"Scream 4" Review
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The Cinema Snob: "Scream 4" Review
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never liked the scream films... just stupid airheads like scream
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Just self-important assholes would make this kind of statement...
Truth is the first movie really works in every way, but it's the only one that works and the reason for that seems to be lost on everyone involved in making them. Scream was just as much a homage to slasher films as it was a deconstruction, maybe even more love letter than anything else. The finale is set to Carpenter's score for Halloween, and intentionally matches up. The problem with every other movie in the series is this misconception that Scream is smarter than any other slasher film. Instead of improving and playing with formula, the Scream movies became formula while appearing to have a disdain for and ignorance of horror films (no such thing as a horror trilogy, Scream 3) and that all started with Scream 2. Shit, even the "whodunnit?" aspect in these movies turned to shit after the first one. Each killer(s) reveal has been more and more preposterous or flat out underhanded in its attempt to surprise, and everyone that's seen these movies knows EXACTLY what I'm talking about. Once I gave the second movie a little more thought I grew to hate it. It dawned on me that the franchise realized too late that they shouldn't have killed off Randy without a contingency plan. Case and point: that bullshit post-mortem video in Scream 3. The movie still needed that character or some equivalent, and taking him out in the 2nd act of the first sequel turned out to be a huge mistake that they had no way of correcting. Or rather, they hadn't thought about how much weight that character was actually carrying and how to shift it if the need came. But the biggest problem with Scream 2 is the biggest problem that carries over into Scream 3. Dewey, Gail, and Sidney are too fucking safe. The movies pad out the roster with new characters we're given no reason to give a tumbling fuck about only so that they can be killed. Meanwhile, the returning cast is shielded from harm and end up walking away from the scenario with only a few scratches. This didn't really stand out that much to me in Scream 2, but then I remembered the opening sequence of the first film. Killing off the most recognizable actress in the opening scene created a tone that none of the other Scream movies have recaptured because they've been completely missing the point. It wasn't just about offing Drew Barrymore and her football hero boyfriend or horror movie trivia or manipulation of tropes. It created a sense of unease that let the audience know that no one was safe in this movie within 10 minutes. Each installment in the series has got further and further away from that with Scream 3 being the worst that I've seen (still haven't seen this one). Returning characters are clunkily reintroduced ("Dewey!! What're YOU doing here?"), the "witticisms" are more heavy-handed, and the attempts to create tension come up short because we already know who's walking away from this alive and who's not...in other words, shitty horror sequels.
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But killing off Randy was to Scream 2 what killing off Drew Barrymore was to the first- the moment where it was clear all bets were off and no-one was safe. I can kind of see your point about how the films were never the same without Randy but perhaps that's a reason they should have only done the first two Scream films and left it there. I just feel that in terms of what you say, it didn't really go wrong until Scream 3.... However I did actually like Scream 3's way of giving Sidney that extra bit of catharsis from her experiences, but I couldn't really refute most of the criticisms it got.
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Scre-"four-m" heh!!! lmao good review!
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Whats with the camo
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Best horror comedy ever:
Shaun of the mother fucking dead
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Zombies love zombie movies.
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Thank you, Brad! You're the first person I've ever heard say anything complimentary about "Wes Craven's A New Nightmare!" It's one of my personal favourites.
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You know what else is a great slasher parody? (If you ask me, at least) Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon. Loved that movie.
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Gotta agree there.
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I actually kind of liked this movie in a cheesy kinda way. Also, really liked the main killer and thought the acting in the big reveal to be really entertaining. Pretty disappointed with the terrible hospital scene at the end though. Well, still better than Scream 3.
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I absolutely fucking DESPISE the first 3 Scream movies and I don't think the Ghostface look is iconic at all BUT surprisingly I actually enjoyed this one why? it was full of suspense, it was not predictable the reveal of the killers TOTALLY through me off,I like how it poked fun at countless sequels, remakes and the done to death POV camera horror thing anyway best big-budget movie I've seen in years
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I've never been a fan of scream, but I'm not really too much of a horror movie fan to begin with.
That said, I understood the "point" of the Scream series a little differently than you did. I don't think the gimic is just supposed to be referencing other movies. I think the point behind the series is pointing out cliches to make fun of the fact that they keep getting used and more original horror concepts aren't coming along. I think the basic idea is, horror movies are getting stale, you all recognize these tropes, you've grown bored, let's all laugh at a movie that points them all out as it does each one in turn. It's not trying to do the cliches better than the other movies, it's just trying to make people aware that, hey, these things stopped being clever or original some time ago.
Not my thing, but I think that's what the series is going for. I hear people talking about how after Scream, people officially got tired of slasher movies, not because Scream was original or did anything better, but because it basically said what everyone had been thinking for some time, it's gotten old.
So I gotta wonder, how well does this one incorporate modern horror tropes? I don't know. You described how in a lot of modern horror movies, "anyone" could be the killer, and it's so random that big reveals are no longer surprising, and that this one does that too. I think maybe it's trying to say the same thing you are.
Maybe I'm giving it too much credit. You say other fans of it hated it too, so maybe it's still stuck being self aware of 90's horror tropes instead of more modern stuff.
At any rate, never been too much of a fan. At BEST I could be considered an ironic fan of them, but then again, that's probably what Scream is. That's probably why you didn't like it, if your past statements about not being a "hipster" (the sort of person this would probably appeal to) are any indication (for what it's worth, I don't think the main characters of Scott Pilgrim were supposed to be "hipsters" myself, just a bunch of geeks).
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Writing this comment before i watch the vid,,brads expression before pressing play says a thousand words lol
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While I agree with almost everything you said about the original Scream films, I still find them very entertaining, especially the first one (2 and 3 were painfully contrived when it came to the killers and motives). Totally agree about people who consider it a parody though.
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I haven't seen the original Screams. Can't be shitted, tbh. And I was thinking about seeing this one, just for one reason: Erik Knudsen. I hardly ever see the guy around any more, apart from in Jericho and that short cameo in Scott Pilgrim. I was sorta hoping he'd be good in Scre4m, but, alas, if you say he's written/acted as a douchebag, this may not be the comeback I was hoping for.
Also, another reviewer (on the Escapist) also refers to the movie as 'Scre-Four-Um'. An established trend of critics who hate the movie?
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You mean MovieBob?
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Hmm interesting, I agree about your critic of the scream films 2 and 3, 1 to me was a really good satire and worked. Its no spoof definitly.
But with parts 2 and 3 they started to take themselves seriously and became pretentious, cant wait to not see part 4
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Never cared for the original three films either. Annoying characters, stupid plot and one of the most goofy looking killers I've seen. Even Ronald Mc Donald's costume looks scarier than Ghostface's.
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I don't know if you've ever listened to people talk in supermarket or fast-food lines, Brad, but I'm pretty sure douchebags are now characters many people actually relate to.
I blame the MTV.
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Finally! Someone who sums up my feelings about the Scream films! THANK YOU!!!
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Most well-known horror films are never scary, they're downright laughable. Scream is the same thing, not scary, never was never will but so is the exorcist, nightmare on elm street and just about any horror film ever made, sorry that's just me. But I just find it funny when pepole say that a certain horror film is not scary and yet they like the most laughable stuff and call it scary.
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I think that a lot of what people mean by scary is down to age.
Kids are easy to scare. If I want a scare I don't watch films, I look at my bank balance.
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Ehren Kruger helped write Revenge of the Fallen. So... yeah.
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Isn't this the first movie you've reviewed in your car that you didn't like?
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Ah Scre4m... I disliked the first 3, so I'm not even going to bother with this one.
Besides being gimmicky what also annoys me about this series is the fact that basically they made them flashy and accessable for non-horrorfans.
Friday the 13th and the like appeal to horrorfans. The Scream series(and movie of the hollywood slashers of that era) have so many comedy thrown in that they appeal to mainstream and comedy audiences.
I hate that so much. It's like they are affraid people will get scared by their movie or something so they put in a lame joke or semi ammusing reference every 5 minutes.
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You've never actually watched a good horror movie, have you, Nephilim?
Good horror movies have humor in them, they always have; it alleviates the tension after a particular harrowing part. Horror movies today, lost the humor, and they suffer for it.
It's one of those things that Scream did right. Scream was one of the best horror movies of all time. It had killers that wanted to make their own real-life horror movie; and thus referencing the tropes made sense. And as far as I'm concerned, the movie was scary.
As were the 2nd and 3rd, not quite as good as the original, but still a great and a good films.
Scream4 was fantastic again, right up their with the first. The killers reveal was awesome, and the acting of the main killer? Fantastic! There are killers like that, a little less smart and organized, but really, they're out there, the actor nailed the expressions and inflections perfectly. In fact, there's one on trial right now, a famous one at that, once you see the ending, go look it up.
As for the characters, I liked them. I thought most of them were very likable. A few assholes around, yeah, but a. assholes exist, and b. most horror movies had at least one asshole amongst the cast.
Of course, there is one thing you're right about; the gimmic of killers making their own real life horror film can't be done again, and the referencing horror tropes neither.
Really, the fifth movie should have a killer who couldn't give a rat's ass about making a RL movie; and there should be characters who point out referencing rules in movies is idiotic: "This is RL, not a movie, you idiot."
Hell, have the killer tell something similar to a dying victim.
In summary: fantastic movie!
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I've always enjoyed the Scream movies. I never thought they were the best movies ever, but fun to watch. That said, I didn't hate Scream 4. I had problems with it (too much attempted humor in places, way too heavy handed with movie references) but it wasn't that bad. Although looking back at it I do admit that I was shaking my head or slapping my forehead during quite a few scenes. When it comes out on redbox I will watch it again and re-judge.
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I really loved the first scream film but not the first two sequels. The second was mediocre and the third was terrible. Although I did find myself enjoying this one, not a great film, just enjoyable.
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I think it's kinda funny, in a way, how the Scream movies insist on reminding us about better horror movies we could be watching. They keep throwing things out there like,
"See, the police are always off track with this shit! If they'd watch Prom Night, they'd save time!"
or saying things like,
"You just won't die will you. Who are you, Michael Fucking Myers?!"
But as much as they keep referencing these better movies, nothing about the scenes or situations are even remotely similar. It would be much more accurate if they referenced movies that are actually like them. We could end up with some awesome lines like:
"This shit is all kinds of I Still Know What You Did Last Summer!"
or
"He was w-wearing a ma-mask. He just k-kept stabbing her!"
"What, like Jason Vorhees?!"
"No, n-not really. It w-was a lot shittier, like in that movie Valentine."
or
"How could we not see that the timid girl that weighs a buck-o-five and lacks the strength and ability to do any of the things the killer did while also surviving an injury that should have killed her was the killer! Man, she totally pulled an Urban Legends on us!"
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Wow, it's kinda surprising how much hate the Scream series is getting from these comments. Granted I don't find the franchise to be high quality cinema, but hell they're far from what I'd consider to be BAD. It's weird because I mostly agree with your reviews, Brad, but you lost me when you said 'My Soul To Take' was better than this. I enjoyed Scream 4 for what it was (if only for the fact that the main killer is probably the fucking flat out looniest and coldest of all the killers to pop up in this franchise), though I wouldn't rush to see it again.
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Must Admit, I like Scream 4 and liked all of the series. (Though 3 is by far the worst and 2 the most pretentious)
Its probably because I only got into Horror in about 2005, and basically treated the Scream series as just another Slasher series, just one that happened to make some gags about the genre.
It is not the genre busting masterpiece some treat it as of course. And boy did it ever fuck up movie posters. And Yeah, New Nightmare is better than Scream.
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you can't really say that the film was terrible
maybe as a horror/thriller, yes
but if you view it in a comedic sense it was pretty good.
*SPOILERS*
The triple opening was hilarious
The "fuck Bruce Willis" line worked well
and even the scene where Courtney Cox says "It's all over the internet" and then David Arquette says "It is?" That was brilliant
Yes it may have been a letdown but it's not a terrible film all together.
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Thanks Brad for telling like it is. Like you I can't stand the fucking Scream movies.
Kevin Williamson should just stay the hell away from horror and stick to writing Dawson's Creek-type material.
Everything Williamson attempts to do with the Scream franchise, with its self-referential "it's all so meta"-tone, Craven achieved years ago with Wes Craven's New Nightmare (which you correctly pointed out).
Keep up the great work, Brad!
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You are incorrect about Scream.
You are correct about Scream 2 & 3.
No chance I am seeing 4.
I too think New Nightmare and Leslie Vernon are underrated.
Scream didn't re-invent the genre, but it was highly entertaining. Mr. Jones, when did you see Scream originally? Did you see it opening weekend or did you see it after the word of mouth started getting around? You sound like someone who saw it after hearing that it was great. I saw it opening weekend and it was fun. It may not be the greatest horror movie of all time, but it is original - especially for what the horror genre had to offer in the mid-90's. It is one of those movies that was fun to see in a theater with an audience, in particular an audience who had not seen it yet. The biggest problem Scream has is that it was such a success. There never should have been sequels, but people are greedy.
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I love all four Scream movies, but I do agree with some points you made. I too hate the impact Scream's poster had on others. When I saw the Halloween H20 poster for the first time I wanted to vomit.
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The second that you mentioned that Aaron Kruger was the guy who created Skid and Mudflaps. I dropped my head into my hands.
Don't remind me of that god awful assault on soul!
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You think Scream is pretentious? Hell no. Pretentious is putting your message before entertainment. Pretentious is when James Cameron's Avatar is proclaimed as being deep and brilliant. Pretentious is seeing The Glass Menagerie as a symbolic parallel of the lower class and symbolism of Jim being the upper class of America constantly breaking their promises. Satirizing the slasher genre to the point of making it a joke...that isn't pretentious. If anything, that would make horror films DUMBER for a while, due to the cliches being out in the open like that, and deciding "you know what? They're right; let's just do these anyways, since they've told us what's been tried and true in horror films before".
I personally thought the Scream movies were pretty funny myself; it's more entertaining than the Friday the 13th or Nightmare on Elm Street films in my opinion. You said in your review of Your Highness that comedy is subjective, so yeah.
Also, you said Scream doesn't take place in the realm of spoof or parody...but even suggest that it takes place in the real world. Yet, they were taking their time to explain that characters would be safe or dead due to stereotypes. If you really exist in the real world, then you wouldn't care about those things either...if the slasher won't, then odds are they won't either.
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I actually thought this was one of the best mainstream horror movies I've seen in a while. I liked Scream 1 and don't remember much of 2&3. Scream 4 was fun to watch and really my only complaints were the lack of gory deaths and the twist was really weak. Personally I would have done a twist that breaks Scream rules, have a 3rd killer who is unrelated, the idea is this extra killer is a classic fanatic who believes slasher rules are the motivation of Ghost Face so he decides if Sydney is dead then the real killers will stop. Nobody would be expecting a that. But I thought it was a pretty clever slasher movie. It wasn't the best but it wasn't horrible. Personally I'd say something Club Dread really did the horror satire much better because it was a comedy but it worked like a great slasher film as well. If anything Scream 4 was a fun theater experience.
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I don't know if you'd be up for it, but I'd totally love to see you and Welshy debate this. If you've watched his Scream retrospective, he pretty much disagrees on every point you're making here. (Granted, it was only on the first movie and not on the sequels)
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Oh my god, you referenced Student Bodies. I just saw that for the first time! A rather funny film. That fucking woodshop teacher just... sticks in your mind, haha. *heavy breathing*
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I'm a huge slasher fan and as such the current trope in such circles is to waffle on about how terrible scream is. I don't get it.
The Scream films are OK. But they are not really slasher movies. They're more like a hybrid of who done its and soaps. Real Slasher, to me, are Stagefright, the prowler, the mutilator or even blood sisters.
I don't know about scary, because in the end, I'm into the style of horror and the abstract concept of scary. This is because I'm too old and too much of a horror nerd to be scared by films.
IMO the best post-modern/latter-day slasher is Little Erin Merry Weather, because it plays it absolutely strait and thus lacks the smugness of things like Behind the Mask. Instead it has great music and an interesting back story. And is only post-modern in the sense that it knows the rules and knows we know the rules. I like it because it actually bothers with a plot and a sense of style.
Hatchet 2 is a hoot.
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Brad!!! You missed the point sooooo badly...I understand if you don't like them but I thought the scream movies were enjoyable and I love the Ghostface voice...but about scream four and the scream movies, it's not just a horror movie with a random killer. IT'S A KILLER WHO IS TRYING TO MAKE A HORROR MOVIE! That's what makes the self refrence stuff work, to me at least...
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I really love the Scream series, but haven't had a chance to see the 4th one yet. But saying that New Nightmare did anything better than Scream? Ugh, I hated New Nightmare. That film for me, is worse than Nightmare On Elm Street 5. Or at least as bad. And the whole Freddy = Ancient Dream Demon thing kept imprisoned by Stories. Bleh. That movie was far more pretentious than anything in the Scream series.
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*Spoilers*
The daughter of Eric Roberts played the main killer in this movie. Thought it was interesting to see her taking up villain roles like her father. I didn't think her acting was as bad as you say it was. Though she certainly pales compared to the original killers or the ones in Scream 2. I even thought she played a complete psycho to a tee, never mind some gloriously cringe-worthy lines. BTW, you should debate this movie and the Scream franchise with Welshy (or Lanipator), especially Welshy. It'd be just as interesting as Jillian discussing Sucker Punch with Benzaie.
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im sorry but i have to strongly strongly disagree here. i loved every freaking second of this movie and will be seeing it a second time this weekend.
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Brad this thing was a giant rant that went on far too long.
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Scre4m was okay for me. When they revealed who was the killer I didn't go who is that i went "why?" because she/he reason were whiney and silly
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I totally agree, while I really enjoyed Scream 4, I thought the motives of the killers were insanely stupid and didn't really make much sense, the motives were worse than Mickey's in Scream 2. I still don't know his reasoning.
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Whiney and "silly", yeah, but that's the reasons these sociopathic women have. From false accusations to arson and stabbing boyfriends to death; "silly" sociopathic entitlement issues is exactly what these women operate under: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_Gail_Mangum
Worse, yet, they got off scottfree, because she's got a vagina and can whine and cry. Look at that closely, abused her children, attempted to kill boyfriend, set his house that also held her children on fire, and they set her free, and handed her children back to her. Then, she got another boyfriend (why!? Why do you deal with a psycho like this!? Even brag about it!?) and stabbed him to death. Surprise, surprise. I wonder is she goes to jail for a long time this time, I'm not holding my breath.
Seriously, look at that sociopath; make her white, in a suburban small time, and give her a brain, you have the killer in this movie.
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I believed the motives to be mostly relevant for the new generation. As they mentioned in the first one, motives are merely incidental.
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Hmmmm you will be out of town for a few days. Could it be for the 3yr anniversary of TGWTG? Kickassia came out in May sou its about time for the next one.
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Um, Brad, you forgot the difference between Student Bodies and Scream:
One's in-your-face and so obnoxious that it pretty much becomes unfunny and the other is practically pointing out every single cliche to the point that it pretty much makes a cliched story to make fun of all the cliched stories out there.
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I thought this movie was like the other ones just a piece of crap. There is no point to these movies at all.
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That's a flawed argument. There's no point to any movie, other than to entertain. Whether or not you like the movie or not, saying there's no point is ridiculous. The point is to entertain and to make money for those involved in the creation.
You may as well simply say there's no point to anything that Brad does either. Since he's not delivering a vital service. We won't die from not hearing his point of view on a movie.
It's ok to not like the Scream series, but at least try to have a legitimate argument. Rather than one that makes no sense at all. No point? Silliest thing I've seen in a while on here.
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Y'know, in all fairness... having been watching Nash's WTFWWY for a little while now, I can believe a kid would be stupid enough to live broadcast an underage drinking party these days.
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I definitely think the Scream franchise falls under the "It's only bad if your dumb enough to take it seriously"-category. They have never been particularly scary, nor funny, but essentially Fun with a capital fuck. To me, the height of pretentious horror must be the Saw franchise with all the Jigsaw mumbo jumbo about "appreciating your life" when the movies are really all about plain sensationalism. Also, Beast here is saying that "there's no point to any movie, other than to entertain [and make money]". It surely applies to the Scream franchise, but obviously not to cinema in general. I mean, tell that to Leni Riefenstahl.
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I can't disagree more with Brad about "SCREAM". I saw it when I was 14 and that was a viewing experience that won't ever forget.
Looking back at "SCREAM" and the horror genre before it came out, I have to say that "SCREAM" saved the genre, if not just renew interest in it.
I mean, a lot of people hate the movie and even go as far as saying it "destroyed horror and/or the slasher genre", but that's bullshit! If any movie killed the Slasher genre, it was fucking "JASON GOES TO HELL". Look at the trash Hollywood was giving us prior to "Scream" - "JASON GOES TO HELL": Garbage! "CURSE OF MICHAEL MYERS": Shit! "NEW NIGHTMARE": Boring! Worse yet, these films were meant to not only reinvigorate their respective franchises, but, hopefully, even reinvigorate the Slasher genre itself. And they all Fucking Failed! And the direct-to-video fodder was not much better. Off the top of my head, I can think of only 3 Slasher films from the 90's: "Dr. Giggles", "Ice Cream Man" and "The Dentist". Now, I even like those movies, but they were not great movies and they didn't do anything for the genre itself.
"SCREAM", arguably, may be pretentious, but it's not fucking terrible! And it made Horror films cool again.
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Well, I thought it was okay. I don't mind the others. I CERTAINLY don't think Scream deserves to sit atop a list of "Top 100 Dead Teenager Movies," as it did on someone's list. Probably around 60-80.
I don't know what's going on Brad, we are disagreeing more and more on movies these days (Your Highness, this, Hobo With A Shotgun, Auscwitz, the Mechanic). What's with that?
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Brad and Welshy need to duke it out over the Scream series! Welshy recently started a set of videos about how much he loves the Scream series, and Brad's tearing it apart here.
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The best part of Scream 4 for me was the two Caramello bars I snuck into the theater.
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I actually haven't seen any of the Scream movies, and from the look, I always assumed they would suck. But you know what MIGHT work? A movie about a killer who bases their killings AFTER the movies, and then a REAL group of professionals try to figure out his next move. Kind of like The Silence of the Lambs, but with references to horror movies that are APPROPRIATE (unlike Scream seems to do), and not run by douchebags. To me, it sounds like Scream is a real life scooby doo without any of the humor. Scooby Doo is just a bunch of non-professionals trying to solve the mystery, and Scream is that, if they crapped all over it.
Again, haven't seen the Scream movies, but that's just my guess.
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well....look. I'm not a fan of the scream movies, but the "meta" philosophy of the series is the biggest issue. Jean Baudrillard's Simulcra and Simulation talks about hyperreality, and this is exactly what the scream movies always tried to be. Movies have blended into reality so much, that from the characters perspective, their is no difference between the lines about oh the virgin should live, a movie cliche, and ordering breakfast. its all the same reality to them. In the Scream Movies, about the last 40 years of cinema, are treated exactly like they had happened in the real world. its hyper reality, and its not even doing it well. Hell, the Matrix Trilogy was more subtle, and it outright showed us the philosophers book!
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After seeing Scream 4 I knew Brad would hate it. Me on the other hand, I thought it was pretty awesome. Sure it wasn't very scary but I thought it was entertaining. That's the reason why I love all the scream movies (well except the 3rd one), they are entertaining as hell to watch. I also like the characters and the settings in these movies a lot. They may not win any oscars but they sure are fun to watch.
HATERS GONNA HATE!!!
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Whoa Whoa slow down there Mr eger mc beaver, at least this film had likable characters and good dialog, while perhaps not THAT scary its a thrill ride and a lot of fun, you guys need to lighten up, its odd that people are calling this film pretentious when 80% of the comments are oozing pretentious
also cant agree with you here Brad you kinda missed the point
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Well, one could argue it is in fact kind of a parody, simply by comparing it shot to shot to scary movie (which wasn't funny either).
It's kind of surprising how similar the original Scream characters are to their over the top counterparts
- like ghostface stumbling over his own feet, one of the killers literally drooling about how they're going to kill the main character...it's funny in a bizarre way. Like the gas station blowing up in Birds.
hell, Hitchcock's Birds. I still laugh every time Tippi Hedren closes the door, locking herself in a room with the DAMN BIRDS.
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Birds wasn't the least bit scary either.
So, was it a bad movie? I don't think so.
Scream 1 wins with its simplicity. No plot-convenient, nearly unstoppable villain, no annoying or immoral character who are just there to be killed off.
It's straightforward Whodunit and who's going to die.
The sequels were crap, though.
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SCREAM is a tad overrated, I grant you that, but it breathed new life into the horror genre regardless. The first one was a good horror movie even if it did lay the foundation or a SHIT ton of bad horror movies. SCREAM 2 and SCREAM 3 are tolerable. SCREAM 4 was good fun and I'm surprised that I'm one of the few people who actually enjoyed. I certainly think it's the best since the first.
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And, even though the "classic" slasher movies from the 1980s were entertaining, that doesn't do anything to change the fact that they were shitty for the most part. You had a few good ones here and there (MY BLOODY VALENTINE, THE BURNING, THE PROWLER) but most of them, entertaining they were, sucked the big one. The only thing those movies have going for them today is the nostalgia associated with them. I'm sick of hearing people complain about how much better horror movies were back then because they really weren't. SCREAM is a HELL of a lot better than MANIAC, which, let's face it, was a terrible movie. MANIAC had great atmosphere but the acting was sub-par at best and the movie as a whole was just a mess. I don't see the love for MANIAC. THE MUTILATOR was awful too. ROCKTOBER BLOOD, one of the most bad ass 1980s slasher movies, was GOD-awful. The slasher movies that we love so much really don't stand up very well as actual movies and I think it's important that every horror fan realizes that.
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I disagree. It's more about style than Nostalgia. Sure Nostalgia is in there to an extent. But my interest in 70s and 80s slashers is more down to cumulative effect and the style of the films.
The notion of whether a film holds up or not, is in fact subjective. Nothing holds up in that glib sense.
My dislike of modern American mainstream horror movies is that they look like mid 1990s TV movies. Flat Camera work, identikit off the peg casts, uniformly spotless set designs, the same editing techniques and no personality. It's just boring film making.
I don't just watch old movies either. I've seen hundreds of modern horror films. There's the odd good one here and there just as they always has been. My beef is with bland slick modern horror, not modern horror.
And MANIAC scalps SCREAM.
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one week you praise 'your highness' then talk about how bad scream 4 is? thats hilarious man. personally, i thought scream 4 was fuckin hillarious. how could you not be laughing at that scene towards the end where that bitch is slamming herself into mirrors and tables? it was so stupid i was rolling. i have never cared for the scream series, but honestly i thought this was the best one. way funnier than any of the scary movies could ever hope to be, and probably twice as funny as 'your highness'.
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also i want to say that im not a fan of the series at all, and hated 2 and 3 for sure--and didnt think the 1st was anything special either.
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A good parody or satire slasher movie (much better than the scream movies) is "Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon".
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I only liked remotely the 1st movie of the series and the rest just confused me and made me hate all of them! the only reason I'd watch the 4th is if it comes on TV someday! Cewl review though liked the location made me think at any moment one of your friends would come up in a Ghostface mask and slam into your window and scare you and us!
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I was okay, but I was disappointed too. You know that Stab VI, or whatever with Anna Panquin and Kristen Bell would probably make an awesome ending.. could you imagine? All the slashing and stuff, and they make it look like it's over, and then have that scene.. that would be pretty awesome.
Still I thought it might have been good, if they didn't do the hospital scene, let Neve stay dead... and have Emma Thompson get her 15 minutes of fame.
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I don't understand how you can think you're in a position to review a movie when you hated the previous iterations, so wouldn't understand one of the main (dare I say "poignant", but not really) motivations of the killer (which is fucking obvious because you missed a very VERY similar motive from 3). Scream 4 was a movie for the fans of the movie. People who enjoyed the property in earlier versions and trusted Wes to update it without cocking up the whole thing completely.
Yes, he got a little Red Eye at points, but as a Scream continuation, I thought it fit well enough.
90% of your review is you saying you disliked this movie for being a Scream movie. Well, guess what? With that sort of bias going in (accompanied by his best buddy, Ignorance), what the fuck clout could your review possibly have? None.
So what I've taken away from the last 22 minutes is that nothing you say has any merit. If only I would have known that before your stupid fucking preroll ad.
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Ugh, the Beefy Crunch Burrito is DISGUSTING! They just took their 5-layer burrito (which I like) and replaced the beans with Texas Grill Fritos. But I guess it's a fitting end to the night you had, Brad!
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Agreed, this movie was awful. My favourite part was that first (actually second) Stab movie when one blond sticks the other to watch her movie in peace, brutal!
Unfortunately the 'real' Scre-four-m does exactly what those two were complaining about throughout the whole movie: nauseating self-awareness, characters dying off we couldn't care less about etc.
Totally random and implausible reveal. Beyond the movie's incoherence it was just not entertaining except possibly for the drinking game that is suggested midway. I went with a group expecting to make some noise but we were just too disheartened! Wish we had alcohol, might have been a much better experience.
Enjoyed Hayden Panettiere's manly yet hot performance.
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Hey, Brad.
Are you familiar with the horror flick Popcorn from 1991? It's a satire, and it's better than both New Nightmare and Scream.
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Personally, I thought New Nightmare was an anticlimactic, unfunny piece of shit.
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It's not trying to be funny.
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The reveal of the killers was just the cherry on top of the suck that is the Scream 4 movie experience. Billy's mom was more believable as a killer than the 2 dummies in this movie. I can't take it seriously at all.
Just a terrible movie. At least Neve Campbell gets a paycheck though. So some good came out of it.
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They should have stopped at the first one Scream and I know what you did last summer Killed horror from the late 90's thru the early 2000's those torture movies like Saw and Hostle were a welcome change when they were new
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Brad Thank you so much for reviewing this movie!
I saw the trailers for this film and I thought they were AWFUL
I didn't even have to go to the theaters to know this movie was going to suck because the trailer pretty much told me everything I needed to know about the film
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Constantly telling the audience that you're fucking up, pointing out that you're film is meta, then retreading old ground and using cliches from not only your genre but you're goddamn series itself does not excuse you from the obligation to include new or interesting ideas in you're movie. Simply pointing out that your movie is unoriginal doesn't make your movie original, it makes it retarded.
Also, the killers in this movie are about as physically imposing as a pool noodle and one of them has literally no motivation for their involvement in the murders. Courtney Cox is still hot but other than that, this movie was balls.
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Yes, you mentioned Student Bodies. That was a funny movie, it's pretty old though so it may not work with modern audiences but it was the first modern horror parody.
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Truth be told, I had no problems with Scream 1&2. They weren't good movies but they were popcorn movies for my brain to enjoy the violence. Scream 2 to be honest was a lil' expected which is why I thought it was ok. 3 just made me say "Ok,that's fucking stupid" and the entire series should have been called "Neve Campbell's mom has sexual encounters which will later make a lot of peoples life miserable, mostly the audiences".
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I've liked the Scream series quite a bit, but it makes sense that it'd make some horror movie fans uncomfortable - because it pretends to deconstruct the genre but it does it so clumsily true horror fans feel like it's missing the point. I've noticed that horror fans usually dislike the Scream series while film critics are more forgiving towards it. I think that's part of the problem right there - the Scream series is a horror series geared towards critics, not fans.
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lppn qz ixbhi
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I enjoyed the first scream movie but over time I got sick of it because it was played so much which sadly is what happens with alot of movies I used to like they get played so many times on tv that I get sick of them. I hardly remember anything about the other scream movies because I only watched them once and didn't care much. They were boring and forgettable movies. I kinda wanted to see the new one but I can tell from the trailers im not going to care much for it and this review made me pretty sure of that.
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I just watched this movie, and my biggest problem with this movie and many other modern horror/slasher movies are the absolutely unbearable characters. They find the most annoying idiotic cast of "teens" and make them have the most irritating dialogue. OMG TREVOR CALLED! OMG HE CALLED ME TO! OMG HE HAS ABS SO AUTOMATICALLY HE IS HOT! SHUT THE FUCK UP! Throughout the entire movie I was cheering for ghostface. I seriously only made it halfway (if that much) through before I turned it off.
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Well Brad, as much as I love your personality and your website, I can't agree with your review on Scre4m. I mean, I get where you're coming from with the whole thing about, "Referencing better movies in your shitty movie as a parody", but to be honest, I dont think the Scream movies were all about referencing horror movies. To me, I always felt that the scream movies were fun because they had great characters, the whodunit concept with a masked killer, and I just like the way they keep the whole Meta-film in by satirizing the cliches' that go on in slasher films. That's basically what the point of these movies were about. I mean, yeah, i know that there's better slasher movies out there then Scream, but hey, it's your opinion and I respect that, but it just seems like you just really hated the movie because you're just not a fan of the previous movies. I dont think you really got the point at what these movies were trying to do. I mean think about it, the first movie was about satirizing the cliche's of slasher films, Scream 2 was about the cliches' of sequels, and Scream 3 was about the cliches in trilogies. And to me, that makes sense because in each movie, the killer is basically re-enacting stuff out of a slasher movie like it's his/her's own movie. And in fact, that's what the killer does here in Scream 4, he films the murders going on. And Scream 4 satirizes the cliche's of the modern remakes and reboots and I like that idea, because I mean, with the current tread of movies like Hostel and Saw, and those god-awful PG-13 slasher movies, I'm glad that Wes Craven went back to the basics of a slasher film. Brad, you're a great guy and I really do respect your work, and I'm sorry if I seem to be bashing you toward the movie, and I'm honestly not, i'm just saying, I get why somebody like you couldnt get into the Scream movies. Only my opinion though. I like the movies though. They're just fun slasher films that, while not original, I do really like the idea of keeping the killer's identity a secret. Anyway, i know that this movie is gonna be on your worst of 2011 list, but, hey, i'm sure there's more bad movies out there too.
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