It's been 10 years since Wes Craven and writer Kevin Williamson brought the final Scream movie to the screen. In that time a lot of water has passed under the bridge in the world of horror, with torture porn and films getting more sick and twisted by the moment, they obviously felt it was the right time to reintroduce the classic slasher movie with it's tongue rammed in its cheek. What they forgot to do is inject some originality.
Sidney Prescott, the victim of the previous Woodsboro murders, returns to her hometown with a new life and a new best-seller. She doesn't have a moment to reconnect with Sheriff Dewey Riley and his now wife Gale Weathers-Riley when a whole new batch of killings from the notorious Ghostface occur. Everyone thinks that her being back is the reason for the new murders, even her cousin Jill. Of course as the murders mount up, so to the suspects and someone definitely has it in for Sidney.
It is almost impossible not to compare a sequel to the original and i can tell you that number 4 is almost the same as number 3, number 2 and number 1. It has moments of pure shocks, the opening sequence is very clever and the references to other horror films is a nice homage to the genre but we've been here before. Many times before.
The cast look a little older, Neve Campbell returning as Sidney, with exs David Arquette and Courtney Cox get to play married people. New to the series are Emma Roberts as Jill, and Hayden Panettiere from Heroes, donning a haircut that makes her look twice the age she actually is.
The murders are almost doubled and we get some inventive places to put a knife but even in this film we get the same thing over and over again. The fun is had trying to work out who the killer is and while you think you know, you probably will be wrong.
On the whole this actually is a lazy rehash of what has been before. If you are a fan of the series then you won't take a blind bit of notice what the critics say but if you are going expecting something new and fresh, best look elsewhere for that because you won't find it here.
On another note, the BBFC , in their infinite wisdom has given this film a 15 certificate. In a time where knife crime is rife, it seems pretty irresponsible for a film that involves graphic murders (and some of them are very graphic) being given such a low classification. The contents is incredibly gory and screams out to be an 18 like its predecessors.
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