Wes Craven (1939–2015)

This installment in the Scream franchise returns to Woodsboro. Sidney Prescott is now the author of a self-help book - her book tour has taken her to Woodsboro for a signing. Dewey is now Woodsboro's sheriff, and Gale is his wife. Gale is trying to leave her journalism career behind and write fiction, but she has no ideas and no clue where to start. Her general dissatisfaction with her current life is made worse by the knowledge that one of Dewey's officers is very clearly interested in show more him.

Anyway, not long after Sidney arrives in Woodsboro, a couple girls are murdered, and the police learn that the Ghostface Killer called two other girls with the victims' phones. One of the girls who got a call happens to be Sidney's cousin. Sidney, too, is drawn into the investigation by the discovery that the killer somehow put evidence in the trunk of her rental car.

Those who felt that Scream 3 was too ridiculous will probably appreciate Scream 4, which scales back on the humor/macabre goofiness and aims for more of truly scary horror movie with a side of gore. People die, and intestines are shown. I could have done without the intestines.

While I appreciated that Gale had finally learned her lesson enough to not be a greedy parasite profiting off of others' tragedy, it struck me as unfair that she'd completely given up on journalism. Surely she could have stuck with her career in some fashion without being horrible about it? I also had questions about how Dewey had gone from "movie consultant with nerve damage that ended his police career" to "sheriff of Woodsboro."

This entry in the franchise had some aspects to it that came across as unfinished, and the reasons for that became clearer when I watched the deleted scenes and "making of" extras. Originally there had been plans for the murders to be more closely tied to the original Woodsboro murders, but that had to be scaled back for various reasons. Unfortunately, a line of Gale's dialogue about the similarities between the killings was kept in the final movie, and it was confusing as heck, because the bits viewers were shown barely seemed to have anything to do with the original killings (versus, say, all the other Ghostface killings). The only similarity I could see was the bit with that poor girl and the garage door.

It's too bad that that aspect of the film wasn't followed through with better, because it would have tied in really well with the ending, which did, in fact, parallel the original movie quite nicely. As a plus, it even addressed some of the issues I had with the original movie's ending - what kind of idiot killer goes to the part of the plan that involves wounding themselves before they've satisfactorily dealt with their victims? And this movie's more sadistic psycho was, in my opinion, better, colder, and creepier than the original one, although the person still had some monumentally stupid moments near the end. And speaking of stupid moments, ugh, Dewey. I thought for sure he'd caught that major slip-up at the end and was just pretending to look sympathetic, but nope.

Four Scream movies down, one more (and a TV series) to go. I have questions about what the final film will manage to accomplish, since this one's message seemed to be "horror doesn't really have rules anymore." In a franchise built on being self-aware of the genre's rules and tropes, how can you build off of that?

Extras:

Deleted and extended scenes, an alternate opening, an extended ending, a gag reel, and a "making of" featurette. Also a commentary track I didn't listen to.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) show less

Sidney Prescott is well-known in her small town for being the daughter of a woman who was raped and brutally murdered a year prior. It was Sidney's testimony that put Cotton Weary behind bars, but there are some, like reporter Gale Weathers, who argue that Sidney was mistaken. Gale believes that Weary was Sidney's mother's lover but not her murderer.

Now that a new murderer is on the prowl, Sidney can't help but be reminded about the past. A local teen and her boyfriend are both murdered, and show more the girl's whole school is abuzz with theories about who did it. All anyone knows is that the murderer was dressed in black and wearing a white Scream mask. When Sidney herself gets a call from the murderer, she begins to doubt all her relationships? Could someone she knows actually be the killer?

I last watched this back in college, as part of a dorm "scary movie night" around Halloween. It might have been the first time I watched it, I'm not sure. At any rate, I was wondering how this would hold up, having been made back in 1996. I recalled giggling over the "cellular phones" back in college - to me they looked like walkie talkies, they were so huge. The technology looked even more outdated this time around, and I had to remind myself what phones were and were not capable of doing back then (smartphones would have solved so many of the movie's victim's problems). Also, there were a bunch of pop culture references that I mostly understood but that I'm guessing would go over modern teens' heads. That said, I thought this still held up pretty well.

I remembered the initial "shocker," Drew Barrymore's death only a few minutes into the movie, although I had forgotten the bit with her boyfriend and how gory it was. For some reason, I recalled her death happening a bit faster than it did. I also remembered part of the ending - I suspect the reason why the full thing didn't stick with me was because there was barely anything that qualified as a motive.

Still, overall it was a fun rewatch. The whole "horror movie rules" aspect is still widely known and accepted enough to work as part of the movie's framework. I had forgotten how many really recognizable actors were in this (Neve Campbell, Drew Barrymore, Rose McGowan, David Arquette, Courtney Cox). I'd also forgotten how awkward Dewey was, and his weird little romance with Gale.

Although it touched on the horror movie rule that "sex equals impending death," and I wasn't wild about the way several of the characters talked about Jamie Lee Curtis, I at least appreciated that it wasn't overly gross in the way Sidney's scene with her boyfriend was filmed. Although I do think Sidney should have dumped her boyfriend early on for being all "look, I've tried to be understanding because of your mother's death, but are we ever going to have sex?" It was gross as heck that she eventually agreed with that viewpoint and tried to be less "selfish."

I had forgotten just how stupid things got at the end, during the reveal. Who tells the potential victims they're about to die and then stabs themselves before taking care of the murder? Sheesh.

I don't think I've ever watched any of the other movies in this franchise, but I hope to do so in the near future. I managed to get myself a cheap copy of the fourth one and am debating whether to skip straight to that or wait until I've watched the second and third.

Extras:

Audio commentary, a production featurette, behind the scenes, and a Q&A with the cast and crew. I think I watched the behind the scenes and production featurette and that's it. Those were pretty good, though. A significant amount of time was spent on Drew Barrymore's appearance at the beginning of the movie.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) show less

Sidney Prescott now lives out in the middle of nowhere, spending as little time with other people as possible. Even her work (crisis hotline) is remote, and she doesn't use her real name with her coworkers. Meanwhile, Cotton Weary is milking his 15 minutes of fame as much as possible and now has his own talk show. He also has a cameo appearance in the newest Stab movie. When he gets a "wrong number" call from a random woman who says she recognizes his voice and is a fan of his, he initially show more soaks up the attention and ego boost, until the caller reveals themselves to be a new killer using voice changing technology. Whoever it is wants to know where Sidney Prescott is, or they'll kill Cotton's girlfriend.

So yeah, the newest twist on the Scream franchise is that the killer is using voice changing technology to make themselves sound like other people. Phone calls can't be trusted, although lots of people don't find that out until it's too late. Sidney is eventually drawn out of hiding and into the race to find and stop the killer, who is now targeting people involved in the newest Stab movie.

I enjoyed this a lot, more than the second movie. It felt like a return to the fun and ridiculousness of the first movie, although big slasher fans might be disappointed that this entry in the series is probably the least bloody (the body count is high, but most of the deaths happen pretty quickly and aren't lingered over, if that makes any sense).

This wasn't the sort of movie that viewers could take very seriously, and it was definitely written that way. Despite being dead, Randy Meeks managed to appear once again (with some help from the sister of his who'd never previously been mentioned) in order to let everyone know the horror movie rules they were playing by. Hollywood weirdness (and occasional grossness) was on full display, with Stab cast members who looked like what you might get if you ordered Scream off Wish, and movie sets guaranteed to give poor Sidney all kinds of horrible flashbacks.

I loved Parker Posey as Jennifer, aka Stab's Gale Weathers. Also, the scene with the faxed script was great, both suspenseful and morbidly funny. Gale and Dewey's continued relationship issues, for essentially the same reasons as in the previous movie, were kind of annoying, but I suppose spending time with familiar characters was better than too much time with the Stab cast members.

Multiple characters behaved in suspicious ways throughout the movie, and I can honestly say I didn't manage to correctly identify who was behind it all. To be fair, it would probably have been impossible for a real person to do everything the Ghostface killer did. Whatever, I was willing to roll with it.

This was very much written as the final entry in a horror trilogy, so it's going to be interesting to see what Scream 4 is like. I hope that viewers are at least given a break from Dewey and Gale's relationship roller coaster.

Extras:

Outtakes, a "behind the scenes" montage covering all three movies, deleted scenes, an alternate ending, and more. Neve Campbell's ability to allow her eyes to fill with unshed tears for minutes on end really is impressive.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) show less

Sidney Prescott is now in college, trying to live a normal life despite the immense popularity of the new Stab movie, based on Gale Weathers' popular true crime book about the murders the occurred in the first Scream movie (yes, Stab is essentially Scream with different actors). Unfortunately, the movie seems to be inspiring horrible people to call Sidney and pretend to be the original killer. She deals with it as best she can, but then a sorority girl is murdered by an actual copycat show more killer. Also a couple moviegoers - it occurs to me that there was never any attempt to explain that.

As Sidney and others try to figure out the new killer's identity, the body count rises.

The only Scream movie I've ever watched is the first one, so after enjoying my recent rewatch, I decided I'd finally work my way through the franchise.

I'd thought Gale had learned her lesson in the first movie, but apparently not, because she was still using Sidney as a stepping stone towards fame and fortune. There was some evidence that, deep down, she felt bad about it, but only after Dewey repeatedly rejected her and threw his own disgust in her face. Weirdly, Dewey and Gale are becoming the most interesting characters in this series.

Sidney was back as well, and had somehow made it through the trauma of discovering that her boyfriend was a murderer well enough to attempt dating once again. After what she'd experienced in the first movie, I'd have expected it to take a lot of counseling. She did have trust issues, though, and one of the things she had to navigate in this movie was her suspicion that her newest boyfriend might be a murderer like her first one was. (One unrelated question I'm left with: will Sidney's father ever make an onscreen appearance? And what kind of horrible father makes zero effort to keep in touch with a daughter who's survived this many killers?)

There were a few surprising faces in this movie that I'd have liked to see in another Scream movie. Sadly, they all ended up very dead. Ah well.

The big reveal at the end wasn't all that believable (literally no one but Sidney recognized the person?), but then again it wasn't all that believable that someone as psychotic as Sidney's first boyfriend was able to hide how twisted he was for as long as he did.

The one scene that frustrated the heck out of me: the bit where Ghostface was unconscious behind the wheel of a car. Yes, they had to get away before the killer regained consciousness, but it would have been easy to take a peek at the person's face first. Plus, removing the mask would have made it easier to see if the person was about to attack. It seemed like more manufactured tension than necessary.

All in all, the second movie was okay. I'm wondering how the next few are going to work out. How many times does the franchise make use of the same basic twist and still at least sort of manage to get away with it?

Extras:

Audio commentary I didn't listen to, outtakes, deleted scenes, etc. I don't recall the outtakes or deleted scenes being particularly worth recommending.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) show less