Scream 4
Flashback: 1996. A 14 year old nerd with nothing to do sits alone in his parents' living room on a Friday night scares himself shitless while watching Drew Barrymore get terrorized by a serial killer in one of the best intro scenes to a horror movie he has ever seen: Scream. Fast forward: 1997. A 15 year old nerd fights with his older brother home from college and his mother on whether to watch Titanic or Scream 2. 15 year old wins, Scream 2 does not. Fast forward again: 2000. Scream 3 came out. Meh. 2011: For some reason, a much anticipated Scream 4 is released. And it's surprisingly GOOD.
The film that ushered in a new wave of horror movies in the mid 90s returns to renew its thrilling slasher status in Scream 4. It is, to say the least, that we live in a sea of sequels, but honestly, I don't mind a sequel as long as it's worth watching. Scream 4 returns to it's roots of animated characters, a thrilling mystery, and some fun stabbing scenes. I think what I like best about this film (as with the original Scream) is how it holds a mirror up to many famous horror movies but tells them "hey, you look awesome".
(The cast of Scream 4 find something icky)
The Story: Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), now the author of a self-help book, returns home to Woodsboro on the last stop of her book tour. There she reconnects with Sheriff Dewey (David Arquette) and Gale (Courtney Cox), who are now married, as well as her cousin Jill (Emma Roberts) and her Aunt Kate (Mary Mcdonnell). Unfortunately, Sidney's appearance also brings about the return of Ghostface, putting Sidney, Gale, and Dewey, along with Jill, her friends, and the whole town of Woodsboro in danger.
(Anna Paquin & Kristen Bell are anything but your typical horror movie blondes in Scream 4)
What makes this movie enjoyable is the simple entertainment value that was seriously lacking in it's predecessors. 1996's Scream showed us (especially in that opening sequence) that anything can happen. Scream 4 not only reminds us of that but it also reminds us how much fun horror movies can be. Lately, several horror films seem to take themselves so seriously and can become overly "stylistic". It's fun to laugh and cheer for blood splattered fight scenes that once made slasher movies so great.
I hear Wes Craven is planning to make parts 5 & 6 to this series. I'm curious to see what will come of this franchise reboot. They said it themselves: new decade new rules.
Grade: B+
Random Fact: At a table read on June 25, 2010, the actors were told to stop reading at page 75 to prevent those already cast in the film from knowing the climax.
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