In Halloween, the victims watch The Thing. In Scream, they watch Halloween. In Scre4m, victims watch Stab, based on the events of the previous ‘Scream’ films. The newest addition to Wes Craven’s horror franchise changes the ‘rules’ for horror movies laid out in the first film, but as a slasher flick it doesn’t really mix things up that much. While definitely entertaining, Scre4m is just a little bit too formulaic and isn’t actually all that scary.
Scre4m is set in the town of Woodsboro, just like the first movie. Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) has come back to Woodsboro while on a tour with her newly released book about her experiences in the earlier movies. Just days before the anniversary of the Ghostface murders, two more victims are claimed. Sidney’s younger cousin Jill (Emma Roberts) attends Woodsboro High and knew the new victims. As a new generation inherits the violence, the film club at Woodsboro High come with the new ‘rules’. These are rewrites of the original rules of horror movies laid out in the first Scream.
As the film puts it, “one generation’s tragedy is the next generation’s joke”. On the anniversary of the Ghostface murders the entire high school crowd gathers for a Stab movie marathon. Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox) follows the kids around to investigate, and Dewey Riley (David Arquette) also returns as the new Sheriff of Woodsboro. Throughout the film, teenagers continue to be picked off as Jill and her friends slowly get closer and closer to Ghostface.
If Wes Craven meant for Scre4m to not be taken as seriously as other horror films, he did a great job. It’s a more ironic look at the horror genre that tells you what’ll happen…than it does it. Craven directs with the level of professionalism that we can expect from him, and Scre4m is still better than most of the recent horror flicks, despite its lack of scariness.
The original Scream was different than most horror flicks in the fact that the characters knew about slasher films, and they attempted to avoid repeating horror movie clichés. Scre4m takes this idea a little too far, presenting characters who not only watch movies, but have seen movies based on the tales of the first Scream movies. Also, Scre4m lacks the scary element of the original film due to poor lighting and sound effects, and the fact that Ghostface is presented too quickly and little tension is built. That being said, Scre4m is still entertaining in its lesson about sequels: "don’t f*** with the original".