Stab 7 (2010)

The Film

Eighteen year old Chloe murders her best friend. The town puts Chloe on trial for the earlier Ghost Face killings. She admits her guilt, but reveals she has a mysterious partner. While she waits for trial, that partner starts working through the entire Woodsboro community. There is no clear pattern and no obvious suspect, so Gale and Dewey have to solve it the old fashioned way. By the final confrontation, all bets are off.

Stab 7 is the seventh Sunrise Studios Stab film inside the Scream movies. It is the newest one when Scream 4 takes place. Scream 4 opens on its first scene, which starts out as a scene from Stab 6 and then pulls back. That opening is all that has been shown.

Stab 7 begins with the opening of Stab 6. Sherrie and Trudie are home for movie night, the Facebook stalker calls and texts, and two Ghost Faces kill them at the front door. The STAB 6 title comes up. Then the picture pulls back to show the scene playing on a TV.

Rachel and Chloe are on the couch watching. Rachel is disgusted. She calls it so stupid it is the death of horror and cannot believe it is a Facebook killer. Chloe admits it made her jump and jokes that now it would be Twitter, which would make more sense.

Rachel keeps going. She is sick of articulate teens sitting around picking apart horror movies until Ghost Face kills them one by one. To her the whole self-aware meta thing has been done to death, and it is time to stick a fork in 1996. Chloe defends the Stab movies. She says they are scarier than aliens, zombies or little Asian ghost girls, because a guy with a knife who just snaps could really happen.

Rachel says she can't do it. The sequels never know when to stop and keep recycling the same thing. Even the opening scene always has some random girl who gets a call that gets her killed. It is all predictable, she says, with no surprise, and you can see everything coming. Chloe stabs her in the stomach and asks if that surprised her. She tells Rachel it is her own fault. When Rachel asks why, Chloe says because you talk too much, stabs her again, and tells her to shut up and watch the movie. The STAB 7 title comes up.

The picture pulls back again. Jenny Randall and Marnie Cooper are watching Stab 7 on DVD at Jenny's house in Woodsboro, on the anniversary of the 1996 murders. Jenny loves it. She has seen it five times and it still gets her every time. Marnie doesn't get it. Jenny compares it to The Twilight Zone, a movie within a movie. Marnie calls it illogical and asks whether the start of Stab 6 is Stab 5, and what Stab 4 is even about. Jenny says she is overthinking it. Minutes later the real Ghost Face kills both girls.

The rest of Stab 7 is never shown. Chloe is a killer from the first minutes, and she and Rachel live in a world where the Stab films are movies. The Scream Wiki reads Stab 7 as a Stab version of Wes Craven's New Nightmare. It also points to Scream (2022), where the killer tells Tara there are two killers in the original Stab and Mindy says real Stab movies are meta slasher whodunits. From those lines the wiki guesses that Chloe has a partner who is unmasked at the end. That is a guess.

Stab 7 comes back later in Scream 4. After the police break up the Stab-a-thon, the survivors regroup at Kirby Reed's house, and Charlie Walker puts in Stab 7 because nobody cancels his film festival. One of the group does not want to watch it after what happened to Olivia Morris, and is told it was Olivia's favorite.

StabMovies.com tells the full story its own way. Eighteen-year-old Chloe murders her best friend. The town puts Chloe on trial for the earlier Ghost Face killings. She admits her guilt but reveals she has a mysterious partner. While she waits for trial, the partner starts killing across Woodsboro. There is no clear pattern and no obvious suspect, so Gale and Dewey have to solve it the old-fashioned way. By the final showdown, all bets are off. The Scream Wiki says Stab 7 is based on Gale Weathers' 2009 novel Knife of the Hunter, which is a real Scream 4 prop. None of this plot comes from the Scream films.

Release & Reception

Status: Released inside the Scream universe, and out on DVD by the time of Scream 4. Its opening scene plays at the start of Scream 4 (2011) under a STAB 7 title card.
Released: No date is given in any Scream film. StabMovies.com and the Scream Wiki both use 2010. The wiki's own infobox also says October 9, 2009, so the wiki disagrees with itself.
Runtime: Never stated on screen. The Scream Wiki lists 115 minutes (unconfirmed).

Inside the films, Stab 7 has real fans. Jenny Randall has seen it five times. Charlie Walker picks it for the after-party at Kirby's, and it was Olivia Morris's favorite. Marnie Cooper is the holdout and calls its movie-within-a-movie trick illogical.

At the third annual Stab-a-thon in Scream 4, the Cinema Club describes the party as all seven Stabs back to back, every year. The Scream Wiki works out that the first Stab-a-thon in 2009 could only show six.

By Scream (2022), fans inside the story look back on the numbered films as the real thing. Mindy says real Stab movies are meta slasher whodunits, and Richie complains that Stab 8 has no connection to the other movies and no legacy characters. StabMovies.com calls Stab 7 the last entry to stay true to the whodunit format.

In the real world, Scream 4 premiered at the Grauman's Chinese Theatre on April 11, 2011, and opened in the United States on April 15. It made $19.3 million its opening weekend and $97 million worldwide on a $40 million budget. It holds 61 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and got a B-minus CinemaScore.

Deleted Scenes & Trivia

Wikipedia says the opening sequences were rearranged from the original script. The alternate versions and deleted scenes are on the DVD.
The Jenny and Marnie section after Stab 7 was reshot in early 2011. The Scream Wiki and Screen Rant describe the original version. The girls prank each other, the phone call turns out to be a prank, and Ghost Face kills Jenny and then Marnie quickly with no chase.
Late in Scream 4, Charlie shows Sidney video of one of the killers attacking Marnie. The Scream Wiki says that footage comes from the alternate opening.

Trivia

The title card in Scream 4 reads STAB 7 with no subtitle. The name Knife of the Hunter comes from Gale's book, a real Scream 4 prop. The Scream Wiki says the Stab box set lists the film as STAB 7: KNIFE OF THE HUNTER, which would put the subtitle on an in-universe DVD case. That was not confirmed outside the wiki.
StabMovies.com's view is that the Sherrie and Trudie scene is not the real Stab 6. It is Stab 7's own remade version of Stab 6, with different actresses playing the characters. The reasoning: why would audiences sit through a six-minute opening they had already seen in the previous movie? That makes three layers, Stab 6 inside Stab 7 inside Scream 4.
In the Stab 6 footage, Sherrie answers the calls and hands the phone to Trudie, who also gets the texts. Ghost Face threatens each of them in turn.
Rachel is stabbed by the person next to her while watching a Stab movie. The Scream Wiki calls it a nod to Maureen Evans's death at the Stab premiere at the start of Scream 2.
Chloe kills with no mask on, so the audience knows one killer from the first minutes. The Scream Wiki points to Jason Carvey in Scream VI, who kills his professor and unmasks at once, and says Chloe did it first inside the Stab films.
The Scream Wiki gives Chloe the full name Chloe Patterson and her age as 17. Neither is said in the film. The StabMovies.com plot makes her eighteen.
The working title for both the book and the film was reportedly Under the Mask. That comes from StabMovies.com and is unconfirmed.
The Scream Wiki says an early script for Scream (2022), then called Scream Forever, had a teenager raving about the Stab sequels, especially Kristen Bell as Ghost Face. Unconfirmed.
Stab 7 is the newest Stab film at the time of Scream 4. The next one, Stab 8, comes out the year before Scream (2022). One of Mindy's friends remembers it as the one the Knives Out guy directed.
The Scream Wiki says Anna Paquin continues the franchise habit of a famous actress killed early. It compares her to Sarah Michelle Gellar in Scream 2 and Jenny McCarthy in Scream 3.
The release year is disputed. StabMovies.com and the Scream Wiki use 2010, but the wiki's infobox says October 9, 2009. The wiki's Stab-a-Thon page says Stab 7 was not out until 2010. No Scream film gives a date.
Bloody Disgusting's Scream 4 reference guide ties Chloe's little Asian ghost girls line to Ringu and The Grudge, and Jenny's movie-within-a-movie talk to The Twilight Zone.
The Scream Wiki's page on Chloe says she has the least screen time of any character in Scream 4.
Stab 7 is the newest Stab film at the time of Scream 4, and the Woodsboro High Cinema Club puts it on at the Stab-a-thon.

Confirmed on screen

Two connected sequences appear in Scream 4, and together they make one of the most ridiculous and most memorable movie-within-a-movie fake-outs the franchise has ever pulled.
In the first sequence, Sherrie and Trudie are about to watch Saw IV when they both get phone calls and Facebook messages from Ghost Face at the same time. Ghost Face appears and murders them both, and it turns out there are two killers.
In the second sequence, Chloe and Rachel are watching that Sherrie and Trudie scene while picking apart how predictable horror films are. Then Chloe stabs Rachel, which proves her point that the audience never sees it coming.
There is debate over whether the Sherrie and Trudie scene is Stab 6, or a remade version of it inside Stab 7. The theory here is that it is Stab 7 showing its own movie-within-a-movie version of Stab 6, which creates nested layers of story.
The working title for both the book and the film was reportedly Under the Mask before it was changed.
This was the last entry to stay true to the murder-mystery whodunit format of the original film, and the last one before the long gap that ended with the 2021 reboot.
The title card in Scream 4 reads simply STAB 7, with no subtitle on it.

Unofficial

The subtitle Knife of the Hunter attached to the film itself. It comes from Gale Weathers’ book and was never shown on screen in the Scream films, on a poster, or on an official DVD case.

Stab 6 or Stab 7?

There has been some debate over whether the Sherrie and Trudie scene is the actual opening of "Stab 6" or the version of "Stab 6" being shown inside "Stab 7."

Confusing, I know. But why would audiences sit through a six-minute opening scene they had already watched in the previous movie unless this was a remade version, with different actresses playing the characters from the "real events" of "Stab 6"?

That is why I think the Sherrie and Trudie sequence is actually the in-universe version of "Stab 6" as presented inside "Stab 7."

In other words, we are not necessarily watching the real "Stab 6." We may be watching "Stab 7" showing us its own movie-within-a-movie version of "Stab 6."

Connections

Follows Stab 6, whose opening scene plays inside it.
Followed by Stab 8, the reboot Richie and Mindy talk about in Scream (2022). Mindy says it came out the year before.
Opens Scream 4 (2011) and is put on again at Kirby's house later in the film.
Rachel's death echoes Maureen Evans in Scream 2 (1997).
The Scream Wiki compares the framing to Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994).
Scream VI (2023): Jason Carvey's early unmasking and his dating-app texts to his professor echo Chloe and the Facebook killer talk, per the Scream Wiki.
StabMovies.com has its own fan film, Stab 7 (2017).

Sources

Cast & Production

Cast

Kristen Bell

Chloe

Credited in Scream 4 as Chloe in Stab 7. Cameo.

Anna Paquin

Rachel

Credited in Scream 4 as Rachel in Stab 7. Cameo.

Lucy Hale

Sherrie

Seen in the Stab 6 footage playing inside Stab 7. Credited in Scream 4 as Sherrie in Stab 6.

Shenae Grimes

Trudie

Seen in the Stab 6 footage playing inside Stab 7. Credited in Scream 4 as Trudie in Stab 6.

Roger L. Jackson

Ghost Face

Voice, heard in the Stab 6 footage. Jackson voices Ghost Face in Scream 4.

Elizabeth Banks

Gale Weathers

StabMovies.com casting. Not in the Scream 4 footage.

David Schwimmer

Dewey Riley

StabMovies.com casting. Not in the Scream 4 footage. In Scream 2, Randy tells Dewey that David Schwimmer plays him in the first Stab.

Sarah Michelle Gellar

Not named

StabMovies.com casting. Not in the Scream 4 footage.

Crew

Max Feinberg

Director (Scream Wiki and StabMovies.com; the wiki's Stab 7 infobox spells it Max Weinberg; never credited in a Scream film)

Will Kennison

Screenplay (Scream Wiki and StabMovies.com; never credited in a Scream film)

Gale Weathers

Author of the source novel, Knife of the Hunter (the book is a real Scream 4 prop)

Don Crosby

Executive producer (Scream Wiki)

Bill Birch

Executive producer (Scream Wiki)

Floyd Malone

Executive producer (Scream Wiki)

Fred Rifkin

Producer (Scream Wiki)

Marco Beltrami

Music (Scream Wiki; unconfirmed in-universe credit. Beltrami is the real composer of Scream 4)

Wes Craven

Director and producer of Scream 4, the real film this footage comes from

Kevin Williamson

Writer and producer of Scream 4

Ehren Kruger

Script rewrites on Scream 4 during production

Paul Harris Boardman

Additional rewrites on Scream 4

Iya Labunka

Producer of Scream 4

Peter Deming

Cinematographer of Scream 4

Peter McNulty

Editor of Scream 4

Marco Beltrami

Composer of Scream 4

Premiere Props

Sold the Scream 4 costumes, set pieces and prop books at auction on April 16, 2011

Production

The Stab 7 scene was shot for Scream 4, directed by Wes Craven from Kevin Williamson's script, with rewrites by Ehren Kruger during production and more by Paul Harris Boardman. On a $40 million budget, principal photography began June 28, 2010, in and around Ann Arbor, Michigan, and ran until September 24. Wikipedia reports that the actors did not get the 140-page script past page 75, to keep the killer's identity secret.

The Hollywood Reporter's Heat Vision blog broke the casting on August 25, 2010. It called Anna Paquin the True Blood star and said she and Kristen Bell would make cameos while the film was shooting in Michigan. Those in the know said the cameos were like Drew Barrymore's in the original Scream. The writer said he had been asked to hold the news and went along with it so fans could be surprised. The same post reported the script was up to 140 pages.

The layered opening replaced earlier plans. Williamson first wrote an opening where Sidney is attacked and left for dead, followed by a jump in time, which Bob Weinstein thought would slow the story. Kristen Stewart then turned down the opening cameo because she felt she could not live up to Drew Barrymore.

The Scream Wiki says Chloe and Rachel were written with Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan in mind, and that Chloe was 17 in an early draft. The wiki cites no source for either claim.

The Jenny and Marnie section after Stab 7 was reshot. Wikipedia says Aimee Teegarden came back for extra shooting in late January and early February 2011, after a January test screening. The Scream Wiki's Marnie Cooper page notes a side effect. Rachel mocks the random girl who answers a call and gets killed, and the reshot Jenny scene does exactly that. SlashFilm's look at the home video extras suggests the Stab 6 and Stab 7 parts were not changed.

Filming locations

In and around Ann Arbor, Michigan: The Scream 4 shoot, June to September 2010. The specific house used for Rachel and Chloe's scene remains unverified.

Effects and makeup

Rachel's death is one knife to the stomach and a second stab, with blood from her mouth. Premiere Props later sold her top as bloody with a stab wound on the front, and a piece of the couch she dies on as a large grey bloody chair.

Props and costumes

Rachel's costume. Premiere Props sold it on April 16, 2011: a bloody teal racerback Brandy Melville top with a stab wound on the front, dark blue Old Navy jean shorts and black and white lace-up Converse shoes, with the wardrobe tag.

Chloe's costume. Premiere Props sold a pink J. Crew tank top and light blue Juicy Couture jeans with the wardrobe tag, plus a second, bloody version with a nude camisole.

The couch. Premiere Props sold two pieces of the couch from the scene where Chloe kills Rachel, each described as a large grey bloody chair about 28 by 38 inches.

The Stab 7 dining room. Premiere Props sold a red light wood Asian-style statue on a black base, about 39 inches long, listed as from the Stab 7 dining room.

The kitchen knife Chloe uses on Rachel (Scream Wiki).

Knife of the Hunter by Gale Weathers, the novel behind Stab 7. Premiere Props sold several screen-used paperback copies, about 8.5 by 5.5 inches, with real books under the covers. One lot names the book underneath as Pride and Prejudice. The Scream Wiki describes another copy with pages from Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, made for the bargain shelves outside the bookstore where Sidney promotes Out of Darkness.

Bloody Disgusting lists Knife of the Hunter among Gale's books in the Scream VI Ghost Face shrine. The Scream Wiki says it is also an Easter egg on Gale's desk in Scream 4.

The Stab 7 DVD. Kirby holds it at her house in Scream 4. The Scream Wiki says the knife art from the Knife of the Hunter cover also shows on the side of the Stab box set there.

A Stab 7 poster is one of seven Stab posters in the Scream VI theater hallway, per the Scream Wiki's shrine page. Unconfirmed. The poster on the wiki's Stab 7 page is captioned as made by StabMovies.com.

Killers & Deaths

The killers

Chloe

Played by: Kristen Bell
Motive: On screen she kills Rachel for trashing the Stab movies and talking too much. She is a Stab fan. Any bigger motive is never shown.
Death: Unknown. She is last seen going back to the movie.

Deaths

Rachel

Played by: Anna Paquin
How: Stabbed in the stomach, then stabbed again
Where: On the couch in front of the TV while watching Stab 6
By: Chloe

Trudie

Played by: Shenae Grimes
How: Stabbed in the chest
Where: By the front door, in the Stab 6 footage that opens Stab 7
By: Ghost Face

Sherrie

Played by: Lucy Hale
How: Throat cut
Where: At the front door, in the Stab 6 footage that opens Stab 7
By: Second Ghost Face

Music & Home Media

Scream 4's score is by Marco Beltrami, released by Varese Sarabande on April 19, 2011. The song soundtrack came out from Lakeshore Records on April 12, 2011.

The Scream Wiki credits Beltrami as the in-universe composer of Stab 7. Unconfirmed.

Home Media

In-universe DVD. Jenny and Marnie watch Stab 7 on DVD in the Scream 4 opening, and Kirby owns a copy.
In-universe seven-film Stab box set, on DVD in Scream 4 and on Blu-ray in Scream (2022). The Scream Wiki says the set lists it as STAB 7: KNIFE OF THE HUNTER. Unconfirmed.
Real world: the scene is on every release of Scream 4. The DVD and Blu-ray came out in Mexico on August 5, 2011, in the UK and Ireland on August 22, 2011, in Canada and the United States on October 4, 2011, and in Australia and New Zealand on October 13, 2011. The extras include an alternate opening and deleted scenes.
Lionsgate released Scream 4 on Ultra HD Blu-ray on June 9, 2026, with a limited edition VHS.