Scre4m

Can you remember when the Scream franchise was cool? If you can, if you were there for those heady horror days circa 1997, then this ought to largely determine your level of interest in this resurrected fourth instalment. Reuniting all the key players, from stalwart cast members Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox and David Arquette, to writer Kevin Williamson and director Wes Craven, once more fans of the original are being catered for.



I would consider myself something of a fan of the Scream franchise, although my opinion basically boiled down to concluding the first two movies were decent and the third was pretty weak. Ten years later, the relevancy and vitality of the franchise is questionable. Scream took the traditional horror movie slasher genre and deconstructed it with postmodern irony whilst also delivering a solid horror movie in the process. It was as clever as it was scary, as sharp in script as the knife of the killer.

But that was then, and since Scream the horror genre has progressed to further poke fun at itself (the lamentable Scary Movie franchise), or continue to play it straight with similar Scream levels of production and good-looking cast or, more pertinently, evolved into being nastier and gorier (Saw, Hostel, etc) or stripped down realism (Blair Witch, [REC], etc). In theory then, with these new modern horror styles, there is a place for the Scream franchise to sweep in and cast its satirical eye over the genre as it is now – the question is does it have anything refreshing to say and, whilst it’s at it, can it still deliver an entertaining movie that’s cool?

I’ll spoil the surprise: the answer is a resounding NO.

What struck me early on and remained throughout Scre4m was just how dated it looked. I mean, really, I can’t even think it was intentional – as though the ropey acting and telegraphed jump scares were all tongue-in-cheek. There’s a fine line between parody and farce, and Scre4m falls on the wrong side of it.



The plot, such as it is, sees Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) return to her hometown of Woodsboro, the scene of the slaughter that has plagued her life, to plug her new book. Coinciding with the anniversary of the original killings in barely no time at all it transpires someone, or some people, are giving the Ghostface boogeyman a reprisal and hacking through the locals wearing the same mask.

Also in Woodsboro are struggling couple Deputy Dewey (David Arquette) and Gale Weathers (Coutney Cox), in a twisted life imitating art scenario considering their real life coupling and subsequent separation. It doesn’t take long before Dewey is investigating the crimes in his customary bumbling fashion and Weathers is headstrong in pursuit of investigating the story.

New, fresh-faced, bright young things fill out the rest of the cast. Emma Roberts plays Sidney’s cousin, uncannily similar to a younger version of Sidney, and Hayden Panettiere plays her feisty friend (who also, improbably, turns out to be a serious horror movie buff). Throw in a Culkin here, a former cast member of The O.C. there, and assorted other pneumatic blondes and handsome bland men and you’ve got enough meat to puncture with a sharp knife to pad out the running time until the killer is finally unmasked.



The one thing the Scream franchise always did incredibly well was sustain a brilliant guessing game about the killer’s identity. Whether it’s just the weakness of the execution, or merely a symptom of a more savvy modern day audience, the surprise revelation here fails to illicit gasps. Furthermore, the extended talk-a-thon exposition from the killer feels clumsy and heavy-handed. That’s not to say the rationale isn’t chilling or insightful, it just feels somewhat ham-fisted.



Writer Kevin Williamson does have a tendency to cram more long-worded, long-winded dialogue into the mouths of his teenagers than required but, here especially, you get the point way before the characters in question have spelled it out in bludgeoning, two-dimensional black and white. Again, the problem is that Scre4m isn’t ahead of its seen-it-all-before audience. It’s like the franchise has been in a time warp and ignored how modern day audiences have evolved. Scream used to be cutting edge; this latest instalment creaks like a dial-up modem versus fibre optic broadband.

Scre4m does try to appear vital, mind. One of its characters permanently wears a head-mounted camera, streaming a live video feed for a blog. You see that and you think maybe some [REC] 2-like POV horror sequences will feature. But they don’t. At one point this same character accidentally puts the camera on backwards, obliviously filming what’s behind him, and you anticipate some fun to be had with audiences privy to seeing what the camera sees sneaking up behind the guy whilst he’s unaware. But that doesn’t happen either. The guy just eventually realises the camera is backwards and points it forward again. No kidding. That’s it. Potentially fresh and exciting idea squandered.

As a slasher film it can’t compare to more recent fare. Scre4m sticks to its death-by-sharp-knife mandate. One character being literally gutted and eviscerated gratuitously is the only nod to more sickening stuff and there’s one gloriously blunt knife into forehead attack (that is infuriatingly watered-down with a drawn out reaction and terrible wisecrack (because when you’ve been stabbed directly through your skull you have the presence of mind to be ironically funny, right!?)), otherwise, the stabs are tame and lame.

Have I got anything good to say about Scre4m? Well, it could have ended on a real shocker. There was a moment towards the end when it seemed the movie had wrong-footed everyone certain of a formulaic, comfortably familiar routine with a gleefully black ending. I couldn’t help but wonder if, at one time, it was designed to end on a dark tone but then all involved got cold feet and decided to tack on a more traditional conclusion.

In Scream 2 there was a shock scene of Deputy Dewey attacked and stabbed in front of Gale Weathers and apparently killed, only he then turned up on a paramedic gurney clinging to life and it felt like a cop-out cheat. Scre4m ends on a similar vibe. Another shame. Another wasted opportunity.

Can you remember when the Scream franchise was cool? Hold on to those memories – they are of their time and place and can never be recaptured. Scre4m is a pitiful moan, a meek whimper, and a sad indictment to how tragic it is to not move with the times. Oh, the horror, the horror. . .