REVIEW: 'Scream 4'

Ten years since Scream 3, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette and the Ghostface Killer are back... Now playing nationwide. See here for movie times and watch the trailer.
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It’s been a long time between drinks for the Scream series and the latest offering starts out strong with an extended movie-within-a-movie sequence. The content it contains will be familiar to anyone with a passing knowledge of the earlier versions but this time it is expanded on and the self aware humour is ratcheted up. Fitting, as the movie sticks to this approach throughout the remainder.

Whilst there’s nothing terribly new on offer with regards to the storyline, the whodunit element is well played with plenty of plausible candidates for the killer. The revealed identity is an interesting one and makes a decent comment on fame in modern society. Commentary of a more cultural bent is included via the self-referential black humour, with everything from the horror genre to the cast, to even horror fans themselves, light-heartedly being made fun of. The switching between jokes and traditional horror elements – old-fashioned devices like sudden movement and jarring offscreen noises – is well handled.

This fourth instalment will please the older fans of the series and should make some new ones amongst the audience who were too young to catch Scream on its first go round. There’s not much more you can ask of a sequel ten years removed from its predecessors.

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