Scream 7 just dethroned Scream 3 for lowest Rotten Tomatoes score of the franchise

The first reviews for Scream 7 are here... and they're not great.

At the time of writing, Scream 7 sits at a 40% on Rotten Tomatoes... though it debuted to 43%, climbed up a little to 45%, and went back down again. Needless to say, reactions to the seventh (and not so final) film in the franchise have been negative to mixed at best.

This makes Scream 7 the lowest-rated movie in the franchise, coming in just under Scream 3, which sits at 45%. From there, the order from worst to best goes Scream 4 at 61%, Scream 5 at 76%, Scream 6 at 77%, the original Scream at 78%, and Scream 2 at a surprising 84% (how could you give a high rating to the movie that killed Randy Meeks?!)

Scream 7 sees Sidney married to a cop (played by Joel McHale) with a daughter (Isabel May) named after her deceased bestie Tatum (the OG Rose McGowan), and living in the quaint little town of Pine Grove, Texas. As revealed in both the trailer and an early released clip, a seemingly new Ghostface has burned Stu Macher's house (which was repurposed as an Airbnb for the true crime-obsessed) and is out to get Sidney... again.

Directed by Kevin Williamson, the writer of the very first Scream film, the cast includes McKenna Grace, Asa Germann, Anna Camp, Sam Rechner, and of course, Courteney Cox and Matthew Lillard.

Den of Geek gave it 2/5 stars, writing that the movie is absent of the "wit, metatextual irony, and visual flair that’s marked every other installment." Put simply by The Hollywood Reporter: "There’s a rote quality to the proceedings that makes Scream 7 feel like a slog despite its high body count." Our own 3-star review does call it "enjoyably self-aware and satisfyingly bloody," but adds that it isn't as sharp or as smart as the other entries.

Scream 7 hits theaters on February 27. In the meantime, check out our guide to the other best upcoming horror movies on the way in 2026.