SCRE4M (2011 - Cert 15)

Friends come and go throughout our life, some you miss, some you're sad to see the back of. You can lose touch for any number of reasons or track someone down for a whole host of others. Sometimes when you catch up with a pal who you haven't seen in ages things can be stilted and awkward, you've both moved on, something has changed. On the other hand, you can get together with an old friend for a sneaky pint, someone who you haven't spoken to or seen in a decade, and things are just as they always were. You pick up exactly where you left off all those years ago, conversation flows, sense of humours bounce off one another, it's almost as if there hasn't been a break at all. That is exactly how I felt when Scre4m started.



My relationships with Sidney Prescott (I always had a crush on Neve Campbell), Gail Weathers and Deputy (now sheriff) Dewey Riley were some of the ones that I remember most fondly from my teenage years in the landscape of cinema, and to see them back, exactly as before (apart from Courtney Cox's lips of course) is a little personal joy for me. It's not necessarily easy to bring characters back to the screen after a hiatus, look at the lukewarm reception for Indiana Jones' return as an example, but here, in the dependable hands of Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson, it's almost as if they haven't been away at all.

Nostalgia aside though, is the film actually worth seeing?

The story is nothing particularly groundbreaking, Sidney goes back to Woodsboro for the latest leg of her book tour (a book she's written about surviving the ordeal of the first three films), only as soon as she shows up, old Ghostface is at it again, killing people left right and centre. Campbell is exactly as she always was, decent but slightly irritating as she is always playing the victim, while Cox and Arquette are as good as they ever were, getting all the best comedy lines and scenes together. A host of new characters are introduced, mostly just to die in elaborate ways, but you've got Hayden Panettiere, Emma Roberts (as Sidney's little cousin), Marley Shelton (new deputy), Marielle Jaffe, Rory Culkin and Erik Knudsen (as the now resident and required film geeks). They are all perfectly fine in their roles, not exactly knock out performances but not at all irritating. Their jobs are to keep the story ticking along for Campbell, Cox and Arquette to do the important stuff.

The films opens brilliantly, but you would come to expect that with the previous three all kicking off in style with a bang. In Scre4m though it's not just a set piece murder, it's a witty, intelligent, self referencing look at what horror is in the present and how it's changed since Scream (and the in-film version Stab) first burst onto the scene. The clever, sparky patter between the characters about rules, disparaging comments about torture porn, pros and cons of slasher movies against zombie and vampire films, I felt immediately at home. Williamson hadn't lost it. There were the usual jumps and shocks, but, without giving anything away, all done in a very creative and different way. It really grabs your attention and lets you know you're in for a treat.

The wit continues throughout the film, focusing no longer on sequels and trilogies, but on reboots and remakes, the current trend in Hollywood and horror in particular. It bounces along with in-jokes (look hard enough and you see in the school a bust of the late head teacher played by Henry Winkler), gags about twitter, facebook and the Internet blogging generation, all in all exactly the same tone and qualities of the original trilogy. The plot develops very nicely as well, constantly dipping in and out of the previous films and also referencing the Stab movies (now up to number 7 in the series). It's constantly weaving in and out of the Scream universe seamlessly, making sure that this isn't an add on, but another worthy entry into the collection. Towards the end of the film when Sidney Prescott is unveiled as the killer, only joking, when she is killed, joking again (or am I?), sorry, back on track, towards the end of the film it starts to look at people's relentless quest for fame, and also of victim culture. It's interestingly done, and even amidst all the blood and death, this little idea really does get the brain cells working. More good work by Williamson.

The violence is as good as I remember it too, although there seemed to be a lot more blood and the camera lingered on the gore a little longer than I recall in the previous films. Perhaps that is due to the changes in horror over the past decade, the crowds expect a bit more claret. I took a lot of joy from seeing the old-fashioned method of dispatching a character with a knife, no puzzles, torture or booby traps in sight, all put together by the veteran hands and care of Wes Craven, the seasoned pro that he is. Jumps, scares, they're all there, people around in the cinema hiding behind their hands, peeking through their fingers. Brilliant stuff.

All of this glowing praise does come with a 'but' though. The idea of the film is very much a post-modern look at the reboot/remake culture and it explores the theme very well with some laughs and knowing winks, but the film itself doesn't feel remotely fresh at all. It's great and sits alongside the previous ones, but that's because it's just like the other ones. If this is an attempt to reboot the Scream franchise, it hasn't done it very well, because although I really enjoyed it, I don't think there is particularly a need to take the series forward with another film. This is an update, a brilliant update that should be seen but an update nonetheless, of the old formula for a new generation of cinema goers.

If you liked the first 3 films you will love this, if you didn't, there is little point in you watching this as it is unlikely to offer anything fresh that will change your mind.