What actually happens
A house with a television-shaped reputation
Two fans of the Stab movies, Scott and Madison, visit Stu Macher's house because of a rumor that Stu lived through a television landing on his head. Ghostface kills them and sets the house on fire. The story then moves to Pine Grove, Indiana, where Sidney Prescott has made a new life. She runs a coffeehouse, is raising her kids and is married to Mark Evans, the police chief. Her children include her teenage daughter Tatum, who is named after Sidney's late best friend. Sidney gets a call from Ghostface, who asks for a video call and shows his face: an older, scarred Stu. Stu says he is coming for Tatum and that he is already waiting outside the theater where she is at rehearsal. Sidney arrives with the police, but Ghostface kills Tatum's friends Hannah and Aaron and gets away.
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A safe room with a second exit
Later that night, Ghostface climbs out of Sidney's attic and knocks Mark out cold. Sidney hurries Tatum into a safe room and then takes her out the room's second exit. Ghostface stabs at them through the wall until Gale Weathers arrives with Mindy and Chad Meeks-Martin, who work for her, and they run him over, which kills him. When Sidney pulls off the mask, she knows the killer as Karl Gibbs, a man who broke out of a mental institution nearby and had been in her coffeehouse earlier. Sidney then visits the institution. Its supervisor, Marco Davis, says Stu is a John Doe who was released recently, with no memory from before he turned up in Woodsboro, and that Stu lived next door to Karl.
A tavern is the wrong place to relax
This is the sequence people dread most, and it comes in the middle of the film. Sidney agrees to a live TV interview with Gale to draw Stu out. Meanwhile, Tatum goes to a tavern to meet the Meeks twins, her friends Chloe and Lucas, and her boyfriend Ben. At home, Ghostface ambushes Mark and stabs him repeatedly. When the interview wraps, Stu phones Sidney to say he is outside the tavern. Tatum gets suspicious of Ben after she spots a laptop in his car that is busy testing a way to put his face over Stu's, so she knocks him out and runs. Ghostface injures the Meeks twins, kills Chloe and Lucas, and then chases Tatum through the streets. Ben finds her, and Ghostface kills him. Tatum reaches Sidney's coffeehouse. Following Sidney's instructions over the phone, she gets a gun out of the office, fires at Ghostface from cover behind a wall, and then discovers a second Ghostface at the front door.
A returning killer with several guest faces
Stu calls Sidney to say Tatum is being held captive at home. Sidney sees a televised message from him, and he changes his appearance into earlier Ghostface killers Nancy Loomis and Roman Bridger, and into Gale's late ex-husband Dewey Riley. He says the night is going back to how the original Woodsboro killings began: a person is made to watch someone they love held captive at home. Sidney finds Tatum bound to a chair at knifepoint. He reveals himself as Marco, who says he used his background in information technology to create "Stu". He drags in a wounded Mark, and the second Ghostface unmasks as Sidney's neighbor Jessica Bowden. Jessica read Sidney's autobiography and decided Sidney succeeded because she killed the people who tormented her. That led Jessica to murder her abusive husband, and then her son Lucas, who she thought resembled his father. Jessica adds that she plans to make Tatum the next Sidney by putting her through the same trauma that made Sidney a final girl.
The ending, explained
Mark frees Tatum, who goes after Jessica, and Sidney shoots Marco dead. Jessica runs, Sidney follows and they fight, and the fight stops only when Tatum shoots Jessica. Jessica attacks again, and Sidney and Tatum both shoot her in the head several times. Afterward, Mark is taken to the hospital, Sidney thanks Gale for backing her up, and she tells Tatum about the friend she was named after. With Gale's blessing, Mindy gives an improvised news report about what happened that night.
The post-credits ruling
Yes, there is a mid-credits scene, so stay through the credits.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: fine, no dog dies.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is Scream 7 scary?
Yes. Scream 7 is a 5 out of 10, and the dread is gone when the credits roll. It is a slasher with phone calls, jump scares and a lot of stabbing.
How does Scream 7 end?
Sidney shoots Marco, and she and her daughter Tatum shoot Jessica, who was the second Ghostface. Mark is taken to the hospital, and Mindy reports on the night for the news.
Does the dog die in Scream 7?
No. No dog dies in Scream 7, and no animal does either.
Is there a post-credits scene in Scream 7?
Yes. Scream 7 has a mid-credits scene, so stay through the credits.
Is Stu Macher really back in Scream 7?
No. The Stu who calls Sidney in Scream 7 is a fake that Marco Davis created using his background in information technology.
