Summary
Filming will finally get underway forScream 7in December 2024, after significant delays due to Neve Campbell and Kevin Williamson’s schedules. The delay also provides an opportunity to make sureScream 7is a strong entry in the popular horror franchise, with extra work on the script and other aspects of the upcoming sequel.Kevin Williamson could take inspiration forScream 7from John Hyams' excellent serial killer thriller,Alone, which was released in 2020. The movie features a creepy vibe that would fit very well in a Scream movie.
Kevin Williamson’s last horror moviewas Hyams' slasher flick,Sick, which was released in 2022, so the pair are very familiar with each other after this collaboration.Aloneis very much in the same vein asSickandScream, with a serial killer hunting down unsuspecting victims.The movie was well received by critics, and currently has a rating of 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, with an audience score of 54%.
Jules Wilcox, Marc Menchada and Anthony Heald
Directed By
John Hyams
Jessica (Jules Wilcox) is a recently widowed woman who is traveling on a mountainous highway, on her way to a new life, when she is pestered by a fellow motorist in a jeep, (played by Marc Menchada), who nearly runs her off the road. The man catches up to her at a gas station and apologizes for his behavior, but Jessica is rightly unnerved by him and tries to get back on the road to escape from him.
Jessica encounters the creepy man again, and is forced to stop when she sees his Jeep blocking the road. In typical Ted Bundy style, the man pretends to be injured, with a sling over his arm, and tries to convince her that he’s broken down, and asks for a ride, which she declines and drives off.
The darkness descends on the day, and Jessica sees the man again at a rest stop and, once again, she flees. Unfortunately, the trailer attached to her car begins to fail, and she crashes into the side of the road. She discovers the trailer has a slashed tire, when the man appears out of nowhere, breaks into her car, and drugs and kidnaps her. Jessica wakes up in an isolated cabin, locked in a room. She pleads with the man to release her, but instead, he taunts her until she reveals that her husband died by suicide.
The next morning, Jessica manages to escape the room, and overhears the man talking to his wife and daughter on the phone, lying about his whereabouts. Later on, when he realizes Jessica is no longer in the room, he goes in search for her, and Jessica escapes into the wilderness, leading to a deadly cat and mouse game.
Jessica meets a hunter named Robert (Anthony Heald) who helps her by giving her a ride, but the kidnapper catches up with them, and tells Robert that Jessica is his sister who has mental health problems after her husband’s untimely death. Sensing something isn’t right, Robert wants to use the man’s phone to call the police, but he attacks him and shoots him dead with Robert’s own hunting rifle.
Jessica escapes as the man chases after her, but she hides in a cave. The next day, the man buries Robert’s body in a shallow grave, which gives Jessica the opportunity to jump into his car, steal his phone and call the police, while hiding in the trunk. She then hits him over the head with a tire iron, which results in the crashing of the car. She calls the man’s wife to tell her who her husband really is, and a fight breaks out between the pair as she taunts him. Jessica stabs the man to death, as a rescue helicopter descends on the location.
Kevin Williamson
Aloneis an unsettling thriller that keeps the audience on the edge of their seats for the duration of the 98-minute run time. The movie is essentially a two-hander with Jules Wilcox’s victim Jessica trying to escape from the clutches ofMarc Menchada’s psycho killer. In an alternate reality,Alonecould easily be a Scream movie, with Sidney Prescott facing off against Ghostface in an isolated location.
The creepy vibe of Alone is somethingScream 7could emulate, with the battle between Sidney anda more featured Ghostfacetaking center stage. Neve Campbell has confirmed thatScream 7will be a Sidney focused story, andit should take big creative risksand get inspiration fromAlone’s focus on the cat and mouse battle between the final girl and the killer.
There were rumors that Kevin Williamson was scouting for remote locations forScream 7to film in, and this would be reminiscent of some of the areas whereAlonewas filmed. Similar remote locations were used in John Hyams' slasher,Sick, written by Williamson, so this raises the possibility thatScream 7could be looking to copy the isolated, creepy vibe ofAlone, as well asSick.
