Scream 4

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Plot Synopsis:

Roughly ten years after the events of Scream 3, Sidney Prescott returns to her hometown of Woodsboro after writing a book. However, a new Ghostface emerges and begins a new killing spree, following the pattern of horror remakes. 

Positives:

As is always the case with these movies, Neve Campbell shows up to work. I like this version of Sidney Prescott too. I like that this movie gives us a Sidney that is actively working to move on, and not let her trauma define her. I also like that, in a lot of ways, Scream 4 feels ahead of its time. In particular, you have Robbie constantly streaming, and this is years before the existence of Twitch. On the flip side, you have a character like Jill. In many ways, Jill’s attitude and motivation feels like that of an influencer, a term that really wasn’t a thing in 2011. Of course, I also need to give Emma Roberts props for her performance as Jill. She does such a good job fluctuating between playing the innocent victim, the deranged psycho, and the deranged psycho playing an innocent victim. There’s also some fun actors in some of the supporting roles. You have the likes of Adam Brody, Anthony Anderson, and Allison Brie, just to name a couple. Okay, in this case, I wanted to save what I felt was the movie’s biggest positive for last. Kirby. Every time Hayden Panettiere is on screen, she is making the most of it. The character really feels like the perfect storm of what happens when a writer, a director, and a performer all kind of fall in love with said character. It’s even more memorable when you realize she doesn’t have that much screen time. Kirby is a fan favorite for a reason. 

Negatives:

I'm not a fan of the fakeout gimmick at the beginning of the movie where we get the two Stab scenes. The scene's aren't awful necessarily. But, after fifteen years, they've lost a little bit of luster for me. I'm also not a huge fan of the movie's ending in the hospital. Again, much like the fakeouts, it isn't awful, but I do think it drags the movie out a little bit. This is one of the movies in the franchise that plays it safe with the legacy characters. It isn't the most egregious example of the franchise, but I still think it's worth noting. I don't like the character of Trevor. He's not an interesting character, and he's not particularly well-acted either. Finally, I don't much care for the look of the movie. It's got sort of a weird filter that's never really worked me. 

Final Thoughts: 

I was a freshman in high school when this movie came out. It was the first Scream movie I got to see in theaters. I kind of remember the response being lukewarm at the time. In many ways, I think the last decade and a half has really been kind to the movie because so much of it has aged well. I don't know that there's much more that can be said other than: it's another good Scream movie. 

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