Screenwriter Kevin Williamson, who penned the original “Scream,” once said on its 25th anniversary that the entire franchise has been “coded in gay survival.” At its core, the entire series is built on a playful mishmash of horror tropes and cliches, a genre is rich with subtextual queerness. Williamson himself identifies with Neve Campbell’s Sidney Prescott, as the concept of an enduring final girl, a trope so inherent to the repressed relationship with sexuality felt relatable to him as a gay man.
Musical theater is often considered a safe space for queer folk too — and oddly, the horror genre works beautifully in the format, which is similarly all about external expression; a scream and cry for help is just as cathartic as a character singing how they are feeling in the current moment. Where it could separate itself from “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” or “Little Shop of Horrors” is the meta slasher element, being freely able to reference the rules of the genre in the lyrics.
Plus, our current core cast of Woodsboro survivors already have their fair share of experience when it comes to musical talent. Josh Segarra himself got his start on Off-Broadway musical productions, from “Lysistrata Jones” to “Dogfight.” Before “Scream,” Melissa Barrera starred as Vanessa in the overlooked 2021 film adaptation of “In the Heights.” Jenna Ortega became a viral sensation because of her self-choreographed dance scene on Netflix’s “Wednesday,” and Jasmin Savoy Brown has a solo music career of her own outside of acting.
As of now, “Scream 7” has not been confirmed, though its box office success is a good sign there’s more to come. If the team at Radio Silence find themselves fresh out of ideas, then Segarra clearly has them covered.