Scream 4 [Blu-ray]
CAUTION - SPOILERS AHEAD!
CAUTION - SPOILERS AHEAD!
History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes; and that phrase instantly comes to mind with Wes Craven’s Scream 4. The Scream movies have always acted as a commentary on the horror/slasher genre, and all of the many tropes within. It’s really interesting to observe the evolution of the genre over time, solely through this series, with Scream 4’s commentary moving on to the social media age, with torture porn and characters that are lacking in development, since they are simply lambs to the slaughter, rather than characters you care for.
It quickly hits us with a double bluff, with two intros to the in-universe Stab series. You think it’s the beginning of our movie, only it turns out to be Stab 6, before quickly evolving into Stab 7 before we finally reach the Scream 4 reveal, making for a really entertaining and memorable introduction, especially given the jokes and jabs about horror and the ‘Stab’ series, within. Making sure to state that ”This isn’t a comedy, it’s a horror film” - giving us a little reminder that it has gone back to its roots, especially after 3 being much more restrained, blood and gore-wise. Our leading lady Sidney Prescott, played by Neve Campbell, has returned to Woodsboro whilst promoting her book Out of Darkness. And it doesn’t take long before she’s thrust right back into the craziness she thought she’d left behind.
With a lot of similarities to the previous titles, from Sidney recognising a lot of herself in her younger cousin, Jill (played by Emma Roberts), to the overall pattern of the kills mirroring how things panned out previously, we get to see just how far the series has come. Only a few of the original cast remain, with new characters being introduced - yet still connected through Sidney’s familial links, as well as having Dewey (David Arquette) being back in the Woodsboro Police Department as Sheriff.
Utilising the modern conveniences of live streaming video content, Ghostface is now recording their kills. One of their first murders has them even mention how they are ‘the director’ this time, and it provides an interesting - yet horrifying - take on how society has progressed as a whole. Gale (Courtney Cox) is the one who first discovers that these killings are being recorded, after planting cameras during the party - just as she did during the original movie’s party at Stu’s. The visuals seem to be a lot brighter this time around, with a lot of blown-out lighting that seems to inadvertently obscure things; which is a shame as it can really take away from the otherwise effective shots. The score is effective and works really well throughout, both in terms of the classic themes and the soundtrack with recognisable tracks that up the tension and add to the overall feel of each scene.
Sidney’s niece ends up being one half of the killer duo, with film-fan Charlie, played by Rory Culkin, being the other - the two have masterminded the plan, pinning it all on Jill’s ex. We see again, the one-sided-ness of the killers, with Jill going on to fatally stab Charlie (much to his surprise) - again showing similarity to Billy and Stu’s plan to portray innocent victims, with Billy getting a little carried away in the process. Wanting to be the sole survivor, with a declaration of “I don’t need friends, I need fans”, Jill just wants to achieve internet fame - outshining her famous, victim cousin Sidney.
The ending gives us a good little bit of twisting and turning, with the OG cast coming closer to death than they have in a while, however once again these are the only characters that seem to make it through to the ending. That’s probably one of the most frustrating parts of Scream, in that we’ve been introduced to some interesting characters, but the original survivors seem to dominate the focus. The character of Kirby (Hayden Panettiere) is one of the best new characters we’ve seen in the series, so it would have been cool to see her survive the ordeal. Overall, we had a great time with Scream 4 - probably more so than we did on our initial watch way back when it first came out, and found it to be a great return to classic slashers with a modern twist.
In the end, we decided to give Scream 4 the Collecting Asylum rating of 8/10.
Have you seen Scream 4? What do you think of it?
Let us know in the comments below!
- V x
