Empire's Scream 4 Movie Review

Scream 4
New decade. New rules. Old hat.

Plot
Having survived the original Woodsboro murders and the Hollywood horrors that followed, Sidney Prescott (Campbell) returns home to Woodsboro to promote her survivor-tale bestseller, only to find a new killer – or killers – terrorising the town, once again wearing the Ghostface mask.

Review

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Fifteen years ago, irony man Kevin Williamson and veteran horror director Wes Craven rewrote the history of the splatter genre by knowingly embracing its rules — or, less kindly, its clichés — allowing filmmakers and audience to collaborate in a bloody, and bloody funny, exercise in pre-millennial postmodernism.

The inevitable sequel — even the lamentable House had a Second Story – followed in 1997, allowing Williamson and Craven to play on a movie-literate audience’s familiarity with the tropes of sequels, including the one about them never being as good (or, at least, as original) as the original. True to traditional genre form, the threequel (2000) arrived belatedly, wasn’t as good as its predecessors, but managed to wrap up the trilogy and leave the audience wanting — well, not quite less, exactly, but certainly not more. The same year, Scary Movie put the last nail in Scream’s coffin.

And now there’s Scre4m, the ostensibly redundant, nobody-but-the-studio-was screaming-for-it fourth instalment, born less of a desire to satirise recent genre tropes such as done-to-death remakes, zombie flicks, handycam horror and torture porn, and seemingly more on the need to flog a few Scream box sets. For the comeback movie, it is customary to bring back the original cast and crew — although Craven’s old Nightmare On Elm Street series had notched up six instalments before his New Nightmare (1994) gave his postmodern muscles a pre-Scream workout — and die-hard genre fans will already have glanced at the credits to be sure the original gang (Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Williamson, Craven) is back to join the requisite newcomers (Hayden Panettiere, Emma Roberts), even as they brace themselves for the customary diminishing returns of a moribund franchise twitching back to life. Wisely so.

Scre4m tries hard to show us what a Scream movie might be like in the age of Facebook, iPhones and YouTube, and there’s sporadic fun to be had wondering who’s behind the killings, and why, and how many new Twitter followers the murders will get them.

Today’s audiences, jaded and impatient, are likely to be way ahead of Williamson, making the outcome predictable or tiresome, or both. It’s not entirely witless, but after the imaginative contraption-killings of the Saw septology, watching multiple knife murders, however ironically intended, is about as thrilling as standing in line at the butcher’s — without a bag of sausages to make it worth your while.

Verdict

Reviewed by David Hughes

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Average user rating for Scream 4

Scream 4
This isn't a calling for a new trilogy. In fact, Scream 4 works best as a finale as the commentary on reboots/remakes and social media work well with our aging characters. Bloody, scary, and hilarious, Scream 4 adds some new life into the tiresome slasher film genre and even brings back some nostalgia. ... More


Posted by norgizfox at 03:23, 08 October 2012 \| Report This Post



Scream 4
Okay, first things first, thank God Scr4m is not Scream 3! Scream 3 was a disaster, lacking any real humour or skill. At last Williamson returns and suddenly we have that same sense of humour that made the first two so great. But then Craven arrives. The film feels like Craven has lost his abilities and is indeed getting to old for this shit. He produced a good film that is in truth, probably too gory, despite that being a selling point, too fast and not enough focus on characters. A real s... More


Posted by The Grimeanator at 20:43, 07 August 2012 \| Report This Post




one of the best sequels to date ... More


Posted by jackcarlin18 at 13:32, 19 May 2012 \| Report This Post




this movie was way better than the original trilogy it had more emhsasis and humour and it was way more entertaining than the others ... More


Posted by screamfan10 at 03:03, 01 May 2012 \| Report This Post




this movie was way better than the original trilogy it had more emhsasis and humour and it was way more entertaining than the others ... More


Posted by screamfan10 at 03:03, 01 May 2012 \| Report This Post



SCREAM 4 YOUR LIFE!
This is definately the best film in the series. It's actually scary, with some rememborable frights, laugh out loud hilarious (not really, but still is the funniest horror film around) and Marco Beltrami's score is the cherry on top. Not to mention, the ripley fuelled Sidney Prescott is as inspiring as any inspiring figure to date, who defiantely should've made a cover of empire. ... More


Posted by YouWillBeUnprepared at 06:55, 04 April 2012 \| Report This Post



Craven keeps the Screams Coming...
These past couple of years have been filled with nothing but remakes and reboots, especially in the horror department. this is where scream 4 (SCRE4M) fits in, and fits in perfectly! Scream 4 is one of the most clever, fun and original horror entries in recent years, and is actually one of the best fouth installment of a horror ever made! If you are looking for an enjoyable film which doesnt take itself too seriously, but scary enough to fright, then Scream 4 is the film you want to watch! The d... More


Posted by jackcarlin18 at 22:20, 25 January 2012 \| Report This Post




scream 4 comes back better than ever, sucessfully topping scream 3 and falling slightly behind scream 2. but overall its a fun clever and witty enterance to the scream franchise! ... More


Posted by jackcarlin18 at 14:56, 21 January 2012 \| Report This Post



RE: Scream 4
I thought it was OK, better than Scream 3. ... More


Posted by Tech_Noir at 09:57, 21 January 2012 \| Report This Post



RE: That's it!!
L: JIm R L: Rgirvan44 L: JIm R L: Pigeon Army L: shool I cant believe you are feeding him PA. s long as people like Jim R hold the misguided notion that he is somehow outarguing me by positing the existence of vague and internally contradictory 'frameworks' and being a holier-than-thou twat, then I shall continue. That is the life I have been condemned to. nothing to do with me, I'll thank you not to don't drag me into your debate.ote] He's joking jim. ... More

Posted by Pigeon Army at 00:07, 21 October 2011 \| Report This Post



RE: That's it!!
11 pages on this!! ... More

Posted by thetruth at 17:23, 20 October 2011 \| Report This Post



RE: That's it!!
It's positively flying... plar Still, it has to come back down eventually. ... More

Posted by Emyr Thy King at 15:39, 20 October 2011 \| Report This Post



RE: That's it!!
L: Emyr Thy King It can be read both ways Rgirv, but after reading it again I can see to whom he referred. Anyway, it's done now. Thread's off the tracks. think the threads been off track since about page 2. ... More

Posted by Rgirvan44 at 15:27, 20 October 2011 \| Report This Post



RE: That's it!!
It can be read both ways Rgirv, but after reading it again I can see to whom he referred. Anyway, it's done now. Thread's off the tracks. ... More

Posted by Emyr Thy King at 15:23, 20 October 2011 \| Report This Post



RE: That's it!!
L: Emyr Thy King L: Rgirvan44 It is not a matter of agreeing or not,he didn't call you that sing the subject's name wouldn't have made it ambiguous, whether you agree or not. No harm done though. ut it isn't ambiguous. ... More

Posted by Rgirvan44 at 15:10, 20 October 2011 \| Report This Post



RE: That's it!!
L: Rgirvan44 It is not a matter of agreeing or not,he didn't call you that sing the subject's name wouldn't have made it ambiguous, whether you agree or not. No harm done though. ... More

Posted by Emyr Thy King at 15:03, 20 October 2011 \| Report This Post



RE: That's it!!
He was obviously calling Drooch a twat. Shool made a comment to PA about not feeding Drooch. PA jokingly responded that as long as people like you (because of your served comment) keep thinking that Drooch is out-arguing him, he's going to feel compelled to reply. The twat comment was about Drooch's attitude while posting. ... More

Posted by rawlinson at 14:05, 20 October 2011 \| Report This Post



RE: That's it!!
It is not a matter of agreeing or not,he didn't call you that ... More

Posted by Rgirvan44 at 14:04, 20 October 2011 \| Report This Post



RE: That's it!!
L: Rgirvan44 L: JIm R L: Rgirvan44 L: JIm R L: Pigeon Army L: shool I cant believe you are feeding him PA. s long as people like Jim R hold the misguided notion that he is somehow outarguing me by positing the existence of vague and internally contradictory 'frameworks' and being a holier-than-thou twat, then I shall continue. That is the life I have been condemned to. nothing to do with me, I'll thank you not to don't drag me into your debate.ote] He'... More

Posted by JIm R at 14:03, 20 October 2011 \| Report This Post



RE: That's it!!
L: JIm R L: Rgirvan44 L: JIm R L: Pigeon Army L: shool I cant believe you are feeding him PA. s long as people like Jim R hold the misguided notion that he is somehow outarguing me by positing the existence of vague and internally contradictory 'frameworks' and being a holier-than-thou twat, then I shall continue. That is the life I have been condemned to. nothing to do with me, I'll thank you not to don't drag me into your debate.ote] He's joking jim. Bec... More

Posted by Rgirvan44 at 14:01, 20 October 2011 \| Report This Post



RE: That's it!!
L: Rgirvan44 L: JIm R L: Pigeon Army L: shool I cant believe you are feeding him PA. s long as people like Jim R hold the misguided notion that he is somehow outarguing me by positing the existence of vague and internally contradictory 'frameworks' and being a holier-than-thou twat, then I shall continue. That is the life I have been condemned to. nothing to do with me, I'll thank you not to don't drag me into your debate.ote] He's joking jim. Because of the "ow... More

Posted by JIm R at 13:58, 20 October 2011 \| Report This Post



RE: That's it!!
L: JIm R L: Pigeon Army L: shool I cant believe you are feeding him PA. s long as people like Jim R hold the misguided notion that he is somehow outarguing me by positing the existence of vague and internally contradictory 'frameworks' and being a holier-than-thou twat, then I shall continue. That is the life I have been condemned to. nothing to do with me, I'll thank you not to don't drag me into your debate.ote] He's joking jim. Because of the "owed" comment from ... More

Posted by Rgirvan44 at 13:36, 20 October 2011 \| Report This Post



RE: That's it!!
L: Pigeon Army L: shool I cant believe you are feeding him PA. s long as people like Jim R hold the misguided notion that he is somehow outarguing me by positing the existence of vague and internally contradictory 'frameworks' and being a holier-than-thou twat, then I shall continue. That is the life I have been condemned to. sp; nothing to do with me, I'll thank you not to don't drag me into your debate. ... More

Posted by JIm R at 09:14, 20 October 2011 \| Report This Post



RE: That's it!!
L: Pigeon Army L: shool I cant believe you are feeding him PA. s long as people like Jim R hold the misguided notion that he is somehow outarguing me by positing the existence of vague and internally contradictory 'frameworks' and being a holier-than-thou twat, then I shall continue. That is the life I have been condemned to. sp; I wish you well in your quest. ... More

Posted by shool at 07:42, 20 October 2011 \| Report This Post



RE: That's it!!
L: shool I cant believe you are feeding him PA. s long as people like Jim R hold the misguided notion that he is somehow outarguing me by positing the existence of vague and internally contradictory 'frameworks' and being a holier-than-thou twat, then I shall continue. That is the life I have been condemned to. ... More

Posted by Pigeon Army at 22:17, 19 October 2011 \| Report This Post



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Scream 4New decade. New rules. Old hat.

Scream 4
New decade. New rules. Old hat.