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SCREAM 4
Mad genius Wes Craven and partner in crime Kevin Williamson have brought their Woodsboro adventures full circle with 2011's Scream 4, the best film since the first that once again finds that seamless blend of tongue in cheek humor and genuine horror in a viable story from a formula that should have been running out of steam but apparently is anything but.
It's been ten years since the first film and there have now been 7 STAB films made that have taken on a cult status in Woodsboro a la The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The local movie buffs even have an annual STAB-a-thon where they watch all seven films back to back. Sydney Prescott (Neve Campbell) has written a best selling book and has returned to Woodsboro for a book signing on the same day that the killings start again with a pair of sisters.
To say much more about the plot would ruin it for the uninitiated, but suffice it to say, that Craven and Williamson have actually created a fourth story that not only has cinematic legs, but actually does a 360 back to the first film that I really didn't see coming. Again, Craven and Williamson continue to break the rules, having characters talk about horror movie cliches before they are actually played out onscreen, only exacerbating the shock for the viewer. As mentioned onscreen during the film, the murders have gotten bigger, badder, and bloodier...Ghostface is not playing this time, getting too close for comfort with characters we've grown to love like Sheriff Dewey (David Arquette) and wife Gail (Courtney Cox), who find their marriage as well as their lives jeopardized here.
The Arquettes and Neve Campell wear these characters like comfortable shoes by now and there is some solid new support here from Marley Shelton, Hayden Pannetiere, Rory Culkin, and especially Emma Roberts, but it is the genius of Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson, creating the most unique movie franchise I have ever experienced, bringing it full circle and leaving the option for more.
Mad genius Wes Craven and partner in crime Kevin Williamson have brought their Woodsboro adventures full circle with 2011's Scream 4, the best film since the first that once again finds that seamless blend of tongue in cheek humor and genuine horror in a viable story from a formula that should have been running out of steam but apparently is anything but.
It's been ten years since the first film and there have now been 7 STAB films made that have taken on a cult status in Woodsboro a la The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The local movie buffs even have an annual STAB-a-thon where they watch all seven films back to back. Sydney Prescott (Neve Campbell) has written a best selling book and has returned to Woodsboro for a book signing on the same day that the killings start again with a pair of sisters.
To say much more about the plot would ruin it for the uninitiated, but suffice it to say, that Craven and Williamson have actually created a fourth story that not only has cinematic legs, but actually does a 360 back to the first film that I really didn't see coming. Again, Craven and Williamson continue to break the rules, having characters talk about horror movie cliches before they are actually played out onscreen, only exacerbating the shock for the viewer. As mentioned onscreen during the film, the murders have gotten bigger, badder, and bloodier...Ghostface is not playing this time, getting too close for comfort with characters we've grown to love like Sheriff Dewey (David Arquette) and wife Gail (Courtney Cox), who find their marriage as well as their lives jeopardized here.
The Arquettes and Neve Campell wear these characters like comfortable shoes by now and there is some solid new support here from Marley Shelton, Hayden Pannetiere, Rory Culkin, and especially Emma Roberts, but it is the genius of Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson, creating the most unique movie franchise I have ever experienced, bringing it full circle and leaving the option for more.