Review: Scream 4

Scream 4 (2011)

Genre: Horror

Format: Theatrical Release

Director: Wes Craven

Ah, the Scream trilogy... I have so many fond memories from them. The second being the best while the third was good but it was somewhat of a disappointment, ensuring the end of what could have probably been a never ending list of sequels. But what is this? 11 years after the last movie, here we are again with a brand new Scream movie still being directed by Wes Craven but now complete with Kevin Williamson doing the screenplay. Being a fan of the first three, I was of course very excited by the prospect. The reality of the situation however ended up being less promising than it should have been.

Sydney Prescott, the heroine from the first three films decided to return to Woodsboro to launch her new book. Of course she just had to do this during the anniversary date of the original Woodsboro murders. Soon, people started to die left and right by a killer wearing the "Ghostface" mask so Sydney, alongside Gale and the still goofy but less charming Dewey found themselves at the epicenter of the murderous rampage. The movie started off really strong but the rest of the film lacks the frenetic energy found in the previous entries. The set pieces for the murders were not even remotely creative and even though somewhere in the self-reflexive dialogues between the characters an implication was made about the desensitization of violence via movies like the Saw franchise, Scream 4 could have benefited from a nastier, more menacing presentation of horror. To make things a little more depressing, the movie within the movie moments in the form of the Stab films - movies based on the Woodsboro murders that existed in the Scream universe -  were actually a lot more fun the actual Scream 4 movie. With two more Scream movies supposedly going to be made after this disappointing return, perhaps they should just scrap off that plan and make an actual Stab movie instead since Craven seemed to have the most fun with the Stab scenes.

Though the movie took a rather creative approach with the identity of the person responsible for the killings during this go-round, the speech that followed where the killer explained the motives for the murders was just too elaborate and long, killing off whatever excitement that got generated from the reveal. Scream 4 is just filled with so many potentials, especially after having access to 10 years worth of horror conventions to poke fun with. Instead, the film itself became a bad joke because it is in itself, a strange kind of remake of a franchise that doesn't really require one. Instead of keeping its own identity of a smart but brutal horror movie, it lost both as the script was lackluster and the killings just seemed desperate. The attractive cast from the previous films may still look the same as they did before but Scream 4 has significantly aged the franchise and it just cannot keep up with the times. Mr. Craven, 4 is enough. Please, no more sequels! Especially when the result is this poor.

RATING: 2 out of 5