Scream 4

Starring: Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, & David Arquette

Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars

Let's face it, when a film franchise makes it to a fourth film or higher, it usually sucks. What else can they really do with it and what's left of the story to tell us that we don't already know? That was my thinking going into Scream 4, but when it comes to Wes Craven, you really never know what you're going to get. After pumping out three movies in four years, Craven took eleven years off before taking another crack at Scream, thinking why not make what's old new again, and it works! Scream 4 continues the legacy of the series by combining a classic slasher film with the technology and youth of today, who are still making a mockery of the whole situation. The screenwriting is absolutely genius, as is evident by the opening scene, which actually rivals the scene in the first film. In Scream 4, we see a grown up Sidney Prescott return home to Woodsboro a changed woman. She's there to promote her new book and catch up with her old friends, Sheriff Dewey and his wife Gail. They're all having a nice reunion, on what turns out to be the anniversary of the first killings, when all of a sudden things turn ugly again. You know the characters and you know the actors playing them. They're a little bit older, they're a little bit wiser, and they're every bit as energetic and interesting as they were in the first three films. The old school Woodsboro family meets the current Woodsboro family and what you get is something that's very similar, but oddly different. Scream 4 is witty, clever, and updated. Wes Craven was right, what was old is new again and it reminded me of just how much I loved the original films.