Review of Scream 4 (2011) by Zack B — 23 Apr 2012

69/100. What is it about fourth installments in slasher franchises that make them a cut above the rest? Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, and to a lesser extent A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master all delivered; but Scream 4 may be the best of the bunch.

Kevin Williamson makes a welcome return to the franchise, and it's his witty script that is the catalyst for the film's success. If Scream 2 played on slasher sequels, and Scream 3 parodied film trilogies, than Scream 4's motive was to make jabs at Hollywood's current slate of green lighting disappointing remakes and torture porn.

This in part helped create the best ending killer reveal/struggle since the first Scream. Seeing the series' three main survivors Sidney, Gale, and of course Dewey ten years later in life was a treat.

The new crop of teens that led some before the release of a possible reboot featured an entertaining group of new teens highlighted by the gorgeous and irresistibly quirky Hayden Panettiere who somewhat steals the spotlight from Emma Robert's character whom many thought would take over Sidney's role in future installments up to the release.

With that said the movie did have some glaring flaws. Some of the acting was pretty lousy (I'm looking at you Alison Brie) and the score was pretty lifeless which is surprisingly given Marco Beltrami's work in the original trilogy.

The opening sequence was praised by many critics, but I wasn't nearly as crazy about it. Although Williamson's meta dialogue has always been a hallmark for the series, Scream 4 tended to relay it a bit much which may have overly affected a new generation not familiar with the series to perhaps not take the film as serious as they maybe should have.

But for those of us fortunate enough to have seen and enjoyed the proceeding Scream movies, Scream 4 is great entertainment that celebrates the original while also positively continuing the franchise's story arc.

Scream 4 successfully makes the transition to a new decade by commenting on current horror trends rather than recycling old 90's material. Here's hoping Neve Campbell, David Arquette, Courtney Cox, and Wes Craven churn up a fifth Scream in the future.