It all started in 1996, when Drew Barrymore was brutally murdered by a mysterious psychopath. This was, of course, Wes Craven's Scream, a film that rejuvenated the slasher genre and subsequently went on to make $161 million at the worldwide box office. With it's mixture of dark humor, violence and self-awareness, Scream has cemented itself as one of, if not the best, modern slasher film. Craven then went on to direct the equally successful sequels; Scream 2 shared it's predecessor's brand of humor and horror making it a genuinely enjoyable sequel, whereas Scream 3 (written this time by Ehren Kruger instead of series regular Kevin Williamson) was soft, tedious and altogether underwhelming. With the trilogy eventually earning around $497 million in global box office, it's a wonder we haven't seen Scream 4 earlier. But now that it's here, does the sequel return to it's dark and witty roots? Or is Scream 4 an unnecessary cash grab that's just too late?
Ten years have passed since the original Woodsboro massacre. Ten years since Gale Weathers, Dewey Riley and Sidney Prescott survived the macabre mayhem of teen killers Billy Loomis and Stu Macher. Sidney, having survived two ensuing assaults, returns to Woodsboro for a signing for her new book, "Out Of Darkness", where she details her fight for survival and her refusal to be labelled a victim. Here, she once again meets Dewey and Gale, who are now married, and her estranged cousin Jill. But it's not long before Sidney's arrival in Woodsboro sparks a new murderous spree, leaving bodies piled up as the mystery thickens; who is the killer? And what does it have to do with Sidney's return home?
The Scream franchise has always thrived on lampooning the slasher genre as a whole. Incorporating all of it's cliches, character's often make the stupidest decisions possible. But therein lies the fun of it all, when Sidney, Gale and Randy stood over Billy's body in the original movie and declared, "they always come back, for one last scare", we want the killer to frighten us one last time. It's self-referential humor works because it knows you expect the usual, so when Billy screams to life for that one last scare, we're left laughing at it's dry wit. But with Scream 4, now that it's been 15 years since the first movie, Craven and Williamson really had to step up their game as audience's these days are jaded. And thankfully, thats exactly what they've done. Taking a stab (no pun intended) at everything from Twitter to Facebook, the Saw franchise to the current spat of Horror remakes, Scream 4 absolutely fucking nails it. The tone of the sequel can be summed up by one of it's many hilarious lines (delivered by the surprisingly wonderful Hayden Panettiere), when the killer asks, "Name the successful remake of the classic Horror film...", to which she replies, "Halloween, Texas Chainsaw, Dawn Of The Dead, The Hills Have Eyes, The Amityville Horror, Black Christmas, House Of Wax?!".
Rounding out the new cast are Rory Culkin, Emma Roberts, Marielle Jaffe, Nico Tortorella and the previously mentioned Hayden Panettiere. It's great to see the original cast back in action and the film isn't without it's decent performances, but by the time the film had ended, I couldn't help but feel the majority were completely under-developed. Tortorella especially, as his character is supposed to be a nod to the original's Billy Loomis, but altogether he gets maybe 10 - 15 minutes of screen time. Rather than properly establish who these new characters are, they're treated more like red herrings to throw you off the mystery of who the killer is. It's not a case of total cardboard characters, but it would have been nice if we got to know them a bit more.
Which brings me to the reveal. This is a spoiler-free review, so I won't mention names, but while I enjoyed Scream 4 as a whole, the climax is such overkill it almost hurts the film. The killer (or killers) are believable, and the motive is smart, but what ensues is kind of farcical. Indeed, Scream 4 suffers from the ever frequent it-should-have-ended-10-minutes-ago syndrome.
While it's not without it's flaws, Scream 4 is a success. It manages to be both brutal and (sometimes) scary as well as smart and funny. Miles ahead of the underwhelming Scream 3, if you're a fan of the series you're bound to enjoy this one. If you're not but you still enjoy a good horror film on a Friday night, then Scream 4 is for you, too.
