Movies
[Review] ‘Scream 4’ Stabs New Life Into Wes Craven’s Franchise
With Scream 4, director Wes Craven and screenwriter Kevin Williamson were triumphant in delivering a fresh, smart, twisted, and ultra-violent slasher sequel that will not only please fans of the original trilogy, but introduce an entirely new generation of kids to horror.
In the fourth film, franchise survivor Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), now the author of a self-help book, returns home to Woodsboro on the last stop of her book tour. There she reconnects with Sheriff Dewey (David Arquette) and Gale (Courtney Cox), who are now married, as well as her cousin Jill (Emma Roberts) and her Aunt Kate (Mary McDonnell). Unfortunately, Sidney’s appearance also brings about the return of Ghostface, putting Sidney, Gale, and Dewey, along with Jill, her friends, and the whole town of Woodsboro in danger.
It’s nearly impossible to talk further about the plot or any specific happenings without giving anything away, so, unfortunately, our debate and my personal explanations will have to wait until another day. On another note, I can talk about the structural elements of the flick. For example, Scream 4, much like its predecessors, spends the bulk of its time building red herrings. Who’s the killer you ask? Craven, with the help of Williamson (and rewrites by Ehren Kruger) does an intricate job of owning up to their declaration that “anybody can be the killer.” Each and every star could easily be the infamous Ghostface, until, of course, they are eliminated in a heavy dosage of blood. While this adds an engaging element to the story, it also slightly hinders the second act by causing some serious pacing issues. A necessary evil I say. And the eventual reveal? Let’s just say that the killer’s motives were hyper-socially relevant and led to some hilarious antics. The film has a chance to end with a vicious stab into the audience’s hearts and really stick the landing, but instead, they back peddle and offer up some unnecessary closure. It’s great nonetheless.
I also quite enjoyed how unapologetic the screenplay was. Craven and company could have easily cowered away from trite conventions created in the first Scream. Any other horror film that would even dare touch on elements from Scream would be crucified by the horror community, and myself. Upon reflection, if there’s one movie that’s allowed to be its own satire, it’s Scream 4. Basically what I’m saying is: Scream 4 is allowed to be a ‘90s teen slasher, and no, they don’t have to apologize for it because they invented it. This may be a turn off to some viewers (Ghostface haters), but for those of you who saw Scream in theaters multiple times, Scream 4 is a love letter that’ll pierce deep into your heart.
Speaking of piercing hearts, Craven made sure he continued to keep the franchise R-rated. Scream 4 just might be the bloodiest of them all. There are rooms covered in blood, intestines spilled out onto beds, knives being driven into people’s foreheads (this sequence is so crazy amazing, I can’t even begin to tell you), and much, much more. The film earns its stripes and the moniker of a “slasher” film.
Even though a few moments fell into Scary Movie territory, Scream 4 is a near-brilliant slasher sequel that stabs new life into the Ghostface mythology; it reinvents the subgenre and even finds a way to scream “f*ck remakes” louder than ever before. Maybe originality isn’t dead; maybe it takes a movie like this to oil the rusted cogs in the Hollywood wheel that’s stuck on rehashing old garbage? In 1996 Scream changed the direction of the genre, now, 11 years after concluding the trilogy, could Craven do it again?
Editor’s notes: made a few fresh edits on Nov. 12, 2018.
There’s been a lot of talk about how Christopher Nolan snuck in some horror elements into his epic adaptation of The Odyssey. However, even before the Cyclops began to eat Ithican soldiers and Circe subjected them to magical body-horror, cinemagoers were already witnessing supernatural terror through a certain trailer that was attached to most IMAX screenings of Nolan’s film.
It turns out that this trailer was for Rob Savage’s Other Mommy, an adaptation of Bird Box author Josh Malerman’s horror novel, Incidents Around the House. With the teaser now available online and revealing that the award-winning Jessica Chastain is playing the titular antagonist (as well as her ill-fated human counterpart), not to mention the fact that the picture is being helmed by the director of hits like Host and The Boogeyman, genre fans are understandably hyped for this upcoming thriller.
That’s why I’ve decided to take a closer look at the trailer and share four things we learned from this sneak peek at Other Mommy!
4. Rob Savage is Going Back to His Supernatural Horror Roots
I know I’m in the minority when I admit that Dashcam is my favorite Rob Savage movie, but even I understand why the filmmakers’ fans have been waiting a while for the director to get back to telling more grounded paranormal stories as he did with 2020’s Host.
Other Mommy obviously isn’t a found footage movie, but moments like the poltergeist activity on the kitchen table combined with the nature of the source material, which actually features a full-on exorcism, indicate that this adaptation is more than a simple creature feature. That’s why I think Savage is once again going to borrow from the same ghostly narratives that made his debut film such a viral hit.
3. Other Mommy is a More Convincing Doppelganger in the Adaptation
Part of the horror from Malerman’s original novel came from the fact that the entity taking on the form of Bela’s (Arabella Olivia Clark) mother wasn’t very good at passing itself off as human. This resulted in several uncanny moments where other characters began to notice that there was something visibly wrong with the family and decided to keep their distance.
Savage’s film appears to be taking a different route, with the trailer showing a version of the entity that can, at least physically, imitate Chastain’s character perfectly. This change is likely the result of the filmmakers wanting to incorporate more paranoid scenes where Bela and her father, played by Jay Duplass, are confused about which Mommy is safe to interact with.
2. The Family is Also Better Off This Time Around
Incidents Around the House featured some interesting subtext about how poverty can negatively affect American family dynamics. After all, the main characters were already feeling scared and isolated before the entity emerged from Bela’s closet and began scratching at their emotional wounds. The trailer for the movie, however, depicts the family as being relatively well off before these incidents begin to occur.
I can only imagine that this part of the story was changed so that the family’s fall from grace can be even more dramatic as the mom and dad’s pasts are revealed and Bela falls further into the clutches of the demonic antagonist.
1. Jessica Chastain is Embodying Evil Dead Rise’s Alyssa Sutherland
Mothers turning against their children is one of the most disturbing horror tropes out there (just check out classics like Hereditary and Carrie if you need proof), but it takes a remarkably skilled actress to pull off such a monstrous transformation. This is especially true when both a regular, loving mother and the Other share the screen in the same film.
That’s why I appreciate how Chastain appears to be channeling another evil redhead mother that recently traumatized audiences with her performance. It’s too early to be sure, but I’m fairly confident that Chastain’s character has at least some amount of Ellie in her cinematic DNA – Ellie being the iconic deadite brought to life by Australian actress Alyssa Sutherland in 2023’s Evil Dead Rise.
Let us know in the comments if you think we missed any important details from the trailer, and don’t forget to check out Other Mommy when it hits theaters on October 9!
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