Review
‘Scream 4’ falls short with dull, predictable plot
April 21, 2011
I must admit that I am a sucker for the feeling of nostalgia; just knowing that I get to relive something that I loved such a long time ago gets me excited. These emotions ran high in the beginning of “Scream 4,” when they helped get the audience up to speed on what has been going on since “Scream 3.” It opens making fun of the horror genre and the “Scream” series itself with the fake “Stab” movies. This is the franchise based off the Woodsboro killings of scream, and now is up to its eighth installment poking fun at the Saw franchise. Then a couple of real murders happen and we are re-introduced to Sydney Prescott (Neve Campbell), Officer Dewey (David Arquette) and Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox).
Sydney has written an autobiography on her life and now is on the last stop of her book tour, the town where all these murders originally happened. What a good homecoming for Sydney as the murders start back up again, now based around her and younger cousin Sherrie (Lucy Hale). About twenty minutes into “Scream 4” when my nostalgia feeling has worn thin. Then a bunch of killings happen that are so ridiculous it completely kills all intrigue I had for this movie.
I found it funny that director Wes Craven used the first 10 minutes to make fun of horror movies for what they were, and then fall directly into the pattern of a typical slasher film. When you make a fourth installment there has to be something new, which in this case there isn’t. Everything about it is recycled material from the first three, primarily the first one as I felt I was watching a newer and worse version of the original.
“Scream” and “Scream 2” were great, not only because of solid acting and good story telling, but you actually felt that it was real. You could indulge yourself deep into the psyche of these different characters because it all felt that it actually could happen. “Scream 4” fails in this department as everything is over the top, predictable and unrealistic, especially the culmination of the last fifteen minutes. Also the fear of the phone calls is dumbed down to nothing but a line or two from the killers. In the original movie the phone call is what made the terror that much more frightening.
Overall the acting is solid and like I said already the nostalgia feeling is there, but should slowly fade for anyone a fan of the franchise. The feel good ending hopefully put the “Scream” franchise to rest once and for all (key word is hopefully). I just wish this would have been something new and not actually what it was, which was just not good.
Dustyn Dubuque is a history major and geography minor that has a love and passion for film. He watches over 100 films each year and loves Academy Awards season.