His Two Cents: It’s been 11 years since Scream 3 (!), we’re older and jaded, and Scream 4 reflects this: the characters are bitter, the story’s obsessed with technology (and how it can be used for murder), and while the intent is to parody the current horrific fascination with remakes it mostly just seems cruel. And the plot is 95 percent a spoiler: it’s the anniversary of the original Woodsboro murders and sad Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) has become a writer, while Gale Weathers-Riley (Courteney Cox) and now-Sheriff Dewey Riley (David Arquette) are having problems (offscreen too). When new ‘Ghostface’ murders begin, and Sidney’s niece (Emma Roberts) and pal Kirby (Hayden Panetierre) seem targeted, the stage is set for graphic violence, joke cameos, amusing confusion about whether we’re watching Scream or Stab and cutting self-analysis from returning writer Kevin Williamson and director Wes Craven, who sinks the boot into the remake of his own Last House On The Left, just for starters.

Potentially this fourth Scream’s weary and nasty to reflect nervous times, but there’s no doubt that some wit and creepy charm are missing, while, ahem, the killer’s identity becomes increasingly, and annoyingly, obvious towards the end as, really, everyone else has been butchered!

Mad Dog Bradley

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