Scream 4 (2011) is directed by Wes Craven and written by Kevin Williamson. It stars Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Emma Roberts, Hayden Panettiere, Marley Shelton, Alison Brie, Rory Culkin, Erik Knudsen, Marielle Jaffe, Nico Tortorella, Mary McDonnell, Anthony Anderson, Adam Brody, Aimee Teegarden, Anna Paquin, Kristen Bell, Shenae Grimes-Beech, and Roger Jackson. 10 years after the events of Scream 3 (2000), Sidney (Campbell) returns to Woodsboro on a tour for her new book, only for a new Ghostface to emerge, targeting a group of local teens that includes her cousin, Jill (Roberts). This once again teams Sidney, Gale, and Dewey in an effort to stop the killer before he kills the people they love. 

Despite it being 11 years since the previous Scream installment, the trio of Campbell, Cox, and Arquette return to their iconic roles with ease and energy. The real surprise is the new cast of teenage characters, led by Emma Roberts and Hayden Panettiere. The script does a great job of balancing focus between its young and returning characters. There’s a surprising efficiency in how the film establishes the personalities of new characters and catches us up with the lives of the main trio, yet still feels like the shortest installment in the franchise. The relentless pace leaves little room for complex character development, which mostly feels like the right decision at this point in the franchise. In other words, we’re far more interested in seeing what these characters are up to than in discovering who they are; we already know who they are. 

Thankfully, the new cast of teenage characters helps maintain the series’ sense of uncertainty and discovery. Although I could’ve used just a tad more time with them, the teens each have memorable, fun personalities that play off of one another in a consistently engaging way. Emma Roberts provides one of the franchise’s zaniest, most memorable killer reveals. She has one of the more timely (yet also timeless) motivations in the franchise, one that builds on the legacy of previous Ghostfaces in many satisfying ways. It’s essentially the horrible progression of Mickey’s (Timothy Olyphant) plan in Scream 2 (1998) to become a famous killer like “Ted Bundy or OJ,” but now in the context of the internet age. Online, the only thing that matters is what people believe, and Jill plans to capitalize on it. There’s something uniquely scary about the characters’ psychotic obsession with gaining love and validation online–especially to a person like me, who’s, for the most part, sickened by social media as well as the general act of “chasing clout.” 

The fan-favorite addition to the franchise, however, is easily Hayden Panettiere as Kirby–a character who follows in the footsteps of Randy Meeks, except she’s much less of a dork. In fact, she consistently gives off the aura that she’s the coolest, most confident person in the room. It’s easy to buy Ghostface as a brutal, intimidating force when they’re able to successfully terrify characters we see as brave, typically unshakeable people. 

The film attempts to comment on Hollywood’s obsession with remaking classic horror franchises, but often plays into their tropes rather than subvert them. Thankfully, the commentary all feels secondary to more traditional genre thrills, which, besides one particularly generic stalk & slash sequence involving Alison Brie’s character, are as good as they’ve been since the original. Each kill has a memorable hook and avoids the all-too-common practice of drawing things out for the sake of “tension,” despite the fact that most of these characters are obvious cannon fodder from the get-go. 

One of the film’s more glaring issues (no pun intended) is Craven’s choice to give it an overly bright, glossy look meant to emulate the uncomfortably clean and inoffensive style of many lazy, studio-led horror remakes released throughout the 2000s. This desire to comment on/play into the slasher tropes popularized over the decade since the previous installment also leads Craven to up the ante on both humor and scares. Unfortunately, this feels a little too in-your-face and inflated, and less grounded than the silly and illogical third installment.

Overall, Scream 4 (2011) is one of the stronger entries in the franchise despite making a few key missteps. It’s a satisfying experience compared to Scream 3, and it once displays Wes Craven’s tendency to make films that are, above all else, a great time at the movie theater. It’s the kind of watch that never drags despite its familiarity, but also provides a satisfying blend of humor and horror. It’s not groundbreaking, but it’s better than most 4th installments in a given slasher franchise. It’s a somewhat divisive movie within the fandom, and I completely understand why. That being said, it will always hold a special place in my heart as the first rated-R movie I saw in a theater. 

My older brother and I snuck into the last showing of the night to find it completely empty. During the last trailer, two similarly aged guys walked in and, much to my dismay, decided to sit only one seat away from me. Then, once the film started, they began talking loudly. However, it quickly became clear that their comments were directed exclusively at the on-screen events, which soon won us over. In no time, we were all making comments, laughing, and enjoying every minute of it. It almost feels like Craven designed it to be this way—nostalgic about the days when the experience of watching a film was as communal as the act of discussing it afterwards. 

As the final effort from “The Master of Horror,” I think Scream 4 (2011) is an underrated film that showcases some of his best directorial talents. Its commentary on modern society’s hunger for attention and validation has aged like a fine wine, arguably being more relevant today than it was 15 years ago. If someone told me this was their favorite entry other than the original, I definitely wouldn’t argue with them. RIP, Wes; I’ve always enjoyed your films–even the imperfect ones. B