Review of Scream 4 (2011) by Anita H — 31 Jul 2012

This is actually my favorite of the Scream franchise. In the first three, the self-parody always felt separate from the overall storyline. The characters knew they were in a slasher, and they knew how the rules, but there was never a good reason why the killer was following these rules, and the overall plot could have been lifted and put into a completely different, non-parody film.

Here, the parody and the story work together much more fluidly. The killer is recreating the kills of the first film, thus making a "remake" of the first film, and there is actually a very good (and pretty godamn brilliant) explanation why they are doing this. The final act is really what made this a five-star movie for me, and the meta self-parodying felt much more natural and less pretentious and obvious than the first three. It's also the best reveal of the series, as it is genuinely shocking when the mask is finally pulled off. It's funny, it's violent, it's thrilling, and it's genuinely engaging. I just loved this movie. The third one left me a little wary of the franchises future, but if they can keep this up they just might have enough steam left for a few more entries.