Movie Review - "Scream 4" (2011) ***

     Back in 1996, a friend that I was working with at Books-A-Million recommended that I go see a movie that had just been released called Scream. He had seen it opening night and really enjoyed it and knowing that I liked horror films he thought I should see it. At this time I wasn't a big horror fan because most of the stuff coming out in the years prior to that was just awful. I thought horror was....well, dead. But I decided to take his recommendation and I went on that Sunday afternoon and sat in a theater by myself with perhaps five other people in the audience, if that. What happened for the next couple of hours was nothing but pure enjoyment. For the first time in a LONG time, I was legitimately scared sitting in a theater. The first 10 minutes of that movie were so intense and I remember thinking that horror was back. Fortunately, the rest of the film didn't let me down and what I saw was one of the best horror films I had ever seen. It was followed by two sequels that while not as good, were at least adequate and watchable. After Scream 3 in 2000, it was expected that that was the end of the series. The trilogy was complete.
      Fast forward to 2011.........and Scream is back. Neve Campbell returns as the lead character, Sidney Prescott. Sidney has written a self-help book about the horrors that she experienced and has returned to Woodsboro on the anniversary of the original killings to promote her book. David Arquette and Courteney Cox are back as well as the now married couple Dewey Riley and Gale Weathers-Riley. Dewey has graduated from deputy to sheriff and Gale is writing fiction books. And of course it wouldn't be a Scream without Mr. Ghostface returning to cause chaos. There is also a whole new cast of teenagers just waiting for a visit, or phone call, from Ghostface. The Scream series is notable for it's opening death scenes, going back to the original classic which featured Drew Barrymore being duped into a wrong trivia answer and ultimately becoming victim of Ghostface. The opening of Scream 4 I believe is done very cleverly and I really enjoyed it. I can't tell too much about it or who is in the scene because it will be very easy to spoil. But I loved the creativeness of it and liked the tone that was set for the film. Unfortunately, the rest of the movie doesn't live up to the opening. There isn't a whole lot here that is going to shock anyone. We meet a bunch of teenagers and when it comes to knowing their horror films, almost all of them have a 4.0 GPA. However, we do question their GPA's on EVERY other subject. There are a couple of film school geeks just like Randy from the earlier films. There are bumbling cops. There is enough bloodshed to satisfy those looking for gore. The one thing that is lacking are the scares. There are times I found this to be more of a comedy than a horror film. And that is probably appropriate since the Scream films are intended to be parodies of their selves in a way. But it would have been nice to get a couple of really good scares in there, instead I think I maybe half flinched only once. There is nothing like the intensity of that opening scene in the original film and that's unfortunate.
      But all that being said, this is a fun film and I did ultimately enjoy it. Part of the fun of the Scream films is trying to guess who the killer is.........or killers plural. I had a guess while watching Scream 4 but I ended up being wrong. After learning who is behind the mask I guess it's plausible enough. It's not quite as ridiculous as Scream 3 but not as creative as the original with Billy and Stu being the dynamic duo. Also with the series, there is always the question if the big stars will all survive to the end of the movie. I'm not here to spoil anything of course but it's fun to play along and see who survives and who ultimately falls victim. Fun is the key word here. This is not the scariest movie ever made and will not be remembered as a classic by any means, but the movie does have plenty of moments where it's just "fun". If you enjoyed anything in the series previously you will probably have a good time. If you didn't, there is nothing here that will change your mind. I give Scream 4 a mild recommendation, just don't go in with expectations set too high. You could do a lot worse though.