Movie Review: Scream 4

Scream 4
Starring Neve Campbell, David Arquette, Courteney Cox, Emma Roberts, Hayden Panettiere, Rory Culkin
Written by Kevin Williamson
Directed by Wes Craven

Story: That crazy Ghostface shows up again to kill attractive high schoolers and Neve Campbell.

Review: Scream was my favorite horror movie when I was growing up, and was the first horror movie I saw in the theater, so I have a soft spot for the series. There's a lot less tongue-in-cheek humor in Scream 4 than in the third movie, which is a welcome return to normal. Scream 3 was almost a parody of the first two movies, but Scream 4 is a true sequel to the first two movies. Neve Campbell, David Arquette and Courteney Cox reprise their roles and give respectable performances. The new cast members (Panettiere, Roberts, Culkin) do a nice job too. But I really liked Erik Knudsen as the horror film geek/blogger Robbie Mercer. He basically takes the Jamie Kennedy role from the first three films, and explains the rules for the new movie. Scream 4 feels a little bit rushed in its pacing. There's too many characters introduced and I didn't feel any emotional attachment to any of the characters that are sliced an diced. I think the series needs to leave the original cast behind and introduce a completely new cast for Ghostface to terrorize. After reintroducing the original guys and gals there's not enough screentime left to show the new cast, and get to know them.

Comparable Movies: It's #4 in the series, so you should know if you like this type a movie or not. I like the fact that it's a slasher movie instead of the usual torture/horror movie (Saw series).

Rating: *** out of 5

May the Force be with you,
CHUD