The rules have changed, but luckily for the film some things stay the same..
Scream 4 (2011)
Directed By: Wes Craven (Swamp Thing)
The Prologue
The year 2000 brought us the last Scream film in what was the original Scream trilogy. Scream, coming along in 1996, breathed new life into a stale genre and created an updated horror format that would be used well into the 2000′s until things fully switched on over to remakes and torture porn. While that trilogy did lose some steam with Scream 3, its been around eleven years and we get what MAY be the start of a new trilogy in Scream 4. Can Wes Craven and crew once again kick-start the horror genre or is this franchise still running on an empty tank? Well, after seeing this one myself I think the box office reports are selling this one a little bit short.
The Movie
Sidney Prescott is a survivor. After hell broke lose on three different occasions leaving only her, Policemen Dewey Riley (who is now Sheriff Dewey), and his wife, news reporter Gail Weathers as the living victims, she writes a self-help book on dealing with these sorts of things. Upon her last stop on her book tour, at her hometown of Woodsboro, a string of murders have once again broken out and this time it not only targets Sidney, but her cousin Jill, and all her friends. This time however the killer is planning a “reboot”, and is out to top the original grizzly murders that took place years ago. It’s a new decade. It’s new rules. Can Sidney and the gang once again survive Ghostface?
On the surface, Scream 4 is rather cliche. However, while some might see it as a fault, I see it as part of it’s charm. While there isn’t much in the way of creativeness in the form of people being stabbed to death, there is a overwhelming sense of self-awareness in this film. The film pokes fun at horror as a whole here in Scream 4, and it pokes fun at it’s self. This not only somewhat covers for any cliches that the film has, it also keeps it fun as we run down the whole ideal of the new decade, new rules gimmick. And while the more things change in the world of horror, we find with the Scream 4 the more they again stay the same. But that’s not a bad thing. While Scream 4 is in no way a modern classic or anything, it’s fun and I found it to be shockingly entertaining.
After the mess that was Scream 3, I didn’t think this franchise could rebound. While it did take a long time, I think it does just fine here. This film is the best sequel this franchise has had and is the closes thing as far as fun and style to the original Scream.Now that may also be due to the fact it’s story runs the closes with the original, keeping with the overall theme that the killer isn’t just following the old format, the killers is trying to reboot things by topping the original massacre, but that’s just fine with me. And while the blood shed here isn’t as gory as I’d have liked it to be, it does do a good job for what we get. And while it lacks in blood a little, it more than makes up for it by tossing out red herrings left and right, successfully keeping you guessing as you watch. The film never felt dull or boring at all to me as I watched it. And I really did dig some of Wes’ writing here, even if I think the intro to the film is a little too cute.
One of my main fears I had heading into Scream 4 was that the film would toss aside the established characters like Sid, Dewey, and Gail in nonchalant fashion to make way for the new fresher and younger faces like Emma Roberts who plays Sidney’s cousin Jill or the wonderful Hayden Panettiere, who plays Jill’s friend Kirby. I’m happy to report that’s not the case at all, and I should have had more faith in Wes Craven, who more or less knows the importance of iconic characters and how to treat them. We get a good mix of both young and old, and it all blends in really well when need be too. And while it’s hard to replace Randy (R.I.P.) we at least get a couple of movie nerds tossed in as well to fill in everyone on the new set of rules that are apparently in place.
Overall when the credits rolled for Scream 4 I was pleasantly surprised at what I saw and can honestly say that in my opinion it is the best one since the original bar none. While I don’t feel it will set the horror world on fire (and going by the box office it didn’t), I can say this movie if nothing else can take credit in knowing it’s better than how the stats look. It also has the most shocking and surprising killer revel in the franchise’s history. And if this is the last Scream we see then I can say I’m happy with how things played out. But, I do believe the movie leaves enough open to head right into a part 5, if it gets the chance to do that. But we won’t worry about that, we’ll just worry with Scream 4 now. And I think if you can get the chance to catch this you should do so, because while it’s nothing too special, it’s a fun and enjoyable movie none the less.
The Conclusion
I’m happy to say that Wes Craven still has a little magic left up his sleeve, even if at this point it’s more of a card trick than a rabbit being pulled out of a hat. As we all know by now this movie has bombed, but it’s good enough that I feel it didn’t deserve to bomb in the fashion that it has. When this hits DVD/Blu Ray I will be happy to pick it up and add it to the collection. Right next to the inferior 2 and 3 and the superior original. Don’t be fooled by anyone telling you it’s not worth seeing, because in my opinion it very much is.
The Rating (7.5/10)
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