On the eve of the fifteenth anniversary of the Woodsboro massacre as depicted in the first Scream,.. a new Ghostface begins a fresh and very bloody killing spree
The next day Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) returns to Woodsboro to promote her new book and becomes a suspect in the murders. She is forced by Dewey Riley (David Arquette)--now married to Gayle (Courteney Cox)--to stay in Woodsboro until the crime is solved.
While in town, she stays with her aunt Kate (Mary McDonnell) and cousin Jill (Emma Roberts), who is dealing with the betrayal of her ex-boyfriend (Nico Tortorella). The attacks continue...
Having grown up watching and loving the horror genre I really appreciated what director Wes Craven and writer Kevin Williamson did in the first film--Before it's release the entire scary movie thing desperately needed a jolt--and boy it got one. Yes it winked at the audience, used humor to its advantage without going full on camp, and its mystery was a true MYSTERY that engaged the genre faithful.... But above all the first one and its sequel Scream 2 were SCARY films amidst all of their clever twists...
The question is does the newest installment do the same thing after all this time and with umpteen remakes reboots and 3-D to deal with?
After watching the film I have to say that while I enjoyed seeing the franchise regulars again--doing their thing--as well as some of the new blood in the film...In the end the film fails to reinvent the genre or itself as a franchise. Two of the things that made the first couple of films in the series so great are what holds the new film back. Williamson's script is almost too self aware for its own good--making sure that the audience members stop and say How clever! each time the film makes a genre joke or reference.
Williamson's line "The unexpected is the new cliche."-uttered by Charlie Walker (Rory Culkin) certainly sums up my feelings about the mystery aspect of the film. It's not much of a shock or surprise in the end whodunit-which is perhaps the film's biggest shock indeed It falls back on tired well worn motivations--for its climax folks not to mention having one big plot hole...
There's a higher more gruesome body count this time but that was to be expected in the era of Saw and the bloodier remakes that have saturated the genre since just after Scream 3--But Craven handles that aspect of things like the Master that he is.
Kudos to Cox, Arquette, Campbell and Roger Jackson (who provides the distinct voice for Ghostface) though for coming back
I didn't hate the film folks but it didn't exactly break new ground this time either--Meh
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