Scream 4

THIS REVIEW IS SPOILER FREE: READ ON FOR MY REVIEW ON SCREAM 4 (2011) I was pleasantly surprised. This was a great movie, especially for fans of the original. It makes up for the awfulness of Scream 3, and includes many very talented new actors and actresses. I was very surprised to walk into the screening theater and see a fantastic horror film. As soon as the Dimension logo appeared on screen, my heart began to race. The opening scene was brutal and hilarious, and it was great to see all of the original characters back on the screen again. I found the Wes Craven cameo, and was laughing as I spotted it out. This movie was great to watch, even though there were some things that needed to be fixed. Very minor problems though. There were some parts in the dialogue that seemed unrealistic (Ehren Kruger re-writes), but it wasn't a huge deal. Also, the ending was kinda long, but it was also very suspenseful. I would most definitely recommend this to a friend in search of a good horror movie.

I literally just came back from a midnight screening of this and I had an amazing time. Craven's managed to reclaim the franchise with a worthy instalment that's a fantastic sequel as well as a quality slasher film in its own right. Honestly speaking, there aren't too many surprises to be had in Scream 4. No matter how mordantly self-aware the movies are (and believe me, Scream 4 gets a little tediously indulgent in its postmodern cleverness), there's an inevitable predictability to some of the proceedings but anybody who's a genre-savvy horror fan will appreciate how brilliantly everything is executed. The opening sequences, for example, are one of the best parts of the movie and are a perfect reintroduction to the franchise and while the bulk of the story lags a little, it's redeemed by the ballsy ending.

The acting is great with the core trio (Campbell, Arquette and Cox) delivering their usual, strong performances and the rest of the cast, however limited their respective roles, are just as entertaining. All you TV buffs there will get a kick out of seeing actors from Heroes, Veronica Mars, True Blood, Mad Men and Community share the silver screen and camp it up. More importantly, the film is hilarious and just a whole lot of ridiculous fun. Craven isn't afraid to take the story to some beautifully insane places and the ending was, to me, perfect.

All in all, it's a great, irreverent slice of horror that's hilarious and true to the franchise. Highly recommended.

Who could forget the first time Drew Barrymore met her end after being hunted down by ghost face in the original scream film some 15 years ago. Its been a decade since scream underwhelmed everybody with its lacklustre third instalment and with a fourth on the way I was sceptical about how the fourth would go and how it would affect the introduction to the review I would to write about it.

In my second paragraph, I can now write about how much I enjoyed the film and how I can now use my summary in that Scream 4 (or Scre4m)was "great fun and I was pleasantly surprised". I can't begin to tell you how true this statement is, the plot manages to weave a tidy little knot of a mystery that comes to a surprising and comical climax. The body count is large, making killings in this instalment come thick and fast. Though with a reduced age rating, scream 4 is far more gruesome than the previous threesome and a lot more in keeping with the current horror movie gore fest. To finish off the second paragraph of my review I will conclude that Scream manages to stick to its guns, but modernise itself not unlike the remakes it satirises.

Paragraph 3 contains scenes of critical nature. Now the film is paced very well, however there are a lot of characters to get through. And despite its self aware nature the two-dimensional characters are so underplayed that its hard to feel much for them as they quickly get stabbed to death. The only characters you feel much dread for is Gale, Dewey and Sidney as familiar faces that you don't want to meet there bloody doom,however the new cast have so little characterisation that you really couldn't care less if their stabbed to death and left to dry on their parents lawns. The film also wasn't as scary as the original and despite the "kids" knowing the rules of the horror movie they were starring in they all seem to go outside to investigate a strange noise when they know they're all being hunted by a killer. Whether this is done on purpose, as to mock other horror films is a possibility, but to be honest it would make the film a lot less predictable if they didn't make there predecessors mistakes.

So my conclusion is gonna be as sharp and concise as a horror movie should be. Scream 4 is entertaining, funny and thrilling. And one of the last lines of one of the survivors is bloody great.

Before I begin with the negative I want to point out that I really enjoyed this movie. As slasher movies go this one is pretty solid. However compared to the first two movies in the series it is a bit underwhelming. There weren't as many surprises as one would expect from a movie like this. The killings and chase sequences lacked the the thrills that makes the viewer jump up.This could be because we don't really care for the characters as we barely know them. The whole interaction between the characters was very limited and felt rushed.The deaths were basic stabbing stuff. Not once did you actually thought OMG,horrible! Don't know about you but you have to have at least one scene like that.Also I think Wes Craven was so right to fear that after the Scary movie series that Ghost Face would not be effective any more. And he is right. Every time Ghost Face appeared you just couldn't take it very seriously. Speaking of which. While there were some funny moments it wasn't nearly as sharp as the comedy used in Scream 1. Still I did like the ending very much.Even if more red herrings could made the ending have more impact.Overall Scream 4 still manages to be entertaining and enjoyable as long as you realize it isn't as strong as the first two Scream movies in the series.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that Scream 5 was in the pipeline, it instantly prompted me to revisit the films. This film could have easily been a disaster, but in all reality, it's a pretty fun watch.

I'm not sure there's much here for the casual viewer, it is one to please fans of the originals, and of course there is a new set of rules. I can't say I warmed hugely to any of the new cast, the joy comes from the original lineup.

The start was very imaginative, and good fun, the ending definitely came out of left field, but it grabs your attention. Lots of scares and thrills.

Here's to Scream 5.

7/10.