Scream 4 Review
by Tom Elce (elce18 AT gmail DOT com)August 9th, 2011
SCREAM 4 (2011)
Rating: 5/10
(reviewed by Tom Elce)
Fifteen years following its conception, the "Scream" franchise takes one last shot at relevance to the changing horror scene with "Scream 4," though the result isn't that the post-modern slasher franchise regains its mojo after two sloppy sequels. Rather, Wes Craven continues to fall back on old tricks and cliches, banking on a new cast, new gadgets and new horror-movie referencing games to excite and entice horror audiences, who should by now be immune to Ghostface's meagre dagger-brandishing charms. We might define the film's failure -- save for a worthy denoument, that is -- as yet more Craven regression; the folly of a filmmaker who once showed promise with films like "Last House on the Left" and "Red Eye" but who know cowers in the shadow of better horrorshow helmers.
"Scream 4" is all meta conversations and scenarios ostensibly critiquing the very patterns of shallowness and creative passivity it actually adheres to; a subconscious self-critique masquerading as a break from the genre status quo when it is anything but. Tacit criticisms of films such as "Saw," while merited, can't mask the fact that those films -- while poor -- capture the zeitgeist of horror filmmaking in a way "Scream 4" does not. Instead, Craven parades before our eyes a cast of typically cardboard characters playing out more-or-less the same scenario that another cast did in the original "Scream" while barely imploring us to care until those vital final moments. It's easier to watch and certainly better than a lot of what passes for frightening cinema these days but it's still banal -- a three-tiered opening is rich in blood, tricks and screams but devoid of real innovation.
Reinventing herself by way of releasing an autobiography years following the third go-round with a ghostface killer(s), Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) barely has screentime to pass into a state of solace before it all begins again, as another masked assailant begins to off teens in Woodsboro, shattering Sidney's sense of closure and certainly that of her niece Jill Roberts (an exceptional Emma Roberts), who would appear to be the prime target of this particular slasher. Getting involved as always are everybody's favourite slasher protagonist twosome Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) and Sheriff Dewey Riley (David Arquette), who resolve to again vanquish a murderous psychopath stalking innocent teens, albeit on separate paths this time.
"Scream 4"'s setup sounds groan-worthy and the movie often is, defined as Craven's latest effort is by galling dialogue, questionable acting and so much familiarity of style and sequences. Changes to the plot by "Scream" staple Kevin Williamson are largely cosmetic until the final act, though characters work harder at impressing upon the potentially gullible audience that the rules are being broken than they actually do at resembling palpable human beings. Certainly there is still no weight to the bloodshed and death often glimpsed throughout the film, another way in which "Scream 4" seems only modestly superior to the "Saw"s, "Hostel"s and tween-friendly remakes of the present era. Again, whatever success the film has during the first two acts seems dependent on the viewer's awareness that Hollywood can do worse. Comparative to terrible films, the mediocre "Scream 4" looks almost worthy.
"Scream 4" is irrelevant and usually repellent, but at least its clicking parts collide into an explosion of interest and atmospheric strength during a delicious final act that becomes the entire franchise's most clever, multi-faceted twist. Just as the "Saw" movies rely on late-in-the-day rug-pulls so have Craven's slashers thrived on Williamson's ability to reward you for enduring the pitiful mistakes made before twists that work to redeem his and Craven's thematic misdeeds. The implications of these final dialogue exchanges and death sequences are more delicious than anything the series has seen before, while specific actors clearly -- and intelligently -- relish the opportunity to play against type and expectation. Staged first in a house and then in a hospital, this segment infers morally and dramatically harrowing connotations, and actually has the wherewithal to achieve them.
Would that the preceding minutes were comprised of something similarly substantial and enjoyable, "Scream 4"'s adrenalised finish might have played part in the revival of slasher movies brought about in the films of Rob Zombie and Bryan Bertino. However, Craven's sequel relies entirely on its twist to redeem itself, thusly earning rank with all that "Saw" rubbish and not genuinely innovative horror movies in the present era. In this way, it is only almost relevant to prevailing trends. Yet where films like "The Strangers" and "Halloween 2" individualistically combat banality and crudeness, "Scream 4" blends in with the crowd of inferior, condescending studio horror pictures.
=== "Scream 4" hits shelves in the U.K. on August 22nd, and is available on disc in the U.S. on October 4th ===
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