Scream 4

I’m probably not the first to point out the obvious here, although I haven’t specifically seen anyone else do it: Scream 4 took on horror remakes in an effort to revive the franchise. It bombed, and failed to get a sequel, exactly like the remakes it was going after. In fact, in the climactic scene Kirby (Hayden Panettiere) recites the names of fifteen horror remakes, only three of which ever got a sequel (and one prequel). Of those three, none made it to a trilogy. I seriously wonder what Scream 5 would have done if it’s entire reference pool of “recent sequels to horror remakes” was Halloween 2, The Hills Have Eyes 2, and Piranha 3DD (and, I supposed, Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning).

The movie is, as of now, probably my second favorite of the series. While it’s true there was a troubled production, this very much feels like the logical path these characters would have taken as they grew over the years. Dewey (David Arquette) is now the sheriff of Woodsboro, Sidney (Neve Campbell) is on a book tour promoting her self-help autobiography about how she overcame the hoard of serial killers coming after her, and Gale (Courteney Cox) is now a would-be fiction author married to Dewey and confined by the small-town life and her writer’s block.

The status of this movie as a new start, and a take on horror remakes, makes the new characters far less distracting than in the previous films. While the original three are still safe (and Sidney’s love interest from the last movie seems to have been abducted by aliens or something), the new cast integrates themselves effectively. Even though Scream 5 was never made, it’s shadow is here, and it’s clear these characters weren’t written to be one-shots. That does create some real tension to see which of them will make it to the next movie, which are the killers, and which get the ax.

In this movie Ghostface seems to be going after not just Sidney, but her surviving family. This makes Sidney’s newly-introduced Aunt Kate (Mary McDonnell) and her daughter Jill (Emma Roberts) primary targets as well. Through a mixture of Jill’s social circle, and Gale’s attempts to investigate with the aid of the younger horror buffs, we get a few other High School characters, throwing us back to the original. In addition to aforementioned horror-buff Kirby, we get Film Club co-Presidents Robbie and Charlie (Erik Knudsen and Rory Culkin), and Jill’s ex-boyfriend Prime Suspect Trevor (Nico Tortorella).

My favorite character, however, is Deputy Judy Hicks (Marley Shelton), who seems to be something of a loose Dewey equivalent for the film, as the innocent and goofy law-enforcement officer, while also bringing a new dynamic to the film. As Dewey’s deputy it’s clear to everyone there’s sexual tension, even as his marriage to Gale weakens. However, rather than going the obvious route of asking if they’ll cheat, they both simply suffer in silence as both are far too moral to ever take part in anything so illicit.

Even presenting lemon squares to Dewey is done in public, as if to silently say “I am doing this in full view of the public, so my morality is not in question.” I make this sound like some kind of tragic star-crossed lovers plot, but in practice it’s outright hilarious. Even Gale seems annoyed at Judy’s uprightness, being unable to challenge her with anything more than “Your lemon squares taste like ass!”

To talk about the actual plot: a new Ghostface returns just as Sidney’s book tour takes her back home, and as an annual Woodsboro screening of all the Stab movies approaches. Killing two girls, the killer dumps the bodies in the trunk of Sidney’s car, keeping her in town as a “material witness,” staying with her now-targeted family.

This Ghostface distinguishes himself from earlier versions primarily through a more overt obsession with fame. He frequently suggests in his calls that Sidney has benefited from her victim status, while leaving Woodsboro and those living in it behind. In that way this Ghostface is probably more distinct than any of the previous versions, being more overt with his motive. Ironically, in attempting to be genre savvy, this Ghostface manages to be sloppier than any of the previous incarnations, trying to force movie tropes, and being less prepared to adapt.

The movie doesn’t lay out the rules of remakes or modern horror as clearly as the earlier films, and I get the impression that’s because horror had reached a point where it was no longer as easy to define. Scream Wiki lists seven rules for this movie, as opposed to three for all the previous films, but some of them are much vaguer. For example, “unexpected is the new cliché,” and “don’t fuck with the Original.” They also note that virgins “can” die now, and that to survive a modern slasher “you pretty much have to be gay.”

The only two rules that define this film clearly, and separately from the earlier movies are that the ending of the original movie will be a fake-out ending, and to keep the movies relevant the killer will be filming the murders with the latest technology. Both of these rules are played with in clever ways.

The killer does film the events throughout. It’s not really drawn attention to as much as you might expect, but it is there. It’s commented on, and we’re told that the intention is to upload it to the internet. Given the eventually details we learn of the plan I’m not sure how the killer was going to explain the footage being uploaded after killing the patsy, but that isn’t too distracting.

Since we all know there will be a fake-out, the movie pulls a double fake-out. At the half-way point of the film the killer attacks Gale at the annual “Stabathon,” in what pretty much everyone in the audience knows to be the attempted fake-out ending. It’s a party with young people drinking and watching horror movies, so it fulfills the technical requirements of a fake-out, without any real effort to fake anyone out. I see this as entirely intentional: the killer isn’t even trying at this point, and that lack of effort renders Ghostface off the rhythm of the movie, as he believes himself to be in the final act going forward.

In the set-up of the final act Kate is killed, and the new cast flee to Kirby’s house, where Trevor shows up claiming he was sent a text from Jill’s phone, and Charlie and Kirby begin to fall for each other. Fearing that Jill is next, the old cast minus the hospitalized Gale, rushes to Kirby’s to protect her. Ghostface, of course, shows up, kills Robbie, and kidnaps Charlie, forcing Kirby into the trailer scene where she has to answer horror film questions in imitation of the opening of the original. Thinking she won, however, Kirby approaches Charlie, who immediately stab her (her survival is a point of contention among fans, the scene showing she lived was either never filmed or cut, I’m not sure which), revealing himself as the first killer.

The second killer, as we find out with Sidney’s capture, is Jill. As it turns out, our new target had the goal of assuming Sidney’s identity within the new “remake” as the soul survivor, and had manipulated Charlie by recognizing him as a misogynist pig who she could control with faked sexual interest. Trevor is now captured, serving the duel roles of Sidney’s father and evil boyfriend Billy Loomis, as Jill takes him hostage in the role of one to frame as the other. Only unlike Billy, Jill is smart enough to off Trevor immediately after the reveal.

Needing a second killer, she also kills Charlie who expected her to stab his shoulder so he could be “left for dead,” stabs Sidney, then seriously wounds herself in a scene that demonstrates both her obsession and her utter detachment. Her rants about modern culture and the affects the internet create an interesting character, although they do sound somewhat like an older person ranting about “kids these days.” While her motivation seems a bit weak as reality television finally seems to be fading from the public landscape, the idea of a stupid teenager yelling “I don’t need friends I need fans” works as a character, if not a message.

Also, while kind of obvious, I do like the idea that Charlie’s implied ultimate punishment was to die as a virgin, having killed the girl who would have happily solved that problem. I’m pretty sure we’re supposed to interpret him as a moron, thinking that the girl who killed her friends and family for fame would show loyalty to him. It’s kind of the ultimate karma for a young person who lets his sexual frustration boil over into misogyny.

Trying to think back to the first time I saw this movie, I think I knew a second fake-out was coming. If nothing else, I was pretty sure they weren’t going to kill Sidney and let the killer win (although a series of sequels about Jill with actual killers after her, as she hides what really happened, does seem like a brave direction). So, the final confrontation happens in the hospital, when Jill finds out that Sidney might pull through. Before going to finish her off, Jill makes a slip-up referencing Gale’s wound, which she couldn’t have known about unless he was the attacker, and Gale, Judy, and Dewey descend on the room to protect Sidney. After a skirmish, Jill is electrocuted, then shot, and we cut to a reporter calling Jill a “real survivor” and “right out of the movies.” Irony! Roll credits.

This movie is, in many ways, much closer to the first than either of the other sequels. It mixes real horror and humor in the same scene. Jill is easily the second best Ghostface, but the #1 slot is a pretty high hill to climb. Where Jill came across simply as shallow an unfeeling, there was a real sense that Billy Loomis was a person with a truly deep-seated evil that had merely expressed itself through the avenue of recreating a horror movie. In all probability Billy Loomis would have been a killer no matter what. I imagine that if the two had ever met Jill would have tried to take a selfie, and Billy would stab her while she was doing it.

The movie hasn’t aged perfectly, as web culture is probably less vapid than it was at the time of release. The Jersey Shore is long gone, replaced by Matpat producing thoughtful commentary on supposedly “shallow” entertainment. That said, reading Jill as simply a sociopath, the movie still works.