Film Review with Robert Mann – Scream 4

16th April 2011

Scream 4 ****
A few years ago reviving old movie franchises was all the rage in Hollywood with a number of beloved movie series being given new instalments, among them Indiana Jones, Die Hard, Rambo and Rocky. Unless you count last year’s Toy Story 3 though, this trend is not one that we have seen much of since, until now that is with the release of Scream 4 (or, as the title has frequently been presented in marketing, Scre4m – clever marketing department), the first new instalment in the Scream franchise in more than a decade.
For any younger readers who have no idea what the Scream franchise is – cast member Nico Tortorella has said “I remember the Scary Movie‘s coming out”, commenting on the fact that he was too young to catch the original Scream movies when they were released in cinemas, but apparently doesn’t remember the Scream movies coming out at all, a sentiment that seems to be shared by co-stars Emma Roberts, Hayden Panettiere and Rory Culkin who picked the remake of The Ring, The Exorcism of Emily Rose and Saw, respectively, as their favourite horror films – the original Scream was a slasher horror film released in 1996, a film that set out to not simply deliver more of the same in the tired and clichéd slasher movie subgenre but turn the genre on its head and redefine fear, in the process making the slasher movie relevant to a whole new generation of moviegoers. I suppose you could call it the first great postmodern horror movie, a film that wasn’t simply a horror film in its own right but one that referenced and paid tribute to the many slasher movies that had come before it and that took all the expectations many had come to develop from such films and turned them on their heads.

The film, which was directed by the then great Wes Craven, at that time best known for horror classic A Nightmare on Elm Street and its somewhat postmodern later sequel New Nightmare, was such a mainstream success – it grossed over $100 million at the US box office, the kind of numbers that most horror movies can only dream of making – that it spawned two sequels, released in 1998 and 2000 respectively, that only narrowly fell short of repeating the first film’s commercial success. The series was originally intended to just be a trilogy and another sequel is hardly something that was ever begging to be made but, after ten years and on and off rumours that a fourth film might see the light of day, studio head and executive producer Bob Weinstein decided it was time for another film – presumably for the money not so much for any real desire to see another instalment made – and one that is intended to be the first of a new trilogy, with not only original director Wes Craven and writer Kevin Williamson – the latter having expressed subtle annoyance towards the film after producers Bob and Harvey Weinstein decided to bring in Scream 3 writer Ehren Kruger to polish up the script – returning but also original cast members Neve Campbell, David Arquette, Courteney Cox and vocal performer Roger Jackson, landmarking Scream as one of the only horror franchises to have its main characters return for all its sequels.

Wes Craven stated he was not going to return as director unless the script was as good as the first Scream and, given that some of his more recent directorial efforts such as 2005’s Cursed and last year’s My Soul to Take were very badly received all round, it’s probably a good thing that he has returned to his signature franchise, Scream being the one horror franchise that truly is his own – he only directed the first and last instalments in his Nightmare on Elm Street saga. With eleven years having now passed since the original trilogy drew to a close with the release of Scream 3, though, can Craven truly recapture what made the original films so iconic and, just like the first three films did, can he take the expectations that many have of the horror genre today and turn them into something fresh and unexpected, thus making the slasher movie relevant to yet another new generation of moviegoers, a generation that is perhaps only really familiar with the torture movie phenomenon that has been dominating the world of horror movies for far too long?

Ten years have now passed since the infamous Woodsboro murders that almost claimed the lives of Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), Dewey Riley (David Arquette) and Gail Weathers (Courteney Cox). In that time the tragic events that these three individuals had to endure have become the butt of a joke, known primarily through the seven film long ‘Stab’ movie series that has been based upon them, and everyone has done their best to move on with their lives, Sidney having embarked on a successful career as an author while Dewey has become the Woodsboro town sheriff and former journalist Gail, now Dewey’s wife, has been having a difficult time adjusting to small town life and is missing her former career. On the tenth anniversary of the murders, Sidney returns to the town on the last stop of a tour promoting her new novel ‘Out of Darkness’ accompanied by her publicist Rebecca Walters (Alison Brie). Staying with her aunt Kate Roberts (Mary McDonnell) and her daughter Jill (Emma Roberts), Sidney’s return to the small town unfortunately coincides with the start of a new wave of killings by a killer wearing the infamous Ghostface mask and this time Sidney finds herself becoming a suspect in the murder investigation, particularly by Dewey’s second in command, Deputy Judy Hicks (Marley Shelton).

Two girls, Jenny Randall (Aimee Teegarden) and Marnie Cooper (Brittany Robertson), have been murdered already, and to make matters worse Jill, who’s ex boyfriend Trevor Sheldon (Nico Torterella) won’t leave her alone, and her friends Kirby Reed (Hayden Panettiere) and Olivia Morris (Marielle Jaffe) have each received a call from Ghostface (voiced by Roger Jackson) saying “What is your favourite scary movie?” With their lives threatened, all three are placed under the protection of Deputy Perkins (Anthony Anderson) and Detective Hoss (Adam Brody) but is that really enough to stop Ghostface from brutally slashing them to pieces? Meanwhile, Dewey desperately tries to uncover the identity of the killer before the maniac claims more victims and a bored Gail decides to return to her journalistic roots and go on the hunt for the killer herself, in the process enlisting the aid of high school horror film geeks Robbie Mercer (Erik Knudsen), whom records all the major events in his life for a video blog, and Charlie Walker (Rory Culkin), whose expert knowledge of the horror movie genre might just hold the key to unveiling the identity of the killer.

All the while Sidney tries to protect those closest to her from harm but can she herself survive the massacre this time around? This time, the rules that everyone thinks they know are being rewritten. How will a new generation deal with this classic terror? “New decade. New rules.” This is the tagline for Scream 4 and one that perfectly exemplifies that, while the murders depicted in this film only really deviate from those of the original trilogy in that they are more extreme and being recorded by the killer, Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson have crafted another horror movie that breaks all the rules and redefines the genre yet again, an extremely difficult thing to do in the 21st century where audiences have so become accustomed to everything that horror movies typically throw at them that it is virtually impossible to truly surprise or shock anymore. How have they done this? By largely not conforming to the typical horror movie mould that has become evident in virtually every single horror film that is made these days and where the film does conform cleverly twisting it in on itself. This is a film that plays with our expectations, making us think that the killer is going to appear from one place and then having them show up from somewhere else.

It is also one that retains the postmodern style of the original Scream trilogy and makes it relevant to the horror movies of today, the execution of this being very clever, something which is no more evident than in the film’s inspired film within a film within a film – the Scream franchises iconic film within a film ‘Stab’ (and its 6 sequels) playing a major and integral role in the events of this film – opening scenes which are edge of the seat scary, hilariously funny and absolutely genius all at the same time. Starting out on a deliberately clichéd note as two teen girls – Sherrie (Lucy Hale) and Trudie (Shenae Grimes) – alone in a house at night and debating what horror movie they should watch receive one of Ghostface’s trademark phone calls before swiftly being killed off, the first scene wastes no time in amping up the tension but it is the follow-up to this where we really see the genius of it, the scene that comes next – based around another two characters, Chloe (Kristen Bell) and Rachel (Anna Paquin) – cleverly and hilariously playing on the absurdity that has become so prevalent in the horror genre and the next scene taking it to an even greater extreme.

Both extremely scary and a hilarious piece of postmodernism, this opening gets the film off to a fantastic start and, even if the rest of the film doesn’t quite live up to this, there is still some very clever stuff to be found elsewhere as well. A lot of horror movie clichés are exploited and turned upside down here, there being numerous scenes where terrified women try to run away from the killer but with a slight twist and the dialogue, frequently consisting of conversations about scary movies, really snapping. For instance, in one scene a character says “I’ll be right back… wait, I know this one…you’re not supposed to say that are you”, a simple twist that perfectly illustrates the self mocking nature of the film. The film really plays on the fact that Ghostface has been reduced to the butt of a sick joke, actually managing to make the character seem menacing all over again, and with a lot of horror movie references, it will also test your knowledge or the horror genre with their being much for horror film geeks to look out for. The film doesn’t just succeed in terms of its self mocking postmodernism, though, but also as a straight up horror movie.

With plenty of jump scares and an ample amount of tension, the scares and shocks here prove very effective, even more so as a result of the misdirection used to make us expect the killer to come from one place while they actually show up from somewhere completely different. Suffice to say this is not a film for those of a nervous disposition. It is also a film that isn’t for those who are squeamish, even though the film is nowhere near as gory as you might expect it to be. The murder scenes mostly shy away from showing much gory detail, the slashing scenes generally being very fast and frenetic, with blood seen pouring from the slash wounds but there being little dwelling on the infliction of pain like in recent torture horror movies where infliction of pain is the main focus. Only one scene proves excessively gory, with one of the victims being shown with her entrails all over the floor and her blood all over the walls and ceiling. It is hinted that any of a number of characters could be the killer so as to keep us guessing and the true identity of the killer is real shocker – I’m not saying who so as not to spoil the film. I can’t comment in too much detail on some of the performances without giving away who the killer is but I can say that the actor or actress who does play the killer is performing very against type and delivers a surprisingly twisted and deranged performance after the revelation that they are the killer.

The younger characters here are not the most extensively developed, Erik Knudsen and Rory Culkin essentially filling the same horror expert roles that Matthew Lillard and Jamie Kennedy played in the original Scream movie and the cast being filled with hot young females – Emma Roberts, Hayden Panettiere, Marielle Jaffe, Lucy Hale, Shenae Grimes, Kristen Bell, Anna Paquin, Aimee Teegarden, Brittany Robertson and Alison Brie – many of whom seem to be little more than easy on the eye (and generally easy) knife fodder for the killer to slash his way through but the roles are all pretty well cast and the performers all deliver noteworthy performances. Despite there being a lot of younger cast members – a necessity to attract a new generation of moviegoers – the returning original cast members still get a fair amount of screen time too. Neve Campbell, David Arquette and Courteney Cox all slide back into their characters efficiently and each fares well individually, Campbell once again proving to be a strong heroine, Cox nailing her character’s catty attitude in a performance that is as far removed from her Friends character Monica Gellar (just in case you only know her from E4’s never ending repeats of the sitcom) as she could possibly get and Arquette generally doing a good job as well.

Additionally, the strained relationship portrayed between David Arquette and Courteney Cox’s characters almost seems as though it could be a reflection of their real life relationship troubles. Also worth mentioning are Marley Shelton, who delivers a good performance of a character who is clearly slightly unhinged, and, while he is in no way remarkable, I just wanted to point out that Anthony Anderson was a star of the Scary Movie films, the first of which was a spoof of Scream (interesting factoid – Scream itself was originally going to be called Scary Movie).

Finally, there is Roger Jackson whose Ghostface voice is as creepy and threatening as ever. Scary, funny and clever, Scream 4 is a truly worthy fourth instalment in the franchise that will benefit from having seen the previous films in the series but can be enjoyed by anyone who has a taste for good horror movies. And even if you’re not a fan it will certainly help to wipe Wes Craven’s much maligned recent effort, My Soul to Take, from the memory. I hate to end on a cliché but Scream 4 is a scream.

————————————————————————————————————————————Review by Robert Mann BA (Hons)

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