Scream 4 (2011)

Scream 4 has the right ideas in place, attempting a pastiche of the horror remakes that were prominent in the late 00’s (Rob Zombie’s Halloween [2007] and Marcus Nispel’s Friday the 13th [2009] for example) as Sidney revisits her hometown of Woodsboro at the end of her book tour (yes, she’s now a self –help book author). Courteney Cox returns, now married to Dewey (David Arquette), and they’re all faced with a familiar scenario as yet another ghostface killer starts upping the body count with his knife. One high schooler wears a camera around his head for the entire film; it becomes clear that he broadcasts his entire life live online, so naturally I irrationally hated him, and later one of the prominent ladies in the film announces “I don’t need friends, I need fans!” so the viewer is left in no doubt as to which era we’re dealing with here. There are some nice touches from Craven and some clever ideas, but with more emphasis on a newer supporting cast, most of whom I disliked immensely, it was hard to care about anyone or anything in Scream 4, which is a shame. 5.1/10