Guess who’s back? We’ve been slacking in the post department as of late and we sincerely apologize, but we’re back! And we aren’t the only ones making a comeback, either. In the age of sequels and remakes, it was only a matter of time before the 90’s slasher flick Scream (and its various sequels) picked back up again and the infamous killer Ghostface made his (or her?) own comeback. To be completely honest, we went to see Scream 4 mostly due to Ashley’s girl crush on Kristen Bell. Sequels rarely live up to their potential and more often than not, fall flat on their face. Not to say that they lack the entertainment value in which we hope to get out of a movie going experience but sometimes, we want to come away with something more than just a tired, stick to the rules sequel, even if the tagline claims “new decade, new rules”.
Scream 4 brings us back to Woodsboro, the scene of the previous three movies, with Sydney (Neve Campbell) on the last stop of her top selling self help book tour. With her return, Ghostface resurfaces and a series of gory, albeit formulaic, slayings once again begins. Sydney is front and centre in these killings and even becomes a suspect herself. Courtney Cox reprises her role as Gail, now married to Sheriff Dewey (David Arquette). Rule #1: Cast hot, young, up and coming twenty-somethings
No slasher film is complete without a series of hip, young, beautiful people that get hacked and slashed for the benefit of the viewer. Scream 4 boasts an impressive cast of somewhat recognizable pretty faces from various CW-eque shows including: Alison Brie, Rory Culkin, Shenae Grimes, Lucy Hale, Marielle Jaffe, Erik Knudsen, Hayden Panettiere, Emma Roberts, Brittany Robertson, Aimee Teegarden and Nico Tortorella. Not to mention a few weathered favourites like Anthony Anderson, Kristen Bell (!!!), Adam Brody, Mary McDonnell and Anna Paquin. 
We have to give credit though for getting all the hot, young starlets to do brief cameos in the “Stab” movies (based on Gail’s bestselling books about her experience in Woodsboro). Surprisingly, the acting wasn’t that horrible and these little cameos were, ironically, the best and most amusing part. Rule #2: Go over the top with ridiculous killings
Blood, blood and more blood. While the film itself has a 14A rating, the murders do try to push the envelope best they can as you watch in feigned suspense as each character is slowly picked off one by one.
What baffles us, though, is that after all this time, why have none of the residents picked up a gun? The killer has a knife, GET A GUN. It’s America. And for those who have guns (we’re looking at you, Dewey) how can you be such a bad shot? You’re the town Sheriff, we expected better from you! Rule #3: Don't take yourself too seriously
At times, we were confused if this was truly a horror film or merely a comedy interspersed with horror. As its predecessors, Scream 4 doesn’t hesitate to poke fun at itself, which should have made it infinitely more interesting but all it served in doing was poke itself to death (see what we did there?).
Now we don’t want to downplay the movie because we both enjoyed it at face value, but it lacked something in many places and seemed to just want to ram scene after gory scene down our throats. But hey, if you’re into watching pretty people being slashed to death over and over again, you won’t be disappointed. images from google images
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