her daughter make their way into a well-appointed panic room while the killer is furiously hunting them. They spend less than five minutes there, panting a lot, and then they (checks notes) inexplicably leave — the panic room.
“This isn't going to stop unless I stop it,” Sidney says.
While there are nods to other horror movies — “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” is playing at the local theater and the “Halloween” franchise gets name-checked — “Scream” has always been fun for the way it deconstructs the genre while making a new one. This time, that's just flat.
There's a stab — sorry — at dealing with PTSD, but choosing the “Scream” franchise to discuss generational trauma is a weird vehicle to pick when there's a psychotic, knife-wielding serial killer dropping bodies every few minutes.
Lumbering along while fatally wounded, this is a franchise that doesn't know it is dead, staggering ever onward without an ending in sight. Perhaps Sidney is right: This isn’t going to stop unless she stops it.
“Scream 7,” a Paramount Pictures release that hits theaters Friday, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association for strong bloody violence, gore and language. Running time: 114 minutes. One and a half stars out of four.
Neve Campbell, a cast member in "Scream 7," arrives at the premiere of the film on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
Roger Jackson, left, who provides the voice of the "Scream" franchise's villain "Ghostface," poses with an actor portraying the character at the premiere of the film "Scream 7" on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Thursday called an early general election for March 24 as the country digests the recent standoff with U.S. President Donald Trump over his designs on the semiautonomous Danish territory of Greenland.
Frederiksen likely hopes that her handling of the Greenland crisis, in which she appeared straight-talking and tough, will give her a boost with Danish voters.
“It is now up to you, the voters, to decide what direction Denmark will take over the next four years. And I am looking forward to it,” Frederiksen, 48, said as she made her announcement in parliament.
Voters in the NATO and European Union member will determine who sits in 179-member parliament, which includes two seats apiece for lawmakers representing Greenland and the kingdom's other semiautonomous territory, the Faroe Islands.
Trump’s push for U.S. control of Greenland, which culminated in his short-lived threat last month to impose new tariffs on Denmark and several other European countries, was a major challenge for the Danish government over the past year.
Last month, Frederiksen warned that an American takeover of Greenland would amount to the end of the NATO military alliance.
Polls also show a bump in the popularity of the prime minister’s Social Democrats during recent weeks which were dominated by the looming Greenland crisis.
Some Danish citizens have been so upset with the U.S. president’s frequent talks about seizing Greenland that they participated in protests and even boycotted American goods in supermarkets.
As she announced the election on Thursday, Frederiksen said in parliament: “This will be a crucial election for us, because in the next four years, we as Danes and as Europeans will really have to stand on our own two feet.”
“We must define our relationship with the U.S. We must arm ourselves to ensure peace on our continent. We must keep Europe together,” she added referring to Russia’s ongoing war on Ukraine, which is now in its fifth year.
After Trump backed down on his Greenland threats last month, the U.S., Denmark and Greenland started technical talks on an Arctic security deal.
Still, Frederiksen made clear earlier this month that she remains wary about the Greenland issue. Asked at the Munich Security Conference whether the crisis had passed, she replied: “No, unfortunately not. I think the desire from the U.S. president is exactly the same. He is very serious about this theme.”
Frederik Hjorth, an associate professor for political science at the University of Copenhagen, said: “The Greenland crisis has played a major part in the noticeable bump that the government parties have received over the last couple of months.”
While Trump would likely not feature in a major way in the election campaign, “he will be a sort of a background theme in the campaign because that speaks to the government message of the importance of having, competent people in charge.”
Frederiksen, a center-left Social Democrat, has become known for her strict immigration policies, which are among the toughest in Europe.
Last month, her government unveiled a legal reform allowing the deportation of foreigners who have been sentenced to at least one year of unconditional imprisonment for serious crimes Years before other countries on the continent tried to outsource asylum request procedures to third countries or set up so-called “return hubs” for rejected asylum seekers outside the European Union, Fredriksen pitched such ideas.
Beyond that, the cost of living in Denmark will probably also become a prominent campaign topic, Hjorth said.
A general election must be held at least every four years but the prime minister can call one at any time. The last election was held on Nov. 1, 2022, and resulted in a three-party coalition that crosses the left-right divide.
Frederiksen has led Denmark since mid-2019. She currently heads a government with the Liberal Party of Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen and the centrist Moderate party of Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, a former prime minister. If she gets reelected, it would be her third term.
Campaigning began almost immediately after the announcement, with major commercial news outlets showing political advertising for the Social Democrats, while supporters of the populist anti-immigration Danish People’s party began leafleting in parliament in Copenhagen.
The call for early elections by Frederiksen came as little surprise to some people.
“I can see the support for her. It’s up. So I mean, strategically, I think it’s a smart choice,” Laura Beyer, 33, who works in social media marketing, said in Copenhagen.
Referring to the Greenland situation, Beyer applauded the prime minister for how she handled the crisis and said she herself could have not withheld under the immense American pressure.
“I think if I was in that situation I would have just passed out from stress,” Beyer said, adding: “I think she’s done the best that she could. And from my perspective, I don’t think how anyone could do differently.”
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Grieshaber reported from Berlin. Associated Press journalist Geir Moulson, also in Berlin, contributed.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen speaks in the Folketing hall, the Danish parliament, in Copenhagen, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. (Thomas Traasdahl/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen arrives at the Folketing hall, the Danish parliament, in Copenhagen, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. (Thomas Traasdahl/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen speaks in the Folketing hall, the Danish parliament, in Copenhagen, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. (Thomas Traasdahl/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announces an upcoming parliamentary election, in the Parliament Hall at Christiansborg, in Copenhagen, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. (Thomas Traasdahl/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announces an upcoming parliamentary election, in the Parliament Hall at Christiansborg, in Copenhagen, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. (Thomas Traasdahl/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen during a panel discussion at the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
