I think it's no news to anyone that the horror genre has been slightly lacking in recent years. All we see is sequels, prequels, and remakes anymore, and fans are sick of it. Thank God there's movies like Scream 4 around to remind us how terrible modern day horror films really are. Now, the first Scream was a pretty clever horror flick. A slasher movie where the main characters know the rules and clichés of past slasher movies. It's no wonder people call this "the film that brought an end to the slasher genre". Then part 2 came out, and I really enjoyed that one too, maybe even more than the original. Then the 3rd one came out, and we thought, "This is getting kind of old". Then, like most franchises of the 80s and 90s, we got the delayed sequel, Scream 4 (or Scre4m for those who are impressed when the sequel number is fused with the title), which people should be calling "the film that brought an end to the horror genre in general". I thought that this was a very entertaining movie, and I only watched it because I knew it was going to be dumb, but my God, there is so much this movie gets wrong.
First of all, I'd like to say that I didn't hate this movie, I found it pretty entertaining, and there are definitely worse horror movies out these days, I just want to point out what's wrong with this film, because it belongs to a famous franchise.
First of all, I immediately lose interest from the opening scene. Phone call, "Who is this?", "What's your favorite scary movie?", stab stab. But there's a twist; it's all just a movie. Then one of the people watching the movie stabs the other one in another twist. But oh no, it's two girls watching two girls watching two girls get murdered. It's a movie within a movie within the movie. Next, the killer comes in and kills the girls, but why should we care. All the excitement was already faked out twice, so who cares if these two girls we don't even know get killed in forgettable ways? Moving on.
One major flaw this movie has is that it's just predictable and forgettable. After the opening scene, I had this movie figured out. I knew exactly what was going to happen, and I could even predict what some of the characters were going to say next. Also, there is not one memorable kill in this movie. Say what you want about the "Nightmare on Elm Street" and "Friday the 13th" franchises, but at least they make their kills different from the previous films. I get it; it's making fun of slasher flicks. Well in slasher flicks, the killers usually use more than a knife. It takes all the fun out of the genre, and it gets old real fast.
The main thing I hate about this film is how pretentious it is. It's big on bashing remakes and reboots, and it acts like it's this groundbreaking, intelligent, post-modernism horror film with something to say, when really, it's just all the same crap we've seen before. This film acts as both a sequel and a remake, but this movie doesn't really add anything new. You've got Sidney, the friends, the expendables, the family, the press, the cops, the horror movie nerds, the "obvious" suspect, and the killer, add a few classic horror references and horror fake outs, and that's it. Yes, just like every other movie in this franchise. Even the "climax" is a rip-off of the first film, and it comes off as lazy rather than clever.
And possibly the worst thing about this film is the killer's motivation. I know I'm spoiling it, but I have to say something about this. First off, there are two killers, and their reasons for killing is probably the stupidest in the whole franchise. The one guy wanted one of the victims to "show interest in him", and the girl was jealous of Sidney's fame from her encounters in the previous films really? That's it? That's why these people kill? That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. That's not the motivation of a slasher movie villain, that's the motivation of a Scooby Doo villain. And what makes it worse it that the Scream movies are supposed to be more realistic than other slasher films. These villains aren't at all believable, and their motivations don't make them the least bit sympathetic. I would buy it if they were portrayed as mentally unstable, but no. They killed because they wanted something they could've easily gotten if they had just spoken up.
The problem with the Scream franchise is its refusal to change. The heroes never change, the fact that the killer is always someone new makes the villain very uninteresting, and the whole self awareness aspect of it all just takes the fun and charm out of all slasher films. I think the film tried to say something about how our society is obsessed with tragedy and violence, but all I got from it was, "All horror movies today suck, and audiences are too stupid to see that". Only one problem Scream 4 that's exactly what you are. It's a cliché, unoriginal, bad (yet still enjoyable) horror movie talking down to other cliché, unoriginal, bad horror movies.
First of all, I'd like to say that I didn't hate this movie, I found it pretty entertaining, and there are definitely worse horror movies out these days, I just want to point out what's wrong with this film, because it belongs to a famous franchise.
First of all, I immediately lose interest from the opening scene. Phone call, "Who is this?", "What's your favorite scary movie?", stab stab. But there's a twist; it's all just a movie. Then one of the people watching the movie stabs the other one in another twist. But oh no, it's two girls watching two girls watching two girls get murdered. It's a movie within a movie within the movie. Next, the killer comes in and kills the girls, but why should we care. All the excitement was already faked out twice, so who cares if these two girls we don't even know get killed in forgettable ways? Moving on.
One major flaw this movie has is that it's just predictable and forgettable. After the opening scene, I had this movie figured out. I knew exactly what was going to happen, and I could even predict what some of the characters were going to say next. Also, there is not one memorable kill in this movie. Say what you want about the "Nightmare on Elm Street" and "Friday the 13th" franchises, but at least they make their kills different from the previous films. I get it; it's making fun of slasher flicks. Well in slasher flicks, the killers usually use more than a knife. It takes all the fun out of the genre, and it gets old real fast.
The main thing I hate about this film is how pretentious it is. It's big on bashing remakes and reboots, and it acts like it's this groundbreaking, intelligent, post-modernism horror film with something to say, when really, it's just all the same crap we've seen before. This film acts as both a sequel and a remake, but this movie doesn't really add anything new. You've got Sidney, the friends, the expendables, the family, the press, the cops, the horror movie nerds, the "obvious" suspect, and the killer, add a few classic horror references and horror fake outs, and that's it. Yes, just like every other movie in this franchise. Even the "climax" is a rip-off of the first film, and it comes off as lazy rather than clever.
And possibly the worst thing about this film is the killer's motivation. I know I'm spoiling it, but I have to say something about this. First off, there are two killers, and their reasons for killing is probably the stupidest in the whole franchise. The one guy wanted one of the victims to "show interest in him", and the girl was jealous of Sidney's fame from her encounters in the previous films really? That's it? That's why these people kill? That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. That's not the motivation of a slasher movie villain, that's the motivation of a Scooby Doo villain. And what makes it worse it that the Scream movies are supposed to be more realistic than other slasher films. These villains aren't at all believable, and their motivations don't make them the least bit sympathetic. I would buy it if they were portrayed as mentally unstable, but no. They killed because they wanted something they could've easily gotten if they had just spoken up.
The problem with the Scream franchise is its refusal to change. The heroes never change, the fact that the killer is always someone new makes the villain very uninteresting, and the whole self awareness aspect of it all just takes the fun and charm out of all slasher films. I think the film tried to say something about how our society is obsessed with tragedy and violence, but all I got from it was, "All horror movies today suck, and audiences are too stupid to see that". Only one problem Scream 4 that's exactly what you are. It's a cliché, unoriginal, bad (yet still enjoyable) horror movie talking down to other cliché, unoriginal, bad horror movies.
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