The Scream series returns, but it's missing something that's hard to put my finger on. There's something so stale about much of the film. Campbell, Cox, and Arquette seem as game as ever, but they're mostly sidelined to make room for an unexciting group of new blood. Besides Hayden Panettiere as Kirby, these new teen characters don't make much of an impact at all and seem like a far cry from the usual victims that occupy a Scream film. One new addition in particular named Olivia feels more like a vampy cheap 80's slasher character who only exists to get killed. She has no personality whatsoever. This is the big issue with the film - we don't care when people die.
Because of a lack of characters to root for and because the main trio rarely feels like they're in any real danger, it's hard to care a lot and the film turns into less horror comedy and more pure spoof. There are moments in this film that feel much more like a Scary Movie sequel than a Scream sequel and that's a shame. In the other Scream films, there was always a huge helping of humor, but there were also big dramatic stakes and tons of suspense and scares to balance it out. Scream 4 tries to go too heavy on the humor and it doesn't work at all.
The film does come to life a bit during the finale where the killer is unmasked and the film finally hits just the right balance of humor and horror. The killer's motivation is truly both the funniest and most disturbing part of the film.
With a few tweaks, Scream 4 could have really been something special, but as is, it's simply too goofy.
Because of a lack of characters to root for and because the main trio rarely feels like they're in any real danger, it's hard to care a lot and the film turns into less horror comedy and more pure spoof. There are moments in this film that feel much more like a Scary Movie sequel than a Scream sequel and that's a shame. In the other Scream films, there was always a huge helping of humor, but there were also big dramatic stakes and tons of suspense and scares to balance it out. Scream 4 tries to go too heavy on the humor and it doesn't work at all.
The film does come to life a bit during the finale where the killer is unmasked and the film finally hits just the right balance of humor and horror. The killer's motivation is truly both the funniest and most disturbing part of the film.
With a few tweaks, Scream 4 could have really been something special, but as is, it's simply too goofy.