Harefooted Halloween: Scream 4

What I Liked: I’m kicking this right off with a spoiler.  Skip to the next paragraph to be in the clear.  The multiple openings idea is terrific.  Having a movie within a movie within a movie sounds like a horrible mess (and a similar idea they already explored in part 3) but it turns out to be a lot of fun with genuine surprise, well done trickery and smart execution.  Unfortunately the rest of the film does not continue in this fashion.  Imagine if they just kept doing intros all in distinct and increasingly inventive ways.  Sort of like Too Many Cooks but feature length.  Admittedly that sounds way easier said than done though.  And while it would’ve been a drastic departure from the rest of the series at least it wouldn’t have been yet another rehash.

Ghostface is a little bit less of a klutz in this one.  I mean he still falls through a glass door and down stairs ‘n’ shit but there isn’t as much cartoony chase crap.

Along with my point above the killings hit a touch harder because Ghostface feels the most threatening since the first film.  For one death in particular he returns to horrifically gutting the victim like he did to some back in the original.  I’m actually not a huge gore guy but this harsh method certainly makes an impact.

What I Didn’t Like: My biggest complaint is it’s simply more of the same whodunit shit you’ve seen before.

All the meta horror movie references step right up to the line and think long and hard about crossing it.  There’s a lot of talk about reboots and how we’re living in a new era where all the usual horror movie rules you think you know don’t apply, anything goes, chaos reigns, etc.  First of all I wish they weren’t quite so self-referential.  But secondly for all the boasting about breaking rules, aside from the neat opening, it’s all fairly standard stuff you’ve come to expect from a neo-slasher picture like this.

Part of the killer’s deal is supposed to be that they’re filming their own murders so they can upload them to the internet but they never follow through on this.  The videos aren’t uploaded and we only see them explicitly filming one unsuccessful attempted slaying.  We then find out there’s a camera inside the Ghostface mask to record POV but we never see that footage or cut to that angle during the movie.  It’s just weird because they make a big deal out of it like that’s the motive behind the killings but that doesn’t turn out to be the case at all.

Overall Impressions: I wanna say they were going for a maybe sorta back to basics legacy sequel except the other installments also stuck pretty close to home so I dunno.  Whatever, not too interesting.  It’s probably the best sequel so far eking out part 2 but that’s not saying much.  While the identity of the killer is a good deal dumber it’s what happens after the reveal that pushes this one ahead.  Speaking of which…

Spoilers for the rest of this. 

You still with me?  Ok.  Turns out Sidney’s (Neve Campbell (When Will I Be Loved)) niece, Jill (Emma Roberts (The Blackcoat’s Daughter)), is behind it all (the second blood relative serial killer in the fam if you’re keeping score (remember part 3?)).  When she finishes dispatching everyone within ten feet of her (including Sidney) she proceeds to inflict wounds on herself so everyone else will cross her off the suspects list and get away with the murders.  And she throws herself into her work, literally.  She uses a victim’s hand to scratch her face and tear her hair out, she runs into a glass framed painting on the wall and finally dives backwards into a glass table shattering the thing to bits.  This drew giggles and then chuckles out of me. 

But it doesn’t stop there.  Jill’s taken to the hospital and learns that Sidney is still alive and in the ICU.  Oh no!  Her plan could be foiled at any moment!  So she drags herself out of bed, limps down the hall and jumps on a sleeping Sidney choking her.  The two proceed to have a knock down drag out fight right there in the hospital room.  Man is it hilarious and fantastic.  These two should be on death’s door, especially Sidney yet they go at it like a couple of young scrappers.  Then Dewey runs in and Jill knocks him around too!  And for the record I don’t buy for a second that tiny 5 foot Jill can pull any of this shit off.  Anyway, all of it is goddamn funny and made the experience worthwhile.