Not many franchise reboots have the good luck to be made by the same director, writer, and stars of the original- but then, not many horror franchises are as witty, successful and frightening as Scream. Though most of the good horror reboots have just taken the theme of the original and run in a different direction (Dawn of the Dead, The Crazies) that wouldn’t fit with the Scream style, now would it? The Scream series is all about self-parody, commentary, and being self-aware about its existence as a film. Luckily, Scream 4, despite reiterating the themes and arc of the original trilogy, succeeds in being a funny, scary, and well-delivered horror film.
In Scream 4, director Wes Craven, writer Kevin Williamson, Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) and Dewey Riley (David Arquette) return to Woodsboro, the site of the horrible mass murders of Scream, fifteen years after the fact. I was worried, having just watched and reviewed the original trilogy, that I would find the post-modernist self parodying tedious and boring, but unlike the third film, there’s enough here to keep you fully engaged, fan of the original or not. It’s sort of the same movie, again, yes, but the main characters have changed enough, and the plot time lines are far enough removed, that it feels fresh again, vital.
Sidney is in town on her book tour, having finally left the reclusive privacy of her life and finding strength in a public persona. Dewey and Gale are married, and have settled in Woodsboro, where he’s become sheriff and Gale has become a full time novelist. The film opens with an incredibly funny sequence, to describe it here would ruin the joke for you, but after a brief prologue it begins, as the others, with two teens brutally murdered in their homes.
Again a violent slasher whodunit begins, featuring plenty of throwback references to classic horror (including a shout out to the very original slasher flick, Michael Powell’s Peeping Tom, which made the horror nerd in me light up), and plenty of self-reflexive parody. This time, the commentator role of Randy Meeks, from the original trilogy, is taken by a high school film nerd Robbie (Erik Knudsen), who wears a live-blogging camera apparatus on his head and narrates the events of the new Woodsboro murders.
We follow Sidney’s high school aged cousin, Jill Roberts (Emma Roberts), as she and her friends are attacked and killed by the Ghostface killer. Although they perform admirably, they lack the charisma and talents of the teens in the first picture, and don’t carry nearly as much dramatic weight or character development. Luckily, Campbell, Arquette and Cox have all matured into their roles so naturally that they keep every scene they’re in moving.
If there is some parody of the new, ‘plugged-in’ generation, (including a joke about characters in new horror movies always losing cell phone service), and the concept of internet fame and cultural production, the main target of parody is the notion of the horror movie reboot, and Craven and Williamson do a fine job of poking fun at the notion while still delivering a satisfying one. Or, as Robbie explains about the reboot and Craven provides, it has to be gorier, more shocking, and follow fewer rules than the original sequels. And once again, the cast is full of recognizable stars, from the main supporting players (Rory Culkin, Alison Brie, Hayden Panettiere) down to the bit parts (Adam Brody, Anthony Anderson, Kristen Bell, Anna Paquin).
Although it’s not as great a classic as Scream, I would easily put Scream 4 up there with 2; it might even be the better film. Though I saw the twist reveal of the killer a mile away, and you probably will, too, there’s so much humor, so many brutal scares and such satisfying completion of the story lines, that it’s the first horror movie reboot not to miss.
"Scream 4" opens April 15, 2011 and is rated R. Horror. Directed by Wes Craven. Written by Kevin Williamson. Starring Adam Brody, Alison Brie, Anna Paquin, Anthony Anderson, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Emma Roberts, Hayden Panettiere, Kristen Bell, Neve Campbell, Rory Culkin.
