Scream 4

Starring Neve Campbell, David Arquette, Courtney Cox and Emma Roberts
Directed by Wes Craven
Rated R for strong bloody violence, language and some teen drinking
Appropriate for ages 17+

    Ten years have passed since Sidney Prescott (Campbell) was haunted by the Ghostface Killer and now she has written a book about how she has pulled her life back together again in light of everyone of her friends getting killed around her.  Unfortunately, on this particular anniversary, a new Ghostface killer is back and again taking the lives of everyone she cares about.

    It’s kind of ironic that this 90‘s franchise based on nostalgia of older horror films is now trying to recreate that same nostalgia on itself.   While it mentions some of the newer horror films that have come recently, the cast is mostly concerned with the original Scream murders, entitled Stab for the movies based on them.  I’ll fully admit that the opening of the film is a very clever vehicle for making fun of the scream films while at the same time helping you remember what they were all about.  

    But then Wes Craven and crew continue to try to be witty in order to make us laugh while we are watching everyone die.  While this worked for the original film, it only creates a parody of it rather than trying to actually scare you.  The whole thing was kind of silly, almost like Wes Craven creating a Scary Movie sequel rather than something new and original.  

    One trick that does work is that Craven really tries to fool you into thinking that you can try to guess who the real killer is.  He uses every trick in the book.  But just like the first films, your guess would have to be random rather than educated in order to find out who is holding the knife.  The only real clue is that if they are dead – they can’t be the killer.