Scream 4 Film Review

Out of all of the iconic horror franchises out there Scream is perhaps the one that alot of people still talk about to this very day. While granted that is more due to the fact that Scream's 5 and 6 where genuinely really good movies but it's also due to the fact that the development of Scream 7 was just a nightmare however alot of people seem to forget that we did get a legacy sequel in 2011 and so then join me as i review the film that brought the Scream franchise back to life with the film in question being called simply just "Scream 4" enjoy.

The plot of this film is when Sidney Prescott returns to Woodsboro to promote her new book she becomes trapped in a slew of new Ghostface killings and along with Gale Weathers and Dewey Riley have to find out who this new killer is before it's far to late. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good with this films plot doing a good job of catching up with the legacy characters in a way that feels natural and true to who they are as characters and yet introducing us to a whole new slew of characters as well and while this films plot could be seen as being tired as it just follows the exact same formular and general synopsis of alot of the Scream films it adds enough new thins to it that it does make it seem fresh and new again and with this films taking on horror remakes it does make sense that this film would have the general same plot as the first film only done on a much bigger budget as that ties into the fact that the killer of this film is doing a remake of the first film but with that being said this film should have a completely different plot as all it does is make this film feel pointless due to the fact that the plot of this film is strikingly similar to the plot of the first film with the plot of this film being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least

Starring in this film is Neve Campbell as Sidney Prescott , David Arquette as Dewey Riley and Courteney Cox as Gale Weathers. Also starring in this film is Hayden Panettiere as Kirby Reed , Emma Roberts as Jill Roberts , Anthony Anderson as Anthony Perkins , Adam Brody as Ross Hoss , Rory Culkin as Charlie Walker , Mary McDonnell as Kate Roberts , Marley Shelton as Judy Hicks , Alison Brie as Rebecca Walters , Marielle Jaffe as Olivia Morris , Nico Tortorella as Trevor Sheldon , Erik Knudsen as Robbie Mercer , Anna Paquin as Rachel , Kristen Bell as Chloe , Shenae Grimes as Trudie , Lucy Hale as Sherrie , Britt Robertson as Marnie Cooper , Aimeé Teegarden as Jenny Randall and Roger L. Jackson as The Voice Of Ghostface.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. Which given not only who is starring in this film but also the fact that this film is being directed by Wes Craven who really does know how to get a good performance out of his actors with it being really hard to say just who the best actor in this film is as there all just so good and while yes the original four actors Neve Campbell , David Arquette , Courteney Cox and Roger L. Jackson are all on top form in this film there acting is more then matched by the acting of the actors that are making there debut in this film as that's just how good the acting that's in this film really is with both the new and old actors turning in some truly great performances that help to make this film alot more better then what it really had any right to be with the best o the new actors being quite easily Emma Roberts who goes from innocent victim to twisted killer at the drop of a hat and she does so effortlessly and with such ease that it's really quite terrifying in it's own right with the acting that's in this film really being helped by the fact that this films script is just so good that all this films actors have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film.

While it would be super easy to talk about all o the four returning characters what would be slightly more challenging is to talk about the films newer characters. As while this film new characters won't ever be as popular as say Tatum from Scream 1 or Sam and Tara from Scream's 5 and 6 this films new characters are some fairly enjoyable characters with even Kirby proving to be so popular that she would return in Scream 6 and yet here she is basically the female version of Randy as she has all of the knowledge about horror films so much so that she technically gets one of Ghostfaces questions right thus making her the first person to do so with Jill coming across as being your stereotypical teenager only for it to be revealed that there's something more darker and more sinister hiding not only within her but also Charlie as well as even tho they both have different motives they both willingly commit these crimes and while yes granted some of this films newer characters like Rebecca and to a lesser extent Judy aren't all that well developed with even Judy being played more for laughs in this film then she would be in the very next film but at the same time tho alot of this films characters just feel like lesser versions of the first films characters which granted might be the point as this film is meant to be spoofing horror remakes but that doesn't mean that you have to copy the characters of the first film as all that does is make you wish that you were watching the first film and where as the first film took the time to fully develop it's characters this film really doesn't do that.

As was mentioned earlier on in this review this film is spoofing remakes from the horror genre which is something that does make alot of sense. As these films always spoofed what was popular in the world of horror from sequels to a concluding chapter and as such since horror remakes where big in the mid to early 2010's it made sense that this film would spoof horror remakes by pretty much being a remake of the first film however what the film fails to mention is the fact that alot of those horror remakes are just flat out bad movies something that they could have done by having one of the characters bring up just how bad alot of horror remakes and then have either Charlie or Jill say that these killings are better then the ones in the first film and that's really it and heck the film really doesn't go all the way with the remake idea as it doesn't have anything that connects it back to the original film be it a familiar location or a cameo from one of the original actors something that alot of horror remakes do also do and while granted it would have been hard to work out how to get an original actor from the first film in this movie they very easily could have had something other then the school make an appearance in this movie like how fun would it have been to have Stu's house make an appearance in this movie even if it's just in the background it's something that still have connected it to the original film in a way that makes alot of sense as these characters would have known about the original killings and given that Charlie and Robbie are meant to be horror buffs with Kirby it would also make sense for them to hold their annual Stab-A-Thon in the house that the original killings took place in.

Given that these film has always built themselves as being a mystery slasher film and al of the films including Scream 3 do put alot of effort into the mystery aspect of the film. With the same thing also being true for this film as well as there's alot of thought and effort put into creating a genuinely good mystery and while Jills motives might seem dated by today's standerd back in 2011 they where oddly topical but with that being said it would have made this film alot more better if this film did give us some clues as t who the killers might be as they would then allow for repeat viewings of the film so that we could look for anything that we might have missed the first time but as the film really doesn't do that then there's no reason to go back and watch this film as your not going to find nothing new that clues in to who the killer was when if you look back at the first film they did one simple trick to try and make us guess just who the killer was and that's the fact that they had alot of the characters wear very similar boots to ones that the killer wore and even having Stu mock one of the rules of a horror movie is big clue that he's one of the killers and yet with this film there's none of that as there more focused on trying to copy what alot of remakes do instead of just doing there own thing and add in things that would make the mystery aspect alot more better then what it already as even having a character have a look just before a kill is about to take place would be more then enough to make us think that they are the killer and while yes having a person walk off screen before a kill happens works just as well it means nothing when there are no clues in the film to back it all up in the first place.

While the whole mystery of this film could have been done alot more better what also worked really for this film was the fact that one of it's killers is Sidney's cousin. This works in two ways as not only Emma Roberts an incredibly skilled actor in her own right but also because of the fact that it's something that we the audience wouldn't see coming at all as of course we'd believe that a close member of her family is a good person and yet when it's revealed that she is one of this films killers it is something that works in all of the right ways as this film has been all about not only copying what the original film did but also trying to outdo it and what better way to do that then to have a female Ghostface with even her motives making sense for someone from that time period as all she wants to do is to get famous for doing nothing much like how she's perceived Sidney got her fame and her fortune without realizing the fact that Sidney had to quite literally got though hell not one . not twice but three times just to get it and even then it wasn't something that she wanted where as Jill is alot like every teenager from around the time that this film takes place in that she must likely watches alot of reality TV shows and thinks that being famous is easy she even has a line of dialog near the end of the film that sums her character perfectly where she says that she doesn't need friends she needs fans and that one line of dialog is something that is perfect for her character is she a good character no but then again you could also argue that alot the characters in thus film aren't well done characters and while the Scream films would finally get a female Ghostface killer done right in Scream 5's Amber Freeman it's important to note that without Jill giving the makers of Scream 2022 the blueprint on how to do a female Ghostface killer then Amber might have turned out to be just another badly done character as well.

Now then his film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and fifty minuets and forty six seconds. Which is pretty much the exact grand total running tome for alot of these Scream movies and to this films credit it really does have more then enough there interms of plot to really cover that amount of running time but where as Scream , Scream 2022 and Scream VI used their running times alot more wisely but developing there characters and locations alot more this film really doesn't do any of that with the new characters feeling like carbon copies of the original films characters and even tho Woodsboro was set up in the first film here it oddly feels lot smaller and condensed which would be fine if alot of the films new characters were interesting character but sadly there not as out of the new characters only three of them are actually memorable and they are Charlie , Jill and Kirby with the rest of them just being bland characters and while the returning characters do get off betting this is more because of the fact that we've had three other films to get to know as characters and so of course there going to come off as looking better because we've had alot more time to get to know them where as with the new characters for alot of them we only had this one film and while Judy was very vastly improved upon in the next film it still doesn't change the fact that she wasn't that well developed in this film and this is something that the makers of this film really could have done as this film was meant to be the first in a new trilogy of Scream films and yet they didn't bother to use some of this films lengthy running time to develop any of it's new characters but I really will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho. 

So now then as this is a slasher that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual kills that are actually featured / presented to us in this very film and well then in all then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual kills that are actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. Which is something that's not really all that new as this films director and producer Wes Craven has always had some really good kills in alot of his movies and therefor it's not all that shocking that this film would not only have tons of blood and gore in it but that they would also be some really creative and inventive kills as well and while the kills in this film won't top the kills in other Scream movies that doesn't stop them from being the highlight of this movie with perhaps the best kill in this film being a tie between Olivia's kill and the final fight ill between Sidney and Jill as while Olivia's kill was alot more brutal and raw almost like it was a really violent wrestling match Jill's death scene is just as great as she does get her wish to become famous as no one outside of the hospital knows that she actually committed all of these crimes just to get her fifteen minuets of fame and while it's possible that her fame would have faded and turned into infamy the very fact that she did still end up getting exactly what she wanted just without her knowing makes her death in this film one that's really impactful and one that does stay with you long after the film has finished as that's just how good not only her kill but what alot of this films kills really are in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. 

Overall whilst this film is quite easily a return to form after the terrible film that was Scream 3 this is still not the franchise at it's best either. As while it does have all of the iconography there it feels like the makers of this film forgot what it was that made the Scream films work in the first place with it being clear that some fresh blood was needed to keep this franchise alive and well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now the i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very film in this very revie and as such that really does mean that this very film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 6.5 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girl and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from the official Scream fandom wiki page , Tenor and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get images from this film being the official Scream fandom wiki page simply because the official Scream fandom wiki page actually has images from this film really are up and on the official Scream fandom wiki page and plus pretty much much all of the images that I personally found on the official Scream fandom wiki page were all really very fairly high quality and as well as being as really very fairly high definition as well and so then horror fans we end this review as we always do with really our one and true goddess Elvira wishing us all some really very unpleasant dreams.