Sidney Prescott, now the author of a self-help book, returns home to Woodsboro on the last stop of her book tour. There she reconnects with Sheriff Dewey and Gale, who are now married, as well as her cousin Jill and her Aunt Kate. Unfortunately, Sidney’s appearance also brings about the return of Ghostface, putting Sidney, Gale, and Dewey, along with Jill, her friends, and the whole town of Woodsboro in danger.
It’s been a whole decade since we last caught up with the survivors of the Woodsboro Murders and life has certainly changed for the original trio. Dewey is now the Sheriff, married to Gale Weathers (now Riley) who is still struggling with the concept of being just the Sheriff’s wife and Sidney is now a successful author who comes back to Woodbsoro at the same time as a double murder is discovered.
With Sidney now having to stay in town, she stays with her Aunt and Cousin Jill, who now occupy her old house. Rounding out the new cast of characters are Jills’ friends Olivia, Kirby, Ex-boyfriend Trevor and two movie geeks Charlie and Robbie.
With the rules being thrown out with the last decade, Scre4m settles into a very meta pastiche of themes and situations that will be very familiar to Scream fans.
The film looks so much like the first trilogy that I had to stay for the credits to see who the Director of Photography was. It was Peter Deming who lensed the second and third films in the franchise. He has done a fantastic job of matching the look and tone of the original films.
The score was again composed by Marco Beltrami and there were a few nice returns of various motifs from the previous movies. It did miss a full on rendition of Red Right Hand that is now synonymous with the series, but the score was great nonetheless.
It was such a joy to see the three original cast members back together. Although Courteney Coxs’ Gale had the least amount of development of the three, there’s something special that happens when they are on screen together. The new cast led by Emma Roberts is great too. Some of the characters are thinly drawn, but with the amount of plot and characters that this film has, I wouldn’t be surprised if the futere bluray has a tonne of deleted scenes.
Wes Craven really dissapointed me earlier this year when I saw his last movie ‘My Soul To Take’. It was, without doubt, the most embarrassingly awful film that I have seen this year. I went into the cinema half dreading what was to come. While Scre4m won’t change my mind on that other film, he really shows that he is a master behind the camera. He gets nuances and ‘moments’ that die hard fans will be jumping up and down on their seats over.
Scre4m is a very funny film and while I didn’t for a minute get scared, it made me jump out of my seat at least once. The film is also the goriest of all the Scream movies. Those that can see the absurdity will laugh. Those with a weak disposition will be repulsed.
Scre4m was one of the best cinema experiences I’ve had the pleasure of having in a long while. It takes the best of what the series has to offer and amplifies it for the new generation. The original Scream was a ‘whodunnit‘. Scre4m is about ‘why’ they do it. It isn’t a perfect movie, but no sequel can live up to the original, but for a sequel, it comes close.
I give this film 4.5 out of 5.
Scre4m is in cinemas now