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Scream 4 poster

CAST
NEVE CAMPBELL
EMMA ROBERTS
ANTHONY ANDERSON
DAVID ARQUETTE
ADAM BRODY
COURTNEY COX
RORY CULKIN
MARIELLE JAFFE
ERIL KNUDSEN
MARY McDONNELL
HAYDEN PANETTIERE
MARLEY SHELTON
NICO TORTORELLA

BASED ON CHARACTERS BY
KEVIN WILLIAMSON

SCREENPLAY BY
KEVIN WILLIAMSON

PRODUCED BY
WES CRAVEN
IYA LABUNKA

DIRECTED BY
WES CRAVEN

GENRE
COMEDY
HORROR
MYSTERY
THRILLER

RATED
AUS: NA
UK: NA
USA: R

RUNNING TIME
103 MIN

 

SCREAM 4 (2011)

An entertaining albeit flawed return to form from horror maestro Wes Craven, Scream 4 packs as much wit as it does bloodshed.

It begins with a phone call. The Scream movies always have, yet it’s the moments that follow which will set the tone for what type of slasher movie we will receive. The first Scream is now viewed as a modern classic, mainly thanks to the playful script by Kevin Williamson, which saw superstar Drew Barrymore killed in the first scene and the slasher sub-genre dissected and placed back together before our eyes.

Now Williamson and Craven have reteamed for another round of bloody entertainment, and boy do they have something to say about horror movies today, pilling up the bodies while doing so.

In a nice piece of nostalgia, Scream 4 is once again set in the suburban town of Woodsboro, where the 15th anniversary of the “Woodsboro Murders” (as depicted in the first movie) looms upon the townspeople.

Returning home is Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), the hero/victim of the murders who has placed the past behind her with the release of an autobiography. Yet proving the girl just can’t catch a break, Ghost Face and his wielding butcher knife is back on the scene to torment and kill, kill, kill!

Yet in this era of social networking, torture porn and remakes, the rules have changed. Virgins are no longer in vogue, recording your kill is a necessity, and the bloodier the kill the better. There is also a new generation of Woodsboro victims, sorry, teens on the scene, led by Sidney’s cousin Jill (Emma Roberts) who Ghost Face has taken a shinning to.   

Considering the setting and the return of core trio Campbell, Courtney Cox as the foul mouthed journalist Gale Weathers and David Arquette as clueless Sherriff Dewey, some knowledge of the previous movies are needed.  

Yet nostalgia can only go so far, with the scenes between Cox and Arquette as a feuding married couple especially grating and reminiscent of a bad sitcom. Thankfully their younger cast members bring some much needed spark to the proceedings, with special mention to Roberts and the spunky Hayden Panettiere.    

It’s been over a decade since the last Scream movie, and in that time Craven and Williamson has found much inspiration in the evolution of horror movies to exploit and comment upon, namely that gore and greed have trumped character and innovation. Yet the pair are just as quick to take stabs at themselves, with a self depreciating wit featured throughout, sometimes to the point that Scream 4 can feel like a spoof rather than a sequel.

Yet a sequel it is, and in the order of things Scream 4 comes close to duplicating the smarts and thrills of its original. Certainly this is Craven reclaiming his reputation as a horror director after the critical and commercial disaster which was My Soul To Take. Such are the benefits a good script can give you.

Of course there are many flaws to be found, not the least that Craven still can’t figure out how to pull of his big reveal without channelling an episode of Scooby Doo. Still, considering that this is the fourth in a series many thought to be long dead, Scream 4 survives with its guts still intact.

***
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