Scream 4 (Craven, 2011)

[ayaa1977]

The reason I hated this was coz of its ordinary story line which was trying too hard to be hip with lots of references made to facebook, twitter, blogs, etc all for no reason. Imagine this, your friend gets killed a couple of days ago and you still out partying and drinking celebrating life like there is no tomorrow.

The kills were not innovative or gut wrenching either which I honestly expected from a Scream movie. Top all that with wooden acting by the leads because of the botox on every alumni's face.

Oh KT, KT!! Because the orignal's story made that much sense, right? It was what it was, and it was masterful, classic, awesome, etc. Anyway, you really have the right to your opinion certainly, and all what you said, nitpicky as it might be, but valid reasoning nevertheless.  As for myself, I miss spending time with Sydney, Dewy, and Gale. I miss the pre-credit kill, and the self aware meta references. I was never scared by any thing in the original trilogy, but that didn't lessen the love I have for the first two films, which made me like the third as misguided as it was. But if I watched this one and found it as aweful as you said, I will be one pissed man. I NEED you to be wrong on this on KT, you understand?

[shariqq]

IMDb link

Director: Wes Craven
Starring: Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Emma Roberts, Rory Culkin, others.
Release Date: May 5, 2011 (UAE)

In 1996, Scream smashed the box-office by redefining the concept of horror-slasher movies. Scream 4 attempts to re-redefine the genre, but unfortunately falls into a trap that the original so smartly avoided. While the movie starts off with a cheeky sequence of winks at the audience that promises a good time, it regresses into a standard uninspired sequel complete with exploitation of cheap thrills. In fact, Scream (the original), still serves as the perfect foil for Scream 4, the latter being the kind of movie that the former ridiculed in the first place.

Fifteen years to the date after the initial killing spree, Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) returns to the town of Woodsboro as the last stop for her book tour. Dewey Riley (David Arquette) is now the town sheriff and Gale Riley (a haggard looking Courtney Cox) is his bored wife. On cue, the killings start again and Sidney, along with cousin Jill (Emma Roberts) and her close buddies (Hayden Panettiere, Rory Culkin, etc.) find their lives at the receiving end of a knife that belongs to the legendary killer: Ghostface. But this time, even the killer knows the rules.

Much as anticipated, Scream 4 references itself and other slasher movies right from the onset. But director Wes Craven seems to have exhausted his creative streak after a smart opening sequence. As the movie plunges more and more into brazen shoddiness with each subsequent killing, the futility of stretching the franchise becomes apparent. Unlike the first Scream, which this movie must be compared to, the characters here are not intelligently written self-aware clichés, but are incredibly stupid self-aware clichés. In trying to out-smart itself, the movie collapses under its own pretentiousness, settling in the territory between unnecessary sequel and rip-off B-movie.

The biggest failing of Scream 4 is how meta-movie it gets. There are so many references and winks in the movie that soon after the first set of murders, the audience realizes how fake all of it is – none of the subsequent killings invoke any sense of thrill, fear or laughter. Wes Craven and the Weinsteins, producers of the movie, have the idea completely wrong here. The movie would have worked in the best possible way if it did exactly what was not expected of it – a genuine teen-slasher movie that, even if sticking to genre-rules, would take itself seriously.

Wes Craven, veteran director of such genre classics as A Nightmare on Elm Street (original), The Hills Have Eyes (original) and The Last House on the Left (original), not to forget Scream (original), does not have much of an excuse for this misstep that seems to be more commercially driven than anything else. As iconic as Ghostface is, this resurrection is unwarranted. In fact, about now is just the right time for another original from Mr Craven.

My Rating --> 2 of 5

[animatedude]

i don't know what to rate any of the Scream movies really but i just watched Scream 4 and i'm not saying it's good or it's great i'm just saying if you are a big movies buff like everybody here then i say check it out..