Well everyone, it looks like we have managed to make it. It’s the week that a lot of us have been looking forward to for awhile. Scream (2022) is looming over us as its release this week draws ever closer. Who is excited for it? Who is ready for it?
For the past week, we have been working through our Scream retrospective series. Up to this point, we have worked our way through the first three films in the series (Part 1 , Part 2 , and Part 3). It’s been a very interesting time watching the films. For the first time since 2011, I have been able to watch the films in a whole new perspective. Gone are the nostalgia glasses. I am able to see the films as if it was the first time all over again. I guess watching a movie after eleven years will do that to you. Taking the films all in, it’s allowed me to focus more on each of the films on their own as well as a being a piece of this beloved franchise. It’s also allowed my rankings for the films to change as well.
Today, I am going to be talking about Scream 4. Scream 4 was released in 2011. When I looked back at the film, I was honestly pretty shocked about it. For some reason, my memory had kept telling me that it was released in 2012. The major thing that I remember about that time was the hype for the film. Scream had returned and was just everywhere. There was a lot of marketing for that film. Honestly, there’s probably a few people that would agree that it may have been too much marketing. But we had Wes returning along with the original trio of Sidney, Dewey, and Gale. That was a pretty fantastic feeling. And Kevin Williamson had once again returned to his franchise after sitting out on Scream 3. It seemed like things had fallen into place.
Looking back at this film now, I wish that I hadn’t paid much attention to the discussion about it. I had been checking out almost all of the well traveled Scream sites in search of information. (One cool aspect of doing that was that I found one that housed fan scripts for films. Yeah, there were a few that were Scream related. But for the most part, it was just people crafting interesting takes on Halloween, Nightmare On Elm Street, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, even Black Christmas. They were all new telling of the films that worked very well. It’s fantastic what the fans can do that Hollywood can’t with remakes or reimaginings.) But all of the information I read about and discovered, it managed to set my expectations pretty damn high.
When I sat down in the theater to watch the film, it felt like Scream. It felt like we were taken back to a more modern Woodsboro. The original characters felt very much like we remembered them. The new characters, however, felt a little too much like retreads. I get that with this installment, Wes and Kevin were taking a look at remakes and reboots. So it is very appropriate. But overall, it felt like something was missing in the film. The pacing for the film is a bit of an interesting beast. It manages to fly like a rollercoaster, but at the same time not. It felt a bit more straight faced than many were prepared for.
Once I began to see what they were attempting to do, I began to appreciate Scream 4 more. It’s a film that manages to take a lot of expectations that people were hoping for and just throws it in a whole new direction. It definitely makes things a bit more divisive. For me, it works beautifully. However it was also made apparent that the film was another product of studio meddling, a lot of the more detailed aspects of the film ended up being cut. If you check out the deleted scenes, there are quite a few of them that have callbacks to the original film while also being grounded in character. And then there’s the alternate opening. The theatrical opening is a bit of fun and plays a bit more like parody. The alternate opening was a whole another level. It honestly was a bit more bold in its approach. And without music, it’s absolutely terrifying. Part of me wishes that it would been the one used and not have it with music. The studio probably felt a safer approach was more appropriate.
A lot of the aspects that we have come to know with this franchise are evident in the film as well. It just happens to have a little more humor to try to balance the brutal, more cold nature of this new Ghost Face. Ghost Face in this film is more in the vein of the second one. Honestly, it makes so much sense after the reveal in the end of the second act. We have Charlie, who is trying so hard to be a ‘Stu’ stereotype that he ended up in the ‘Billy’ side of the Scream spectrum. It is a pretty brilliant flip of the script. Charlie’s whole motive was to try and help recreate the murders. In his mind, he’s trying to live out his dream of one day directing. Then there’s Jill, Sidney’s cousin. She’s a complete loose cannon that is 100 percent off her rocker. I mean what she does in the end of that second act is just mind-blowing. That’s honestly highlights the brilliance of Scream 4. Everything we thought we knew, it was wrong. Wes and Kevin had brilliantly subverted so many of those expectations. And at the end of the day, that’s why I think a lot of people were against the film at first. It wasn’t what they were expecting. But ya know, you have to progress somehow or bring something new to the table. That’s how the first film was crafted as well as this film.
Overall, yeah there may be some pacing issues with Scream 4. It feels like a large reason is the fake-out with its second act. But this is still Scream. It does feel a little more studio-polished, but at the same time not. It doesn’t feel like as much of a cookie-cutter product as Scream 3 was. It honestly feels like Wes was even playing up the reboot angle with the cinematography. Ghost Face is a bit more tense as literally the film doesn’t fully address the rules. And that’s something that highlights what horror was about at that point in time – a lot of it wasn’t following any set rules. They were trying to shock audiences by doing something completely clear out of left field. I feel like the only thing that the film is missing is the use of Red Right Hand, as that has become a bit of a theme for these films. Even though the film lacked a bit of character, it still managed to stick the landing for me and lives up to the original. It's also a fitting epilogue for Wes as well as he gave us one last good scare.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5.
Follow BlazinBlue's Horror Review on Facebook and Twitter.
Also be sure to subscribe so you don't miss any new content.
No comments:
Post a Comment