By Don’t answer the phone, don’t look out the window and whatever you do, never run upstairs. These classic horror film rules, and countless others, are repeatedly broken in Scream 4 resulting in death, gore and other moments of indulgent violence.
Picking up 15 years after the original film had audiences wincing, “Scream 4” — stylized “Scre4m” — takes the few surviving members of the original cast and places them in a brand new scenario that is eerily similar to the first three rounds of slaying that they survived.
Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) again becomes top target of the ghost-masked psycho who wields a seemingly unbreakable dagger that can pierce through wood, skulls and glass windows like a fork through a toasted marshmallow. Also returning from the original three films of the franchise is her budding reporter frenemy Gail (Courtney Cox) and goofy cop pal Dewey (David Arquette), who again try earnestly to solve the scenario and foil the killer before he picks off every last one of the sexy new generation of victims, headed by Sidney’s niece, Jill Roberts (Emma Roberts).
The film thoroughly addresses horror film clichés throughout, sometimes mocking them, while following them at other points. There isn’t much room for originality in the “Scream” franchise itself, let alone the “deranged murderer” film genre at large. Nitpickers will have a field day criticizing the nonchalant slayings and how perfectly they seem to be executed by a killer who is apparently new to the game of butchering a small-town community one by one.
The film is, however, plenty entertaining and hits many nostalgic marks from beginning to end. Fans of the first few “Scream” movies will rejoice in the old-school knifings as opposed to the more recent film trends of possessed children as villains or apocalyptic alien invasions. “Scream” definitely turns out a good show that will take viewers back to the early ’90s, making them fear the sight of the voiceless white mask paired with a torn black shroud. Clearly, there is no substitute for a good old knife killer. As one early victim states as she and her sister watch horror movies alone at night before being gutted, “There’s something about a guy with a knife who just… snaps.”
Along with the fun of watching the defenseless townspeople fall, moviegoers will delight in predicting what will happen next. Guessing who will be killed next or the identity of the psycho behind the mask are two tasks that last for the entire film. Neither questions are easily solvable, to the credit of the filmmakers. Although the slayings always seem to surround the infamous blade, the masked murderer does a killer job of upping the ante to finish the deed, such as using an electric garage door, glass or the no-nonsense hurling of a person from the top of a building.
The veterans — Sidney, Dewey and Gail — are the true main characters, just as they have always been in the “Scream” films. Gail is easily the most likeable, and nearly becomes the main protagonist as she continually goes above and beyond to solve the mystery of the killer. Sidney, although slightly more able to fight back than when last we saw her, is still basically just bait for the killer and cannot do much to permanently fix the problem at hand. Dewey is, ironically enough, the most useless of the three, even as the town sheriff. He always seems to be 10 steps behind, and only uses his authority to lie to the public with promises that he “almost has everything under control.” Clearly not.
The new generation is full of unnaturally obtuse figures, such as the overly-nerdy horror film buffs, or the undeniably independent woman Kirby (Hayden Panettiere). They, along with countless others, are targeted based on their archetypes in the world or horror movies. Naturally, the sluts die easy and the big-mouths trash talk their way into the grave. Not much is done to make audiences loyal to these characters, and their deaths are more enjoyable than sad.
“Scream 4” is a thrill ride not to be missed by fans of the original three or slasher flick fans in general. The ending is genuinely surprising, and fits in with the storyline, despite being completely unrealistic in the real world. Still, since when does that matter in the horror genre anyways?
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