Beware! There will be spoilers in here!
First of all, I was surprised that the theatre was pretty much empty. Besides my friend and I, there were probably only about fifteen other people in the audience. Maybe midnight screenings only really do well for the Harry Potter movies and Twilight? Ok, let’s start with the plot before I go into details and spoilers. Sidney, now a famous author, returns to Woodsboro on the last stop of her book tour. Currently living in Woodsboro are Dewey and Gale, as well as Sidney’s cousin, Jill. Not so coincidentally, the murders start happening again and this time, more than before, no one is safe.
From the beginning, it was apparent, at least in my view, that Scream 4 had completely lost the feel of the original film. Although, this could be the point – Scream 4 being a movie that summarizes the direction that horror films have taken in the last decade. Speaking of the beginning, the opening death in this film is not even half as good as the opening death in the first Scream. If this is a reboot for a new Scream trilogy, this supposedly iconic scene just fell flat on its face. It was an obvious play on the Saw franchise, though. There is also a very obvious tribute to Tatum’s death that I kind of thought was cool.
As the cast of Scream 4 is slowly introduced, you can really pick up on who the favorite characters will be. The female cop, is definitely on my shitlist and I was hoping she died from her first line. The two film geeks are likable, but disposable. Kirby was clearly there to play the role of the attractive, bitch, however; I was very impressed by her horror film trivia knowledge. Sidney, Dewey, and Gale were profiled mostly the past few months as being secondary characters, but the plot is still very much all about them. The only one who really takes a back seat is Gale. Also introduced in Scream 4 is Sidney’s dimwitted aunt, on her mother’s side. At one point, Kirby says something like, “Sidney is so pretty. I bet she has scars all over.” and Sidney’s Aunt says, “Her mother was my sister, I have scars too. No one asks me about my scars.” to which Jill says, “She was talking about physical scars…”
Each film sets up new rules, except this one. Or, at least, there weren’t any rules said out loud and I didn’t pick up on any subconsciously. They did say that gay characters can’t die, which has been disproven in many films, including this one. Only thing “learned” or built upon here is that the cool new thing in “the game,” is the killer recording what he/she does (that’s VERY important…he/she.)
Now comes the part where I tell my opinion, and I think some tomatoes are going to be thrown at me here…but… I was really, really disappointed. If I were to rank Scream 4 with the others it would be just that, fourth. The texture of the film, the picture quality, had a weird shiney tint to it that I don’t think was just the projector. Sidney, once again, seems to be the only character who can fight or even harm the attacker. All the kills were just stab and move on, stab and move on. No real chases or creativity. The last fifteen minutes could be completely taken off. In my opinion, the climax of the film was the worst part of the entire movie. I think word of mouth could really end up flopping this movie and ending the possibility of more Scream films. If you want to see a Scream sequel, this isn’t what you’re seeing. If you want to see Scream characters in a new film barely clinging to a ludicrous, and sometimes boring plot, this is what you’ll see! The film did have its moments, but sadly, these moments only accounted for about 10 minutes of total running time….
The ending line of the film rings true: “When it comes to remakes, don’t ever fuck with the original.”
don't really have the time to give my review, cuz i'm on my way to see it again…but i respect your review/opinion but this movie was damn near as good as the first one!
I have to agree with the reviewer, I was also disappointed by the latest Scream movie. It was confusing to say the least. At one point I was wondering why its coming off as a "reboot" when its clearly a sequel, hence the number FOUR in the title. I realise these movies are for fun but I can't turn off my brain 100%, sorry.
This movie spends so much time degrading the type of movie it is; a sequel/reboot. It was like the writer was saying, "There's already so much crappy sequels and remakes out there watering down the genre so here's our chance to jump in the pool and it is what it is. Yay!! Cha-ching!!"
Most of the film didn't even take itself seriously. The forehead death scene was so ridiculous. And then five mins later we're given another death scene that tries to be all dramatic and make you feel sorry for the victim. I wasn't buying it.
The only part that was executed well was concealing the identity of the killer. At least that part of the story wasn't a complete let down. But in contrast, after watching Scream 4 I went right ahead and threw in the original Scream and watched that for the first time in probably a decade. Its still a fantastic movie. So good in fact that even KNOWING who the killer is and how it will end doesn't take away from an enjoyable re-visitation of a film that was produced in a much better time.