Scream movie horror hot video

Scream was the interplay between genre-fueled expectation and smart storytelling that created a number of memorable set-pieces (as well as twists) in the original trilogy.

Scream 4 images

 

 

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Scream 4 cast and crew

Lucy Hale

Roger Jackson

Shenae Grimes
                                   
Dane Farwell
                                         
Kristen Bell                                              

Aimee Teegarden                                                  

Britt Robertson
                                             
Neve Campbell                                        

Alison Brie
                                   
David Arquette
                                 
Courteney Cox
                             
Hayden Panettiere                                                                      

Emma Roberts
                                   
Marielle Jaffe                      

Marley Shelton                              

Nancy O'Dell
                                       
Erik Knudsen                                    

Justin Michael Brandt                                

Rory Culkin                                          

Nico Tortorella                                            

Anthony Anderson
                                                 
Adam Brody                                                            

Gordon Michaels

John Lepard                                              

scream overview

It was the interplay between genre-fueled expectation and smart storytelling that created a number of memorable set-pieces (as well as twists) in the original trilogy. However, there’s no doubt that Scream 2 and (especially) Scream 3 failed to live up to the bar set by the original. Will the return of Williamson (who passed on the third film), paired with a decade-full of new horror properties to satirize, capture the same magic as the original? Or, much like Craven’s other recent work, is Scream 4 just another brainless slasher film?


Unlike Craven’s recent writing/directing effort My Soul to Take (read our review), Scream 4 is brought to life once again by the surprisingly cohesive collaboration between the director and Williamson’s script. While Craven’s recent creations don’t have the depth necessary to carry a film, the director has no problem taking someone else’s writing – and translating it into tense and compelling onscreen drama (and suspense) that holds-up well even in the current action-focused cinescape.

As in any slasher film, the characters are stereotype frames but a number of tongue-in-cheek performances (especially by Hayden Panettiere and Erik Knudsen) give the characters an added level of polish that isn’t often seen in the horror genre – allowing for some actual surprises along the way. Even the least-assuming Woodsboro residents are portrayed with a bit of menace, successfully keeping audiences on their toes – without resorting to manipulative shifts out-of-character.

Like its predecessors, playing against expectation is one of the greatest strengths of Scream 4 – not only in terms of the “Rules for Survival” and the over-arching story beats but also during the moment-to-moment tension. Good slasher films succeed when they can surprise the audience – in spite of the numerous tropes of the genre. However, Scream 4 not only delivers surprises, the film succeeds by showing the audience something ominous and fulfilling that tension – but in a manner that flies in the face of expectation. While it might sound obvious on paper, no horror film has ever taken the trick as literal as Scream 4.

For horror fans that are less interested in all the meta-film commentary, Scream 4 also offers the most kills of the series. The slasher sequences in the film are not only more frequent than prior installments – they’re also larger in scope. Several of the Woodsboro victims are dispatched in surprisingly creative (but still brutal) sequences – all while managing to avoid slipping into the torture-porn-esque subgenre the film derides.

That said, as the film steamrolls into the inevitable who-done-it revelation, it’s hard not feel as if the actual reveal falls a bit flat. Sure, the high-expectations come as a result of the shocking and innovative reveal in the original Scream; however, the reveal at the end of Scream 4 seems more concerned with serving as a precautionary tale about all-access Internet notoriety than a satisfying climax to the actual tension in the film (or resolution to the characters). Sure there are definitely some interesting twists but there’s no question that the last 15 minutes of Scream 4 drag-on, first bogged-down by the weight of the meta-narrative, and then abandoning the tightly-crafted storyline for a more-traditional and over-the-top final set-piece.

scream 4 review

Like most people in their late twenties reading this review, the SCREAM franchise was a staple of my teen angst years. The first film was filled with terrifying goodness, which opened the floodgates of copycat scripts and features (most notably URBAN LEGEND and I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER) for years to come. What was so enthralling about the SCREAM films was watching director Wes Craven try new things, poke fun at his past mistakes, and create admirable cinematic horror.


Eleven years later, we're given a much anticipated follow-up, SCREAM 4 (known mostly as SCRE4M) which, I'm very sad to report, is lazy, hollow, and a disappointing attempt at rebooting the popular franchise.

The SCREAM series is entirely built on trying to kill Sidney Prescott; within it, a desire to end Sidney Prescott's life is normal, but now it's been eleven years since that last happened. Sid (Neve Campbell) has come out of hiding and is on a book tour, signing autographs and reading snippets from her self-help book. She returns to her hometown of Woodsboro, where the chaos and murders first took place on said tour, and it just so happens that she has returned on the 15th anniversary of when the murders first took place.

Almost everyone makes it clear they do not want to be around Sid, because, well, it's like "being on Top Chef with Jeffrey Dahmer." So many surrounding her who she loved and trusted have fallen victim to Ghostface's love of both horror trivia and the knife. Unfortunately for Sid, who has seemingly lived without fear for eleven years, her return has resurrected Ghostface, who once again will try his (or her) hand at putting her six feet under. There's a lot more things I could and want to discuss with the synopsis, but being a huge SCREAM fan, I will stop there, as surprises and cameos are only fun when you're not expecting them.

In SCRE4M, seven STAB features have been made, horror reboots are the butt of almost all the jokes, and everything is still meta. Since time has passed, Ghostface is now using new social technology and networking, such as iPhone apps and Facebook, to confuse and get his victims. We're told via the poster "New Decade. New Rules." Our new killer appears much angrier, and as the president and vice-president of Woodsboro High's Cinema Club go over the new rules, the first and most applied is this: the kills are way more extreme. Some could argue the violence distracts from everything else in the film, but in order to follow this rule, the violence is a necessity.