Scream 4 Forum

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As someone who has seen only the first Scream movie, I enjoyed Scre4m (as it will now be called) quite a bit. The meta-ness of the story was handled with better care then I thought it would, and the killer reveal near the end really shocked me. Not from a character stand point, but from setting up a sequel stand point. Like Rorie said in his Scream article, Emma Roberts seemed like she would be the new blood to carry the sequels forward, but I guess not. Also, I am pretty sure Dewy is a Highlander. Anyone care to challenge me on that fact?

@TheMailToad said:

" As someone who has seen only the first Scream movie, I enjoyed Scre4m (as it will now be called) quite a bit. The meta-ness of the story was handled with better care then I thought it would, and the killer reveal near the end really shocked me. Not from a character stand point, but from setting up a sequel stand point. Like Rorie said in his Scream article, Emma Roberts seemed like she would be the new blood to carry the sequels forward, but I guess not. Also, I am pretty sure Dewy is a Highlander. Anyone care to challenge me on that fact? "

I just got back from the film, and I loved it for this very reason.

The filmmakers knew people would expect Emma Roberts to be the new main character, and played to those expectations til the very end.

But then, they actually took it one step further, and her entire motivations for the killings WERE to set her up as the main character, thus justifying outside of a marketing perspective why this movie is a reboot of the first one.  I don't know, I really liked it, I was entertained throughout.

Also, you have to love when Hayden Panettiere goes down a checklist of every single remake/reboot that brought about this movie's existence.

While I really appreciate the concept of Jill as the killer I don't think the movie is strong enough to pull it off. For starters, she looks ridiculous under that costume. I understand there's a certain suspension of disbelief with these things, but Emma Roberts is probably one of the shorter members of an already short cast. She's also not strong enough of an actress to completely follow through with it, her reveal of evil was a lot of snarly faces and yelling, and made the whole thing a little cheesy. I did like the scene where she beats herself up, though, that was pretty inspired.

I'll admit that Jill did look ridiculous under the costume, but that whole end sequence was kind of awesome for me. The killers were pretty much the only two I had entirely dismissed (apart from Sidney, which would have been cool), and though the assigned social commentary rant she has felt a bit tired and by-the-numbers, I thought they had fun with it.
The plot hole that concerned me the most is how genuine Culkin's expression was when he and thingmy were interrupted. While I can't name that emotion, the facial expression was spot on, and not at all forced looking, so it seems weird that he turned out to be Jill's boo the whole time. Also, the reveal suffered in the same way as Predators did. Where as that film has tarnished my image of any Topher Grace character because he turned out to be a complete psychopath from nowhere, and no doubt this has done the same for that actress, which is annoying.

Lastly, I saw the film in a crowded, large theater, and when Campbell delivered the "Clear!" line, the whole place erupted in cheering and applause. It was a tremendous environment to see a horror film in, with everyone gasping and laughing together at all the right moments, which may have coloured my view of the film a little. How were the audiences for the rest of you?

I really enjoyed it as a Scream film and as a sequel to Scream, its entirely ridiculous take of self-reference and meta.. especially within the opening.. having them open with a gimmick "a Facebook killer", then jumping into Kristen Bell and Anna Paquin discussing how ridiculous it is that people in a horror film break down the very essence of a horror film whilst that is what there doing, which lead the two girls who break down that film.. I thought it was a crazy idea and hope alot of people see the fun in it.. 

 I’ve been a huge fan of the Scream movies since ’96 when the original came out. I even wrote a paper in college for a pop culture in media class about how the original revived and redefined the horror movie genre, so I have anxiously been awaiting Scream 4 for the last few months.

I enjoyed the movie, especially the first forty-five minutes or so. Kevin Williamson has always been good at writing clever, witty dialogue and Scream 4 was no different. The faux Stab openers, the references to remakes, etc. were all pretty spot on. Olivia’s death scene was pretty clever, but a lot of the others were just kind of ho-hum to me and you could obviously tell where they were going. The Scream flicks have always been good about throwing red herrings in the mix and this one didn’t let me down there, but I did figure it out about the time Trevor went upstairs and Charlie left after the kiss. But, also by then, it was kind of process of elimination because everyone new in the movie had been killed off. I did hit the motive right on the head though for Jill which again I thought was a nice little wink to pop culture today.

I thought Emma Roberts did a good job for what she was asked to do. The main problem with the Jill character for me though was in how the final scenes in the house were written. She’s manipulative, crazy, and wants to take Sidney’s place, but she doesn’t make sure she’s dead. To me that’s just an inherent flaw in writing, but I understand it’s a horror movie and things like that have to happen. But she stabs her in the gut and assumes that’s it. She’s already shot Trevor in the balls and head, stabbed Charlie multiple times for good measure, but not Sidney.

My main problem and this is one I’ve had since they started making sequels, is the reluctance to kill off any of the Big Three of Gale, Dewey, or Sidney. At some point, one of them has to go because we’ve been through three sequels and none of them feel like they are ever truly in danger. Plus, the last three movies have essentially introduced an entirely new cast only to kill them off and leave no one for The Big Three to interact with other than themselves and a whole new group of people we know will be dead by the end of the movie. Let Hayden Panettiere’s come back in Scream 5 since we never really saw her die, just collapse on the ground with the same injuries that Sidney survived. Heck, she was the best of the new characters anyway and the Scream franchise has a history of killing off some of their best characters (Tatum, Randy, and now Kirby).

I’d recommend it for sure, but as a long time fan, I left the theater feeling a little let down by the ride.

As is said in my review, the ending could have fallen apart so easily and i think that at first it didnt make much sense but then it comes together when you remember Scream 4 is being so meta that its remaking Scream 1 and she wants to be famous so badly.

I like it more now then i did, but i can see why people dislike it

Just got back from watching "Scre4m" and even though I didnt think the ending was great, I think it would've been worse if Emma Roberts character had survived mainly because I hate it when horrors set up sequels..

..Other than that though I enjoyed the movie even though the "Meta"ness was alittle much at times it was still entertaining. On a side note did anyone think it was alittle wierd that Marley Shelton played the deputy & the girl in the shower scene of stab 6 (or 7 cant really remember) and add to the fact the film was apparently directed by Robert Rodriguez the guy who did Plant Terror which starred Marley Shelton? Kind of breaking the 4th wall for me abit but I guess that's nothing new in the Scream franshise.

I loved every bit up until the end hospital sequence. It should have ended right before that started, with Jill as the sole survivor and her fucked up plan in place. The whole ending stunk of the studio saying "uhh, no, we're not doing that. Go tack on an ending," which really sucked. The only thing that sucks more is Courtney Cox's plastic surgeon.

I guess the 'extra-ending' as I'll call it , is kind of a reference to the more modernised horror films that have happened since. Where you think the movies ended, but infact, theres more.

When a Stranger Calls, Black Christmas, Saw to some extent, The Descent and more feature an extended ending.  So I think Scre4m was incorporating the classic with the modern style.  I agree, it did drag along after the 2nd killer was revealed, but I don't think it took the fun out of the whole film, not for me anyway. 

@kyguy78 said: 

". Let Hayden Panettiere’s come back in Scream 5 since we never really saw her die, just collapse on the ground with the same injuries that Sidney survived. Heck, she was the best of the new characters anyway and the Scream franchise has a history of killing off some of their best characters (Tatum, Randy, and now Kirby).
"

I sooo agree with this. (: Kirby and Tatum were my favourite characters! I hate that they were killed off, I really wanted to see them back for sequels. But yeah, we didn't see Kirby die, but you think Dewey would've mentioned Jills best friend being alive in the hospital ... :/