It’s officially the best time of the year to watch a scary movie, but not enough new ones hit the 2026 movie schedule in the month of October for my taste. So, I decided it was finally time to check out the latest Scream movie since it just became available to stream with an Amazon Prime Video subscription. It took me a long time to check it out, but wow, was I missing out! (Image credit: Paramount Pictures)Why I Ran Away From Scream 7I love the Scream franchise, but I decided to skip out on Scream 7 when it came out back in February because it felt like I was hearing nothing but horror stories about it. We gave it a staggering 1.5 out of 5 stars in CinemaBlend’s Scream 7 review, and other critics were similarly brutal in other reports on the film. In fact, it got the worst reviews of any Scream movie. The disappointing Scream news also came with other things I’d heard about the film, too. After a bunch of exciting casting announcements came out involving the likes of Matthew Lillard, Scott Foley and David Arquette returning, I was very curious about it. Then I heard there was a bummer A.I. plotline that really didn’t interest me. As if I don’t worry about A.I. in my daily life already. I just figured I’d put a stake through the heart of this one Scream movie and be better off rewatching one of the other ones at home. (Image credit: Paramount Pictures)The Jump-Scare Of A Good Time I Had But, guys… I was dead wrong. Scream 7 was so much fun! My No. 1 favorite thing about it has to be Neve Campbell’s return as Sidney Prescott. After she skipped the last movie, it was so refreshing to see her back in her rightful place as a final girl. And, while I wasn’t particularly excited for the tired trope of famed characters passing down things to their kids in nostalgia-filled sequels, this wasn’t the case of Scream 7. The movie did a great job of keeping the focus on Sidney and finding clever ways for us to see her as a mother for the first time. There’s one standout scene towards the end when she has to walk through with her daughter how to use a gun to try to get Ghostface, and it had me on the edge of my seat. I won’t give away the details of the Ghostface mystery in Scream 7, but seven movies in, I was pretty impressed with how unsuspecting the whole thing was for me. Yes, there’s an A.I. plotline (eyeroll), but honestly, it made sense in the context of the movie. Ghostface has always been a character who hides behind a mask, and I wasn’t mad at some of the original cast coming back even if they weren’t truly alive in the storyline. In retrospect, I see why critics didn’t like this one. It’s not doing anything groundbreaking with the Scream franchise. That doesn’t mean it still wasn’t a great time, however. Anyways, if you too were scared away by the reviews, I would definitely recommend checking it out anyways. It was clearly made for fans like me.