"Scream 4"

Just so you know, the original Scream trilogy are some of my favorite movies, so my review is probably not going to be the most objective thing in the world, but I’ll do my best.

Scream 4 takes place 10 years after the events of Scream 3. Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) returns to her hometown of Woodsboro on the anniversary of the Woodsboro Murders—the events of Scream—as the last stop on her book tour. Naturally, her arrival is the catalyst for a new series of murders that rock the small town.

The Scream movies take place in an interesting universe because the “real” murders are the inspiration for a slasher-movie franchise called Stab. By the time Scream 4 takes place, Stab 7 has been made, and the entire world knows about Ghostface and his modus operandi of calling his victims before murdering them. There’s even a Ghostface smartphone app that transforms the caller’s voice into the voice of the killer.

The reason I like Scream is that it’s post-modern, self-deprecating brilliance. The movie is aware of itself as a horror film, makes fun of the standard horror movie devices, then either uses or subverts those same devices. That’s what made the originals so much fun, and that’s what keeps audiences coming back over and over again.

Scream 4 follows the franchise’s successful formula, but this time the target is reboot/remakes. It mocks the recent trends in horror films—torture porn, for example—while also making fun of its own existence as a reboot. The fun is that, while Scream 4 is a reboot of the Scream franchise, the new murders in Woodsboro are a remake of Stab, the original movie based on the Woodsboro Murders. (It all gets awfully meta in a really fun way.)

I feel like I’m rambling a little, but I get really excited about Scream.

Here’s the skinny on Scream 4: the movie does its best to stay funny and relevant—sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. The kills are original; the social commentary is scathing—particularly the bits about America’s current obsession with internet fame—; and the Who-Dunnit? aspect keeps you guessing until the very end.

Not that there aren’t problems—the ending is pretty silly, for example, but it’s hard to be upset because even the characters in the movie comment on the ridiculousness of the situation.

Scream 4 can’t hold a candle to the original—as Sidney makes abundantly clear in the movie. Its faults aside, however, it has enough scares—and laughs—to keep you entertained and make it well worth the trip to theater.

7 of 10