With Pantages’ Theater I do my best to review a wide array of films, but my regular readers have no doubt noticed that one genre has been conspicuously absent…plain and simple; I am just not a fan of horror films. But out of all the horror series scaring audiences, there is one that I have grown particularly fond of over the years; none other than the Scream slasher franchise. Ever since Ghostface first appeared in 1996 and began terrorizing his victims with horror film trivia, I became hooked on the self-referential style that has now made the Scream films a part of pop culture. Helmed by the master of horror himself and the original director, Wes Craven (creator of the Nightmare on Elm Street icon Freddy Kreuger and therefore responsible for many sleepless nights), Scream 4 represents the series’ return to the silver screen after 11 years. Being familiar with the characters and a fan of all the previous films, there was little doubt I would see Scream 4, but I was most excited over the fact that I would actually be able to see the film in theaters...when Scream 3 hit in 2000, I wasn’t old enough to get into an R-rated feature.
Looking back, I enjoyed Scream 4, but I feel that my positive opinion is largely attributable to notions of nostalgia and familiarity with the franchise. It was nice to see all the old characters back, but the film simply didn’t offer anything entirely new and relied far too heavily on audience knowledge of the past series entries; if you’ve never seen a Scream film before, I guarantee that this newest plot will lose you quickly. The film does introduce a number of new characters, but ends up cheating the audience by offering zero character development; almost as soon as you meet a majority of the fresh faces, they run into Ghostface…game over. As far as the returning characters go, Neve Campbell seems slightly bored with her character (can’t really blame her, all those chase scenes have to get old over the years), while David Arquette clearly phones-in his performance; only Courtney Cox seems to relish her return and put some semblance of effort forth. Thrills and chills do abound, and I have to give credit to the unexpected twist, but as a sequel/reboot to the revered franchise, Scream 4 is a little anticlimactic.
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Overall Recommendation: Medium
