Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Scream 4 (3 1/2 Stars - 4 Stars)



            Many people had doubts about this movie because it's the fourth movie in a trilogy that had a conclusion. Sad to say, I liked this movie, as a guilty pleasure. I also liked it as a bad movie, because it is still a parody, regardless of it being a horror movie. The movie is good, not because it had some frights, but because it was hilarious.

            At the start of the bat, the new improvement was the script and the new parodying interests it preys on. It starts off with a very interesting introduction that pokes fun at horror movie sequels, the "Scream" franchise itself, and how parodies might go too far. The introduction is as good as the first movies introduction, but instead of being scary, it chose a different route by being funny. In this movie, Sidney decides to return to her hometown to promote her new book. However, the all too familiar ghost face returns and is off killing again. This time, the killer is patterning the kills off of the first movie and is attempting to do a remake by making them gorier, a play on torture porn, as well as recording them, a play on found footage horror movies.

            The thing that made the third movie bad was that it became the very thing it sought to make fun of, and that was making a bad horror movie. It wasn't making fun of horror movie clichés as much as the first two. In this movie, there are references upon references on sequels, remakes, the actual franchises, and horror movies in general. The movie makes a good point about generations and how they play a key role in horror movies. It's hard to scare these kids nowadays because they've seen just about everything. Because of this, movies are now turning up the volume on violence and sex while keeping the old conventions that we have fun pointing out. Instead of finding a new ingenious idea for a scary movie, people are turning to horror movie remakes.

            People can say that it was a good or bad film. However, I thought it was a really fun movie to watch. When my friends and I were in the theater, we constantly spotted the clichés and the horror movie references. When we hear the all too familiar Ghostface voice, we are filled with nostalgia instead of tensed fear. We even applauded at certain lines and laughed at certain parts when everyone else were confused. It's been a very long time since I've had so much fun watching a movie.

            There are people who'll say that this movie had bad moments in it. However, to my judgment, those bad moments were intentional. It was to show how crappy a remake can become by screwing up the original. It was to show how it screws up a horror series and turns it into a comedy. If there is a successful horror movie franchise, the one thing you want to do is to keep making sequels. This method does not work because we know who the killer is. We know his every move and if you know what he will do next, then the unpredictability is lost. When unpredictability is lost, then remakes are formed as a sad excuse to reinvent the killer and his methods. Although there are a small handful of good remakes, remakes and sequels is a horrible system in general. Not to mention, as we evolve as a culture, our conventions have to change. "The unexpected is the new cliché."At first, it was suspenseful when there was no caller ID. Now, they have to make apps, viral videos, Facebook, and Twitter references. My friend and I have this pet peeve where someone would introduce us to a horror movie and we've already know the movie and that it's a remake of an original masterpiece. This led me into ranting about horror movie remakes and this is what probably led the creative team into doing this project.

            If you like horror movies, then watch this movie. If you like original horror movies, then watch this. If you liked the first "Scream," then watch this movie. If you like movies in general, then watch this movie. This movie worked and I want to thank Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson for doing justice to a stupid movie generation where all we see are stupid horror movie sequels and remakes. 

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