Review of Scream 4 (2011) by Ilhm — 02 Feb 2013

The ever-growing popularity of the Horror remake has not escaped the tragic town of Woodsboro, and Sidney Prescott's return home sparks a new series of murders that have been fashioned after her first encounter with the Ghostface killer! SCREAM makes a surprising comeback after a decade away from the screen, teaming series creator Kevin Williamson with Wes Craven once more in what is easily the best sequel in the franchise.

The new script is just as sharp as Ghostface's knife, never missing an opportunity to poke fun at modern Horror trends or the series, itself. Some of the greatest moments are achieved by exacerbating the concept of the metafilm to the point of lunacy, essentially creating a film about making a film about a film about films.

The tagline promises a "New Decade. New Rules." As we have come to find out from the previous films, the only New Rule is that SCREAM breaks all the rules. Plot contrivances aside, the film legitimately keeps the audience guessing until the very end, never knowing which cliche will be the next to suffer.

Williamson has taken a clever approach to the remake as only the SCREAM films can, using the remake as an integral plot device towards something wholly original. While it is still as sappy and pretentious as each of the earlier entries, SCREAM 4 is equally entertaining for fans of the series.

Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, and David Arquette are each at home in their returning roles, and even the newcomers earn passing grades. One can only hope that the inevitable sequels continue to uphold the same level of intelligence and humor shown in this fourth film.