Scream 4 [MA]

Sidney Prescott has come out of the shadows about the ordeal and trauma of the Woodsboro Murders and written a book. For the first time in years she’s returning to Woodsboro to promote it, but all too soon she’s regretting that decision. The town’s teenagers ritually celebrate the murders and the Stab movie franchise that came with them, but as soon as Sidney returns someone takes it one step further. Soon teenagers are being murdered again and a mysterious caller is once again threatening Sidney. 

Original screenwriter Kevin Williamson returns for the final instalment of the Scream saga. Not quite a reboot, as it is still strongly linked to the preceding movies, Scream 4 brings the franchise into the 21^st century, complete with a new load of meta including meta about being meta and the original survivors struggling to solve the mystery the old fashioned way in times that have definitely changed. 

It’s classic Craven and Williamson nevertheless and stands up as a decent horror movie. In this movie, the fresh ‘90s metafictive humour of Williamson is still there, however it gets elevated to the next level as the film caters towards a modern audience of movie-watchers. 

Cinema buffs are no longer enthusiastic fanboys like Randy, theorising about the generic patterns of the horror genre, these kids are more academically minded and critical when it comes to the movies. The scope of cinematic enthusiasm is neatly summarised in a scene where Gale explains the theories of the local cinema club to Dewey, ending with the line “how meta is that?!” to which Dewey replies “what” and Gale says “I don’t know, that’s what the kids said.” 

Not only does this movie depict a new class of movie buffs, it chronicles the struggles of the original survivors: Sidney, Gale, and Dewey to find their own places within this movie itself. What’s fascinating to watch is our original heroes try to solve the case the way they did in the old days and realising that a decade has really changed the times. 

Suddenly, these guys aren’t as special as they were before: not as smart, not as brave, not as cunning. This then makes the movie more than another slasher flick, it’s a film about the clashes between generations: the out with the old and in with the new so to speak. But what’s great about it is that our heroes really try to stand their ground and it proves to have some great character development. 

As can be expected with a modern ‘reboot’, the gore factor is upped a little and the makeup and costume effects prove to be pretty spot on, especially in the depiction of a lot of blood: it’s not as red as the days of old and there’s a little bit more realism to it. 

Starring Neve Campbell, David Arquette, Courtney Cox, Emma Roberts, Alison Brie, Hayden Panettiere, Marielle Jaffe, Marley Shelton, Erik Knudsen, Rory Culkin, Nico Tortorella, Anthony Andersen, Adam Brody and featuring appearances from Kristen Bell and Anna Paquin, Scream 4 is just as fun and thrilling as its predecessors. 

Filled with action, suspense, blood, drama, comedy, and a bit of a twisted ending, it still delivers all the expected fun and feelings of a horror movie. It’s a Scream movie and you get what you expect from a Scream movie, there is really not much more to be said.