My friends? What world are you living in? I don’t need friends. I need fans.
Eleven years after Scream 3 seemingly brutally murdered the Scream franchise, Scream 4 burst onto the scene with renewed energy and a turn away from Scream 3’s overly comedic tone back to the darker vibe of the first two films and a plan to split the film between the legacy characters and a new generation with an eye to kicking off a new trilogy. Some things worked, some didn’t, we didn’t get that new trilogy, but, overall, I think Scream 4 is very good. It’s a flawed movie for sure, one that sits behind the first two films, but well above the third.
A few of the problems for starters. These films have always been about reflecting the zeitgeist in terms of their actors and cameos; Scream 2 had a supporting ensemble that was like a biodome of the late nineties and we all remember the cameos in Scream 3. Well, in this movie, it’s 2011 and we get Anna Paquin, Kristen Bill, Britt Robertson, Lucy Hale and Aimee Teagarden. And can I just mention that they’re ALL in the COLD OPEN? I mean, even Scream 3 had a solidly serious cold-open, but Scream 4 really goes too far over the top with its opening, which is a Russian nesting doll of cold opens which almost justifies how terrible some of them are. And the film does occasionally get too jokey; there’s an extremely gruesome and disturbing death scene at one point that ends with an incredibly stupid joke about Bruce Willis. And I have to say that I didn’t feel the connection to the new generation of characters here, at least not all of them. This will be a handy segue to talking about the positives of the movie, but I do have to mention that I found the new group of high schoolers to be fairly flat and uninteresting.
Of the new actors coming into this film, I do think Emma Roberts and Hayden Panettiere come off the best of the new crop of kids. Roberts is doing the new ingenue, but she isn’t boring. Panettiere has a fun part, a horror movie nerd that doesn’t fit the physical or social stereotypes, and she’s having as much fun as anyone in this movie. Marley Shelton is pretty fantastic as the new Deputy in Woodsboro; she gets laughs and lands a couple of more off-kilter moments as well, like a genuinely creepy conversation on a staircase. And then there’s an actress where I was like, “Wow, she really seems like Alison Brie; who was the ‘Alison Brie’ of 2011?” Turns out? The Alison Brie of 2011 was just Alison Brie because somehow that woman does not ******* age like a normal human being. So, she’s always fun to see pop up.
But walking into this movie, I was more excited about the returning characters than anything else. I mean, even more than about the prospect of a new series of brutal murders. I was just genuinely curious to catch up to Sidney and Dewey and Gale ten years down the road. Where would they be in their lives? What would they be doing? And I think it’s kind of amazing to say this about a slasher franchise, but the beating heart of this series really has always been these characters and the great performances that have brought them to life and turned them into genuine horror icons. Slasher films are, of all the horror genres, usually the least interested in character; that’s usually the biggest flaw in a slasher film, even a good one – the characters just don’t feel real or well-written or engaging or interesting. They really turned that on its head in the Scream franchise and the affection I feel for Sidney as a badass survivor just never goes away.
Anyway, I really, really like Scream 4. I think it’s the corrective that the series needed after Scream 3 and, if it didn’t kick off a new trilogy, well, no spoilers for my review of Scream (5), but that kind of turned out okay too. Scream 4 isn’t quite up to par with those first two films, but it’s darn close and, while it does have its flaws, it also has some amazing sequences, like the climactic scenes in a strangely empty hospital. It has a great main villain too, probably the best since the first film. When the movie is clicking, it’s REALLY clicking and Scream 4 is a great return to form. 4 stars.
tl;dr – fourth film is a welcome corrective after the dire third film and a return to form for the franchise; catching up with these characters is a joy, and the movie also has great set pieces. 4 stars.