When I first saw Scream I had two thoughts. The first was that I was seeing a new kind of horror movie and a revitalization of a genre I loved. No longer would horror movies have to hide in the more politically correct term “thriller”. I swear if I heard one more movie where a guy with a knife terrorizes a family referred to as a thriller I was gonna take up a knife and create a little “thriller” of my own. Just kidding, psychotic thoughts only flow out of this head. It’s the ones who let these things stay inside and fester you have to watch out for. The story of young Sidney Presscott (Neve Campbell) was most known for the opening scene death of Drew Barrymore. What captured me was the story that followed it where fans of horror movies both dissect the deaths that begin following them around and give the viewers the rules to surviving a horror movie. Then they break all the rules. Neve Campbell is stalked throughout, escaping (a talent of hers) barely but losing most everyone she cares about in the process. Rose McGowan's Cleavage, I mean Tatum, is a strong character who still falls to ghostface. Neve's boyfriend Billy (played like a wooden boy by Johnny Depp wanna be, Skeet Ulrich) trying to convince Sidney to become a little more rated R than PG-13. The genius Matthew Lillard playing the mildly inappropriate Stu who thinks with all the dead bodies popping up makes for a great time to party. Jamie Kennedy as Randy, the rule giver who is the only virgin in the history of film that is happy to be one. Courtney Cox as tabloid newscaster Gale Weathers, trying to get the story and not get killed. David Arquette as Deputy Dewey, the bumbling deputy who has no clue whodunit. The cast and script made this film and made it a smart sexy horror movie for my generation. Which leads to my second thought which was “They stole my idea!” I had longed for a movie like Scream and had just enrolled in a screenwriting class to attempt to write it. Now 14 years later, I am not a successful screenwriter nor of the 5-6 scripts I have written, I have never attempted a horror movie script. My story, as it were, had already been told.
When Scream 2 came out, I enjoyed it and loved that the fat kid from Stand By Me was axed in the penultimate scene. Neve Campbell and all the necessary characters were back. Deputy Dewey (now on medical leave with a horrible limp) was stabbed again, survived again and by the third movie, no longer limped. Randy was back to explain the rules for the sequel and no longer a virgin so he’s gots to go. The aforementioned Jerry O’Connell was there as Neve’s love interest/possible killer and Sarah Michelle Gellar (at the height of Buffy fame) was a pretty sorority girl who pretty much deserves what she gets. Sidney does her best to stay ahead of the killer, just long enough to avoid being stabbed. And there was a movie within the movie! The self aware horror movie makes fun of itself and this franchise is no different. By the end of the film, you could see a little rust but Ghostface’s knife was still shining brightly.
Scream 3 was by far the worst of the franchise. Coincidentally it is the only film of the original trilogy that was not written by Kevin Williamson. Is that why it was not as fresh? I think Ehren Kruger did a fine job with a story that was a little bit off in and of itself. Sidney Prescott was a crisis hotline worker, attempting to hide from the world and hope that nothing happened. Gale (Cox) was trying to resurrect her career and Dewey was working as a consultant and security officer on the latest Stab movie (the franchise within the franchise). The movie had a flawed premise, a ludicrous cameo from Jamie Kennedy via VHS and the lamest twist killer ever. Apparently the rust that had started on Scream 2 had spread and this movie was creeping to the finish line. It was time for a break. I just wish it hadn’t been for 10 years but when I first learned that Scream 4 was in the works, my heart and inner ghostface smiled so brightly it looked as though I was screaming.
Scream 4 does get back to the fun of the original. No longer is it a fresh idea so they take the idea and change it to fit the idea of a town 10 years removed from a serial killer’s knife. What had once terrorized now empowers the kids of the New Woodsboro. When the movie starts, Sidney is returning to the town that bore her to promote a book she’d written on being the victim of a killer(s). Deputy Dewey is now Sheriff Dewey and Gale Weathers is now his bride, bored in her small town existence. When the killings start you can see the gleam in her eye and her desire to regain the control of her life that marriage and time have taken on her. A new batch of disposable victim teens is introduced to give Ghostface some fun as he leads the story to it’s conclusion.
What Scream 4 does well is recapture the imagination and genius of the original. It sets off new ideas for the future and points the finger squarely at our instant on world. Why would the killer allow someone to make a movie about them when they could make it themselves? Youtube is made for a serial killer’s manifesto of blood. Kevin Williamson came in and created a new horror movie for a new generation. In the end of the movie, I was left with a smile that almost looked like a Scream.
Mr. Unhappy Sez: When the phone rings and a man asks you what your favorite scary movie is? Some of you, ten years from now, may say Scream 4.
The Screamin Fun Golden Unhappy Awards
Hayden Panitierre - Best Cleavage of The New Cast
but
Worst Haircut of The New Cast
Rory Culkin - Best “that guy looks like the dude from Home Alone”
Second Worst Haircut (or lack thereof) of The New Cast
Emma Roberts - Fresh Ingenue Award of The New Cast
Sidney Prescott Jr. Award
Quotes
Ghostface - What’s your favorite scary movie?
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