Cinema Verdict Review: Scream 4

Scream 4

OPENING: 04/15/2011

STUDIO: Dimension Films

RUN TIME: 111 min

ACCOMPLICES:Trailer, Official Site

The Charge
New decade. New rules.

Opening Statement
Has it been that long since director Wes Craven deconstructed the slasher genre with Scream (1996)? Evidently so because he’s back, along with screenwriter Kevin Williamson, for another installment in the successful franchise, one that attempts to introduce Ghost Face to a whole new generation.

Facts of the Case
A new decade emerges, one with new rules, and little regard to past formula.

Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), still recovering from previous run-ins with Ghost Face, returns to her home town to promote a new book. As luck would have it, another Ghost Face impersonator begins slaughtering the town’s denizens in unique, unexpected ways.

To save not only herself, but those closest to her, Sidney will have to confront her demons once more in an epic showdown where anything can happen.

In Scre4m, all bets are off …

The Evidence
I’ll confess I was excited for Scre4m, having enjoyed Wes Craven’s original trilogy upon their release in the apparently-oh-so-long-ago-’90s. I was never a diehard fan, so to speak. I saw each film once (always in the theater), and that was enough. I recall each of them fulfilling my 18-year-old expectations: Screams 1-3 allotted a wild, 90-minute thrill ride, replete with terrific, pop-savy dialogue (by then up and coming screenwriter Kevin Williamson, who penned parts one and two), sexy young talent, and a hodgepodge of over the top death scenes (none more brilliant than Jamie Kennedy’s startling, middle-of-the-day demise in Scream 2). I’m of the minority that enjoyed Scream 3 for what it was: an unnecessary sequel that got by on its predecessors’ good company. Yet, even I felt Craven and co. had stuck a nice, shiny fork in the franchise.

I was wrong.

Scre4m marks a confident return to form for Craven. He doesn’t reinvent the genre as he did in 1996, but dowdily revisits an unexpected career high point like a kid replaying one of his old video games–nothing’s changed, the game’s just easier to beat.

Sadly, Craven’s confidence arrives hand in hand with a case of diminishing returns. Scre4m basically is Scream circa 2011. Same game, same rules, updated cultural references (instead of Freddy and Jason, these teens discuss torture porn and Harry Potter). In that vein, all that once felt fresh and invigorating a mere decade ago now reeks of corporate money grubbing.

After a deliciously campy pre-credit sequence that headily establishes the film’s sarcastic, if not cynical, tone, Scre4m essentially picks up where Three left off. Sidney Prescott (Campbell) returns to her hometown and again finds herself caught up in another Ghost Face crime spree. Obviously the plot doesn’t revolve around uncovering Ghost Face’s identity (that would end the film all too quickly). Instead, Craven and (returning writer) Williamson set up frequent death sequences that follow the same basic, home grown trajectory: two (or three) people discuss scary movies, receive a threatening phone call from Ghost Face, and then, after a few false scares, meet a gruesome death.

I recall zingy dialogue lending the original Scream an ironic, unsuspecting tone; here it feels outdated, even tacky. The filmmakers should’ve gone against audience expectations and crafted a revitalized slasher film–new scares, new tone, new style. I kept waiting for something significant to happen, or something that would give this film relevance in regards to its existence. But that’s the problem with Scre4m –nothing happens.

People behave like idiots, in spite of their supposed slasher-film insights. Some wander into the dark by themselves, others go to parties celebrating the murderer regardless of the ongoing killing spree; people die by the hundreds and no one, not even slightly-less-goofy Sherriff Dewey (David Arquette), or his slightly-more-bitchy wife Gale (Courtney Cox), seems to care. Even Sidney offers little in the way of genuine emotion. (After three films can you blame her?) Then again, everyone who dies deserves to die based on sheer stupidity.

I know it’s silly to comment on the increased death toll (a staple in sequels to be sure), suffice to say I think one or two deaths sprinkled throughout a film draws more genuine suspense than offing an individual every other minute. I grew annoyed with the numerous stabbing sequences, which come far too quickly and often. It doesn’t help that the victims lack characterization. Mostly they’re introduced (hey, it’s that guy from that one show) and then just as swiflty killed off. To that end, Scre4m feels like an exercise in mass carnage, as though Craven felt the need to outmatch those despicable (but somehow successful) Saw films. Wes Craven mimicking someone else? What has the world come to?

On the flip side, the killer has a terrific motive this time around, one that smarmily kicks US pop culture in the ass. Had Craven and co. set out to make a satire, Scre4m would have ended fifteen minutes earlier and it would’ve been bloody brilliant. But alas, the obvious point here is to open the door for even more insipid sequels. And so a lackluster, tacked-on finale undoes all the good will established only moments earlier, leaving this latest installment feeling downright scary in its refusal to let bygones be bygones.

Closing Statement
Wes Craven revamps his Scream series for contemporary audiences, but ultimately fails in his attempts to reignite the genre that twice made him a household name.

The Verdict
6/10