(Image source: Paramount Pictures)
One of the most anticipated horror sequels of the year, "Scream 7," opened strong at the box office late last month, grossing over $193 million worldwide to date and becoming the highest-earning installment in the franchise (unadjusted for inflation). However, despite its impressive box office performance, the film's critical reception has been significantly less positive, drawing criticism from many media outlets and core fans. It currently holds a dismal 31% average score on Rotten Tomatoes, making it the lowest-rated film in the series.
※ The following content contains spoilers. Please read with caution.
Among the most heavily criticized aspects of "Scream 7" is the killer's motive, which was widely deemed far-fetched and difficult for audiences to comprehend or accept. But it wasn't just viewers who were dissatisfied with the motive's design. Anna Camp, who played the film's main killer, Jessica, recently admitted in an interview that the script provided insufficient information, forcing her to create her own backstory for the character.
Camp stated, "For that big reveal scene at the end, I had to be so emotionally full, and I had to be thinking about all the details I had set for myself, because there really wasn't much for me to go on in the script (laughs). So I had to come up with the character's backstory for that scene myself. I had to figure out why I loved Sidney Prescott so much, why I was obsessed with her to that extent. This was all something I came up with in my hotel room, because before that scene, there were no clues at all (laughs). Absolutely no information was provided."
(Image source: Paramount Pictures)
Camp continued, "I remember when I was going to read the script, they asked me to go to an office building in Beverly Hills and read the script alone in a sealed room. After I finished reading, one of the producers came to me and asked, 'You know, I want to know what you think of the script.' The initial draft actually had fewer scenes than what you see in the movie, and I remember telling that producer, 'I have to give a suggestion from a producer's perspective right now. I'm not an actor who wants more screen time, but from a producer's standpoint, I think you need to add something more, because as it stands, this character just suddenly appears, plays a normal mom, and then doesn't show up again until the final climax.' So I suggested that the character needed at least one more scene."
(Image source: Paramount Pictures)
Camp went on to say, "And what they ended up adding was just appearing outside Sidney's house with Courteney (Cox), but the content of that scene didn't quite align with what I had originally envisioned (awkward laugh). What I had hoped for was that the new scene would further explain my character's backstory, add more depth, mention more about how she viewed her son, how she viewed... everything. But ultimately, I couldn't keep pressuring them to change the script. After all, I wasn't a producer on this film; I was an actor they hired. So I could only rationalize the plot myself, fill in more details, and make the final climax more resonant, more capable of conveying the feeling it needed to give the audience."
(Image source: Paramount Pictures)
Camp also pointed out that Jessica's line about not loving her son because he was too much like her ex-husband was also Camp's own idea and dialogue. This part was entirely absent from the script, but Camp felt that since Jessica's son had already been killed, Jessica needed a line to convey her awareness of it to the audience. Camp stated that this experience taught her that as an actor, one must constantly provide feedback and advocate for improvements to a film. Regarding the final outcome of "Scream 7," she was grateful the crew at least considered her suggestions, concluding with a touch of resignation, "I did my best (laughs)."