If you like any of the horror genre you owe it to yourself to go see this movie. I found myself sitting in a half full movie theatre of nighttime creatures such as myself. It so happens the entire theater was actively participating in the movie. Always a good sign during a horror movie. A group of six was sitting in the row behind me and the entire time all I could hear was "No the killer can't be him because he was at the other party" and so on. It's quite frankly one of the most enjoyable movie going experiences I've had in a long time.
The original Scream was groundbreaking for being the first movie to feature characters who had seen other horror movies and were aware of Hollywood itself. They knew the rules of slasher movies and realized they were in a slasher film situation. This became the new trend in Hollywood and has since been dubbed "self-aware horror". The other thing that makes the Scream series so special is that the original group who made the first film (writer, producer, director, actors, etc.) went on to make number 2,3 and now 4. The effect of which so happens to be a movie series of rather decent quality compared to most horror movie which all get ten sequels while being run into the ground. Being aware of this is something the series has been known for, following the "rules" of sequels.
Now we come to Scream 4 which decides to take a poke at the horror trend for the latter half of the decade which been to remake every famous horror film from the seventies and 80's and to do a very bad job at it. Even going so far as to list every single one of them during a very intense phone conversation. Scream for acts as a sequel, a remake, and a reboot all at the same time and it does an amazing job doing it. Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) is returning to the town of Woodsboro, the town in which the original took place, on a tour promoting her new book about how she managed to over come the troubles and hardships she's faced in the events of Scream 1,2, and 3. Upon her return someone suits up as ghost face and starts killing again as a "welcome home" for Sidney. Now sheriff Dewey (David Arquette) and his subordinates (Marley Shelton, Anthony Anderson, Adam Brody) to find out who's behind the murders and protect ghostface's latest targets Sidney's cousin Jill (Emma Roberts) and her friends Kirby (Hayden Panettierre) and Olivia (Marielle Jaffe) who are preoccupied with avoiding Jill's Ex-boyfriend Trevor (Nico Tortella). Dewey decides to investigates without the help of his wife reporter turned author Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox), who has become famous for writing the book "the Woodsboro murders which has been turned into a slasher film series "Stab". So Gale decides to do what has helped the last time Woodsboro was under siege by ghostface, she finds the local high school film geeks and join up with them to attempt to solve the mystery of who's behind the mask.
The first half of the movie has very old school slasher feel to it, which is both fun and slightly dull. It wasn't super intense (at least for me it wasn't) but had some good jumps in it. All of the dialogue is well crafted and very entertaining. It holds onto the notion of the characters not believing that a killer is on the phone with them until it's to late and he's not actually hiding where you think. The violence in not as graphic as the first movie considering this is number 4 we're talking about. After achieving the appropriate body count we get to the part of the film where it all comes together. The core teenagers of the movie are gathered in a house and the mystery of ghost face will be revealed to Sidney at the end of the final massacre of the movie. This is where the movie really shines. It gets extremely intense and jumps out with a surprise that you will not see coming. It makes what would've been a decent movie into something that's really worth seeing.
The original Scream was groundbreaking for being the first movie to feature characters who had seen other horror movies and were aware of Hollywood itself. They knew the rules of slasher movies and realized they were in a slasher film situation. This became the new trend in Hollywood and has since been dubbed "self-aware horror". The other thing that makes the Scream series so special is that the original group who made the first film (writer, producer, director, actors, etc.) went on to make number 2,3 and now 4. The effect of which so happens to be a movie series of rather decent quality compared to most horror movie which all get ten sequels while being run into the ground. Being aware of this is something the series has been known for, following the "rules" of sequels.
Now we come to Scream 4 which decides to take a poke at the horror trend for the latter half of the decade which been to remake every famous horror film from the seventies and 80's and to do a very bad job at it. Even going so far as to list every single one of them during a very intense phone conversation. Scream for acts as a sequel, a remake, and a reboot all at the same time and it does an amazing job doing it. Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) is returning to the town of Woodsboro, the town in which the original took place, on a tour promoting her new book about how she managed to over come the troubles and hardships she's faced in the events of Scream 1,2, and 3. Upon her return someone suits up as ghost face and starts killing again as a "welcome home" for Sidney. Now sheriff Dewey (David Arquette) and his subordinates (Marley Shelton, Anthony Anderson, Adam Brody) to find out who's behind the murders and protect ghostface's latest targets Sidney's cousin Jill (Emma Roberts) and her friends Kirby (Hayden Panettierre) and Olivia (Marielle Jaffe) who are preoccupied with avoiding Jill's Ex-boyfriend Trevor (Nico Tortella). Dewey decides to investigates without the help of his wife reporter turned author Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox), who has become famous for writing the book "the Woodsboro murders which has been turned into a slasher film series "Stab". So Gale decides to do what has helped the last time Woodsboro was under siege by ghostface, she finds the local high school film geeks and join up with them to attempt to solve the mystery of who's behind the mask.
The first half of the movie has very old school slasher feel to it, which is both fun and slightly dull. It wasn't super intense (at least for me it wasn't) but had some good jumps in it. All of the dialogue is well crafted and very entertaining. It holds onto the notion of the characters not believing that a killer is on the phone with them until it's to late and he's not actually hiding where you think. The violence in not as graphic as the first movie considering this is number 4 we're talking about. After achieving the appropriate body count we get to the part of the film where it all comes together. The core teenagers of the movie are gathered in a house and the mystery of ghost face will be revealed to Sidney at the end of the final massacre of the movie. This is where the movie really shines. It gets extremely intense and jumps out with a surprise that you will not see coming. It makes what would've been a decent movie into something that's really worth seeing.
Tell Your Friends