MyRating: YYY1/2Director: Wes Craven
Writer: Kevin Williamson
Cast: Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Emma Roberts, Hayden Panettiere, Adam Brody, Marley Shelton, Rory Culkin, Anthony Anderson, Erik Knudsen, Marielle Jaffe
MPAA: Rated R for strong bloody violence, language and some teen drinking
'New decade. New rules.' Just the 'right' tagline. It has been eleven years since the last Scream, and as a popular slasher franchise from one of the masters of horror movies, Wes Craven (A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Last House on the Left, The Hills Have Eyes), it's time for a come back. It also marked the return of Kevin Williamson as the screenwriter, after absent in Scream 3 (this talented screenwriter is the creator of Scream and its characters, as well as the one who is responsible for I Know What You Did Last Summer, The Faculty, and the popular TV series Dawson's Creek and The Vampire Diaries). And it's also time to refresh the series by adding to the original cast (Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox and David Arquette) with the fresh new cast from younger generation, such as Emma Roberts and Hayden Panettiere. Seems to be an exciting and promising new decade, especially for the fans who have been waiting for a long time to see the new action from Ghostface.
Sidney Prescott (Campbell) returns to her hometown on her new book promotion tour, just at the same time with the fifteenth anniversary of the Woodsboro massacre. As the local celebrity due to her survival story from the massacre, the appearance of Sidney does not only attract the attentions from her town people, but also attracts the new copycat of Ghostface to spread the new terrors in town, as the town's high school students start to get killed one by one. Reuniting with Sheriff Dewey Riley (Arquette) and Gale Weathers (Cox), who are now husband and wife, Sidney has to again face the rampage of Ghostface, and find a way to reveal and stop the killer, before her cousin, Jill Roberts (Emma Roberts), and her friends will become the next victims. And the screams begin.
Same old formula, but the smart written script from Williamson made this new Scream an enjoyable movie to watch, without feeling it stale. It may be easy to write countless sequels of this kind of generic slasher movie just for the sake of making sequels, but it was not easy to write a memorable good one. If you ask me, besides the first Scream, which offered something new when it first appeared, I did not exactly remember the details of Scream 2 and 3, including the killers behind the mask as well as their motives, since they were just not that memorable for me. Every Scream sequels just felt the same, with the exactly same aura and executions. It definitely needs new fresh cast members. It needs a new 'break out' story plot, if not standout. It also needs a new different motive from the killer. And I think both Craven and Williamson have done a good job in bringing some new excitements in this same old stuff, at least that was what I felt when the movie was over.
It was a good fun ride with many scary jumps and violence kills (for girls, it definitely was a good scream practice, I knew it was for my partner). Funny at times, especially when one of the characters said the 'forbidden words' in a horror movie, "I'll be right back... I know this one. You're not supposed to say that, are you?" And it was unpredictable with an unexpected twist. Everybody can be the suspect. I always think that the writer can put whoever he wants as the killer behind Ghostface in Scream, with whatever the motives, and you have to accept it whether you like it or not. But I must say that the ending and the motive of the killer in this sequel, and who the writer made 'sacrifice' as the killer, was also the strong point of this movie (if not, it might just be another generic Scream movie). It did not totally made me jump in my seat actually (as I was prepared for whoever the killer will be), but still I did not exactly see it coming. It did give something different and made us appreciate on how the writer has planned to fool us in the first place with all our own presumptions on how a more than ten-year-old sequel, where an old cast meets new cast, should turn out, which cast member should be killed or about time to be killed, and which one should not. It for sure was not the way I thought it would be. The motive may seem ridiculous, but it was a good choice.
It was great to see all the three main old cast (Campbell, Cox and Arquette) back on screen together with the interesting new cast members, including the gorgeous Hayden Panettiere, Emma Roberts, Adam Brody and Rory Culkin. The beginning of the movie was also a terrific and inventive one as you will see terrors in a movie inside a movie, with some familiar faces such as Kristen Bell and Anna Paquin.
This was a good come back for a beloved slasher franchise. Disregard how this sequel was under performed in the box office, it was much better from the last two installments, and again, much more memorable for years to come. And the hardcore fans will definitely scream for more. (MJ)
