Scream 4
I rolled my eyes when I first heard about a fourth Scream movie. This was for two reasons. One, Hollywood really needs to get out of the franchise business and back into the movie business, but we all know that is not going to happen. Two, the third Scream movie sucked so badly that I forgot how good the first two were. Scream suffered from the Jedi Syndrome where there is a good first movie, a beyond awesome second one, and a terrible third one. The bad taste that Scream 3 left in my brain caused me to go into Scream 4 with a grain of salt, but the first few minutes alone allowed me see how wrong I was to doubt it. The Scream movies were always really about other movies, but Scream 3 took itself too seriously and was more about itself than anything else. It didn’t focus enough on the concept of a trilogy and was bogged down into its own background story. Scream 4 returns to form and focuses on the concept of the reboot/remake.
Almost every classic horror movie that has made more than two dollars has been remade over the years, so there is a rich environment for Scream 4 to pull from. They never really make fun of the ridiculous concept of the reboot, and how it means that Hollywood uses it as a way repair franchises that they themselves messed up, but that would negate itself as a movie.
For the most part, Scream 4 is a well constructed horror film, but it does have a few sore spots. Some of the murders are very predictable, and it causes the audience to replace the tension with a bit of sick humor. Also, there are way too many good looking people in this fictional town. It might be intentional given its slasher movie roots, but it’s hard to tell. Plus, probably the biggest problem, is how the killer(s) reveal themselves. The movie never really tries to play the balancing act of foreshadowing and misleading, which works in the movie’s favor, but the final reveal isn’t a complete surprise depending on how much thought you put in it ahead of time. Regardless if you’re surprised or not, the killer(s) spends the next five to ten minutes explaining to Sidney their motives and it starts to get a little ridiculous. One of the reasons Scream 2 remains the best of the franchise is because it only takes the killers about thirty seconds to explain themselves. It’s simple, to the point, and fairly believable (or at the very least fits well into the Scream universe). Scream 4’s ending fits, but the killer(s) start feeling like a 60s Bond supervillain with their long winded explanations. Despite the need to be tightened up in a few spots, Scream 4 remains a smart, well done, and worthy addition to the horror with horror genre.
Keep reading. Final Destination Marathon Part 5!
Final Destination Marathon: Part 5: The Final Chapter
The end is here, and I’m glad it has a high note. While morally I should have an issue with franchises, good movies are just good movies. Franchises tend to delude movies, but sometimes failures bring about change. Too bad that pattern of thinking didn’t work on George Lucas.
Final Destination 5
The good thing about falling down is that, if you pay attention, you might learn something. New Line fell on their face with “Final Destination 4”, and they learned that they can’t keep an audience with making crappy movies. Thanks to an infusion of money from Warner Bros, New Line made “Final Destination 5” with the intent of breathing new life into their franchise. For the most part, this works. FD5 isn’t a work of art, but is an entertaining film with interesting characters and a creative tone.
It begins fairly average with varied and identifiable characters. The rest of the setup works like every other Destination film where one guy dreams of death and he save his friends. Then they start dieing off in ridiculous ways and the other survivors get the idea that death is after them. Its silly, but the film doesn’t take itself too seriously while avoiding a campy feel. Tony Todd thankfully makes a return and is still as creepy regardless of his new bald spot. He introduces a new plot device into the franchise that actually makes the film more interesting. It adds a small level of depth that I didn’t expect. I honestly had more fun watching this than I expected.
The cheesy 3D effects are still here from last time, but they aren’t overused to the point of annoyance. I still contend that 3D is just a lame way to get people to pay more for already overly priced movies, but at least here they balanced effects with story. The FD premise, even with the new twist and half decent attempt at special effects, is hard to maintain for a whole hour and a half. It doesn’t feel long winded, but struggles to keep you entertained successfully the entire trip. It has some very good ideas, and is the best installment since the second film. It even has a very satisfying ending that I didn’t see coming, and you realize it was building toward it the entire film. A decent film that makes you feel your time and money wasn’t wasted even though franchise wariness kept a recurring thought in my head. After five films, you think death would get better at killing stupid teenagers.
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