Scream 4

 I just had to get out of the house!!!!!!! That is basicaly the only reason I went over to Hastings to see this fourth instalment of the Scream franchise. Cabin fever I was a suffering from a badly!! So I bit the financial bullet and trundled on over to the 6.00p.m screening. At 7.54p.m I wandered out actually quite pleased I made the effort as I was going to forego Scream 4 and maybe, just maybe catch it on DVD. The scary thing now is that the only release this week is Fast and Furious part 1 million!! I thought I wouldn't see Scream 4 and am adamant that I won't torture myself through more Furious and Fast garbage to the eyes and senses. But guess what folks! I'm sure my forty year old butt will be planted in a theatre this Thursday watching the ten millionth instalment of this boy racer rubbish!!

 Well first and foremost I thoroughly enjoyed Scream 4!! I don't know what I was expecting when I went as it has been ten years since the last instalment and I can't really re-call much about any of the movies in the franchise. Oh!! I lie...Iwell remember Drew Barrymore's butt in a cute pair of knickers as she ran around outside screaming. Don't know why that would stick in my do you??!! There are a few other bits and pieces but generally horrors aren't my thing, and have to be fairly remarkable to stick in my grey matter. The first Scream was very original, clever, and bloody scary. But the fourth doesn't offer anything new and is not even remotely scary.

 In many respects I enjoyed it more because of the lack of scares and jumps. It was more comedic in approach and there was a plethora of really great horror movie references. I particularly liked the start with the girl who states she hates the Saw franchise and the 'Gorno' genre. It is a tounge in cheek jab at the genre and mirrors the opinions of many, myself included. Then that great Kiwi lass Anna Paquin has a jab at slasher films in general and their inherent cliques. All she gets is a knife in the guts and told to shut up because she 'talks too fucking much'! What made me laugh about Paquin is she is suposed to be a teenager and yet she is near on thirty!! Some of the other girls were well past their teenage years and looked like what they were, mutton dressed as lamb. It is always a major piss off to me when movies about teens have actors/actresses in their mid-twenties or so posing as teenagers. It looks stupid and is inherent to the horror genre. Maybe it was intentional in Scream 4 but it always bugs me.

 The lovely Emma Roberts is just twenty and fits the part perfectly. At first I couldn't place her and then it dropped as I sawher in Hotel For Dogs on telly several weeks ago. I didn't actually watch it. I just saw a part of it as I waited for something else. She is quite yummy and I was all too disappointed when she wasn't on screen with her nubile little figure and cute face! Even after a visit with a knife, a picture on the wall with her cute little head, and a glass table she looked tasty! The three main protagonists to my mind are looking a bit sad and dreary, so Roberts' new blood and youthfulness was a real tonic. As it became apparent who was the baddie/baddies I was truely surprised, and would never have guessed who it was.

 Overall Scream 4 offers up nothing new. The murders aren't original and really unimaginative. It isn't scary and there is no tension or frights. It isn't Scream like at all. But it's great strength is in the constant horror movie references. There were so many I couldn't even begin to list them, but I was laughing from one scene to the other at the in-house jokes and references ( one I did pick up on was a reference to 'silly Japenese doll faces', a clear jab at The Grudge, The Ring, and One Missed Call, all re-makes from their original Japenese movies ). It may not be original but it has still retained the franchise's ability to poke fun at its own genre, and do it extremely well.

 Our three protagonists haven't really changed. Gail looks a bit weather beaten, Sidney still somewhat distant, and Dewey is just Dewey. I believe that this fourth instalment is the start of a second trilogy. A second trilogy?? How can part four be part of a trilogy??!! The first three were supposed to be it but somehow, like all successful horrors, it has been stretched to a fourth outing. I fervently hope this is the last but deep down I doubt it. There will be another but it'll be are-boot without Neve Campbell and co. I'm afraid on the basis of Scream 4 from here on in each succesive movie is going to be worse and the whole franchise will become an embarassment. Let it go now, and let Scream die as some of the best, and most intelligently made slasher movies ever made. They deserve it.

 Neve Campbell is something of a hypocrite in making Scream 4. I read last week in an interview she gave that she is annoyed at the amount of sequels and re-boots Hollywood churns out each year. Whilst I agree with her sentiment entirely it was rich coming from an actress who has just made a fourth sequel herself!! Way to go Neve!! Put that foot in your mouth....you go girl!!

 All in all Scream 4 is great fun and much better than I was expecting. But it offers up nothing new, and in all reality is somewhat pointless. Neve Campbell's Sidney sums it up in one of her last lines of the movie (which is by far the best and most poignant ), 'you don't fuck around with an original'. It took all movie long for this great line to come out. Unfortunately Scream 4 should have taken its own advice.

 As an aside to anyone who may be interested. I have noticed that most reviews of Scream 4 have been written around the same time as each other. So it may have been released world wide on the same date which is an unusal occurance. It was released here in NZ last thursday. Normally movies have seperate release dates world wide so if this was released on virtually the same day world wide it is quite unique.

Click here for a synopsis and more:

http://www.imdb.com/title/1262416/

And here for the official site:

http://www.scream-4.com/