We should have known that when screenwriter, Kevin Williamson (TV’S Hidden Palms & The Vampire Diaries) and Wes Craven (My Soul To Take, Paris, Je T’Aime) teamed up once again to bring us Scream 4 that it was never going to be a simple re-boot of the series. While telling a story of its own Williamson and Craven use Scream 4 to take a swipe at the current Horror Kings (those behind the Saw franchise) while pushing across the point ‘don’t f**k with originals’ (which is how Sidney Prescott so elegantly puts it), and considering that audience members have been clapping the line you can only be left thinking that it’s a popular belief amongst serious horror fans.
Scream 4 sees Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell – TV’S The Simpsons & Sea Wolf) return to Woodsboro ten years after the last spate of killings. Here Sidney finds that Dewey Riley (David Arquette – TV’S Jake And The Neverland Pirates & Medium) is now Sheriff and still married to Gale Weathers-Riley (Courtney Cox – TV’S Cougar Town & Web Therapy). In fact the only concern seems to be that Deputy Judy Hicks (Marley Shelton – Elektra Luxx, The Mighty Macs) has her eyes on Dewey. However, with Sidney back in town to promote her book we soon see the reemergence of Ghostface as he begins a new killing spree this time centered around Sidney’s family, her cousin Jill (Emma Roberts – Homework, It’s Kind Of A Funny Story) and Jill’s friends.
Like the previous movies in the series Scream 4 certainly doesn’t itself too seriously. While Craven and Williamson do make sure that it contains a story of its own they do actually poke fun at the horror genre, this time highlighting some of the “rules” in a series re-boot. You can see what you are going to get from the opening of the film when they openly make fun of the genre and then continue with outrageous scenes including one with a main character yelling “you can’t kill me I’m gay.” While they haven’t gone for a whole Scary Movie spoof they do show that the aim of Scream 4 is to give the audience a few frights while highlighting the plight of the modern horror film.
Acting-wise it is good to see Neve Campbell back in the big-screen and while David Arquette and Courtney Cox don’t offer up anything spectacular some of the younger cast certainly do step-up., the highlights being Eric Knudsen (Beastly, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World0 continues to show why he is the new Jesse Eisenberg (although anyone that watched Jericho knew he had a big future ahead of him), while Hayden Panettiere (Alpha & Omega, TV’S Heroes) sports a new look and certainly shows the film world that her career is on the rise.
Scream 4 certainly does a give a voice to the disgruntled horror fans that have been disgruntled with what Hollywood has been serving up recently, now we just have to hope that they listen. And yes you will be kept guessing who the killer is until the very end.
Year: 2011
Director: Wes Craven
Stars: Neve Campbell, David Arquette, Courtney Cox, Marley Shelton, Emma Roberts, Eric Knudsen, Hayden Panettiere
Classification: MA
Runtime: 111 mins
Rating: 