Film Review
Since
New Nightmare (1994) director
Wes Craven has done more than anyone to keep the slasher genre alive
and fresh, mostly by deconstructing it with ever-increasing zeal and
repeatedly stressing the pointlessness of movie remakes. Craven's
Scream
films represent the ultimate in movie paradox, a superb opener and a
series of generally respectable sequels which manage to be both
enjoyable slasher flicks and the most effective argument against
repeating a popular formula
ad
nauseum. Increasingly self-referential, the
Scream films have converged to a
grim parody, each offering working desperately hard to out-do its
predecessor, not only in the quantity of gore it throws at the
spectator, but also in the sophistication of its plot. Watching
Scream 4 feels like trying to make
your way through a maze of mirrors and it's a struggle to keep up with
the devious plot twists that screenwriter Kevin Williamson keeps
hurling in our direction. Craven has taken the idiot slasher film
and tranformed it into a mental assault course of the most gruelling
kind.
Scream 4 may have been
conceived as the first in a new trilogy of
Scream films but it makes an
effective conclusion to the series - far more so than the disappointing
Scream 3 and probably better
(maybe) than the mooted official finale
Scream 5. Superficially, the
film resembles the classic movie reboot, but it spends most of its
near-two hour run time pouring scorn on the whole concept of a reboot,
making it pretty impossible for Craven to continue the series without
surrendering a whole load of hard won credibility. For the most
part, it's intellectual naval gazing of the most egregious and
entertaining kind. If the characters in the film are not busy
being hacked to pieces by a mask-wearing psychopath (who may or may not
be named Trevor) they are put through the even more hellish experience
of analysing their place in a slasher film, not an easy task as the
rules of the film remake are (it would seem) constantly in a state of
flux. There was a time when, to survive a slasher movie, all you
had to be was a virgin with a kind heart and a pretty face. Now
it seems the only guarantee of survival is being gay. Not even
the regulars (Neve Campbell, David Arquette and Courteney Cox) are safe
and two get the knife (but not necessarily the chop) as the plot
contortions get seriously out of hand.
All this may make
Scream 4
sound like the mother of all indulgence fests, which it blatantly is,
but under Craven's canny (albeit slightly deranged) stewardship, and
helped along by dialogue that never ceases to crackle for a moment, it
can hardly fail to entertain. Admittedly, it's most likely to be
appreciated by fans of the previous
Scream
movies. The film's main redeeming feature, the warped humour
referencing Ghostface's earlier bloody outings, will be totally lost on
Scream virgins, although the
gruesome stabbings (some realised with CGI effects) will doubtless
satisfy the unwholesome cravings of today's juvenile slasher
addicts. After this all-too-spirited attempt to reanimate yet
another movie cadaver, there is nowhere the
Scream franchise can possibly go -
other than to completely disappear up its own gut splitting vortex of
absurdist self-loathing.
© James Travers 2014
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Film Synopsis
To mark the anniversary of the Woodsboro Massacre, in which she was an
active participant, Sidney Prescott returns to the town to promote her
new book with her publicist Rebecca Walters. Sidney's reputation
as an angel of death is borne out when, shortly after her arrival, two
high school students are stabbed to death. Sidney, herself under
suspicion, becomes concerned when her younger cousin Jill begins
receiving threatening phone calls from someone posing as
Ghostface. As the town's sheriff Dewey Riley takes charge
of the murder investigation his wife Gale Weathers sets out to resolve
the mystery single-handedly, so desperate is she for material for her
next book. A friend of Jill is Ghostface's next victim, followed
by Sidney's publicist. High school movie geeks Charlie Walker and
Robbie Mercer are convinced that the killings are being carried out to
the pattern of the movie remake and deduce that Ghostface's next
showing will be at a party. Gale's attempt to expose the killer
at a study party goes disastrously wrong, and as the corpses continue
to pile up around her Sidney realises that some people will do anything
for five minutes of fame...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.