Spent the past couple of weeks watching the Scream movies, and I like them for being essentially more bloody murder mystery movies, but the newer ones are not as good as the originals. Here's how I'd rank the movies: Scream > Scre4m > 2 > 3 = 7 > VI = 2022
The original trilogy is so high because...it's the original trilogy. The first one set the tone, and the following two build off of it, though the third one is easily the weakest of the three. 4 I'd say is the second best because it feels just as fresh as the original with the creative direction of the story, and also feels like the film 3 "would" have been had Kevin not been busy with other projects and Columbine had not made everyone so touchy.
2022 and VI are...I'm hesitant to say dogshit, but the most nothing films in the series. No matter what, I just could not care about any of the new characters in these films as all of them just come across as angsty pricks, except for the two black characters who return in 7. Then there's also the fact that 2022 is a retread of 4 but from the opposite end, and VI is just retread of 2 using the other proposed script for 3.
Of the "New Generation" trilogy, VII is easily the best, and effectively shows that Williamson is the "heart" of this series. And I instantly knew I was going to like this one the moment Gale showed up and mowed down the new "killer" 47 minutes into the film. That being said, it does repeat a lot of the problems present with the two prior films. In that it feels like it's now playing on "standard" Pedowood horror tropes of being a "serious" movies instead of being a self-referential, self-aware murder mystery with thrills and chills. This is most obvious with the lighting and coloring used as the "Scream Babies" trilogy has more muted colors, and lighting either goes for highly contrasting light and dark elements or taking place in overall dark environments. Compare that to the first four films where all the scenes take place in very colorful and bright places where you can see all the action.
Then there's also the problem that, like a lot of "legacy" series these days, the story keeps feeling like it has to find endless excuses to keep recycling and reusing the previous characters that survived the previous films instead of letting them move on. Ghostface is suppose to effectively be "anyone", so why does he keep having something to do with Sidney. 2022 almost had the chance to break away, but ruined that by immediately making everyone related to the original characters. They do have entirely original characters with the TV series, so I'll have to see if that ranks better, but the films feel like they've worn out everything that can be done with the legacy characters. And as much as Campbell and Cox are still rather attractive, I just don't want to see them anymore because it's become ridiculous with how modern media has endlessly become about how actors old enough to be grandparents still need to show how "badass" they are.
If you're interested in the series, I recommend just sticking with the first four. Will consider watching seeing Scream 8 when that comes out, as it's already confirmed in development, but I don't have high hopes for it if it's going to be another "reunion" film and they continue taking themselves so damn seriously.