In many ways, SCREAM 4 (or SCRE4M, which I refuse to call it) feels like an act of wild desperation, which is not necessarily the same thing as being a terrible movie, but it's certainly not a great movie either. And while it's mildly fun to see the primaries from the original three films return to play victim and sleuth, the movie spends so much time winking at its audience and tossing what feels like dozens of new characters at us that I found myself exhausted by the end and really not giving a shit who the killer was or even who was dead or alive when the final body count was tallied.
Yes, SCREAM 4 has much of the same clever commentary (courtesy of returning screenwriter Kevin Williamson) on the current, flailing state of horror, which seems obsessed with remakes and reboots. But it's really tough to tell if Williamson's film is deliberately mirroring these trends or falling victim to them. Based on my boredom, I'm going with the latter. I've never found any of the Scream films scary, and they're hardly meant to be. They serve as satire, but more often than not, their observations on horror films seem obvious and uninspired.
At least filmmaker Wes Craven had the sense to keep the focus of SCREAM 4 (unlike with the third installment) on Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), who is returning to Woodsboro on the last leg of her self-help book tour. And almost as soon as she drives her rented car into town, the killings start happening again. Sheriff Dewey (David Arquette) and his wife (Courtney Cox) immediately come out of the woodwork and get knee deep in the new blood being spilled all over town. And yes, it's weird and distracting watching the recently split couple Arquette and Cox play a married couple whose relationship is on the rocks. The leads have nothing to be ashamed of. I especially like Cox's feisty performance as the now-retired reporter trying to get back in the game (more so she can collect material for her new book than any altruistic reasons).
When the film really falls apart is with its interchangeable supporting cast of teens and other characters, who dip in and out of the story seemingly at random. Actors like Emma Roberts (as Sidney's younger cousin Jill), Hayden Panettiere, Rory Culkin, Adam Brody, Anthony Anderson, Mary McDonnell, Marley Shelton, Kristen Bell, Anna Paquin and easily 10 more speaking roles all clutter Scream 4 with no real purpose. The extended pre-credits sequence is actually fairly funny, and it's a shame the rest of the film never rises above it. This film might also mark the one in which the killer's identity is most easily figured out. The reason the killer is who it is is downright stupid, but it felt very easy to guess, even though almost no clues are given in the name of deductive reasoning.
There's a certain energy to SCREAM 4 that I appreciated and responded to, but in the end, it seemed like someone thought, "If we just keep throwing pretty people at the camera and then stabbing them to death, that'll be the movie." Nope, not quite. In the end, I left disappointed, with the sense that if the town counsel of Woodboro had any sense, they would get a restraining order against Sidney Prescott and never allow her in the town limits ever again. Problem solved; franchise dead. Here's an idea, horror filmmakers. Rather than continuing these self-referential, ultra-meta workshops disguised as films, how about just making a well-crafted, original scary movie? Just a thought...
