Opening

87% Star Trek Into Darkness May 16
24% Erased May 17
91% Frances Ha May 17
44% The English Teacher May 17
42% Black Rock May 17
77% Pieta May 17
—— Populaire May 17
21% 33 Postcards May 17

Top Box Office

78% Iron Man 3 $72.5M
50% The Great Gatsby $50.1M
47% Pain & Gain $5.0M
37% Peeples $4.6M
77% 42 $4.6M
56% Oblivion $4.1M
69% The Croods $3.6M
98% Mud $2.5M
8% The Big Wedding $2.5M
60% Oz the Great and Powerful $1.1M

Coming Soon

—— The Hangover Part III May 23
77% Fast & Furious 6 May 24
—— Epic May 24
94% Before Midnight May 24

Scream 4 (2011)

tomatometer

58

Average Rating: 5.8/10
Reviews Counted: 172
Fresh: 100 | Rotten: 72

The franchise is showing its age, but Scream 4 is undeniably an improvement over its predecessor, with just enough meta humor and clever kills.

57

Average Rating: 5.9/10
Critic Reviews: 35
Fresh: 20 | Rotten: 15

The franchise is showing its age, but Scream 4 is undeniably an improvement over its predecessor, with just enough meta humor and clever kills.

audience

55

liked it
Average Rating: 3.3/5
User Ratings: 72,583

My Rating

Movie Info

In Scream 4, Sidney Prescott, 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 and Gale, who are now married, as well as her cousin Jill (played by 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. -- (C) Dimension

R,

Mystery & Suspense, Horror

Kevin Williamson

Oct 4, 2011

$38.2M

The Weinstein Company/Dimension - Official Site External Icon

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Cast

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All Critics (172) | Top Critics (35) | Fresh (101) | Rotten (73) | DVD (8)

Scream's brand of horror, which lampooned the slasher genre while simultaneously embracing it, was fun and breezy in 1996. In 2011, it's about as fresh as the whiff of something stale and rank from a crypt.

April 17, 2011 Full Review Source: ReelViews | Comments (4)
ReelViews
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Craven guides us expertly down a series of blind, bloody alleys, a journey that's more pleasurable than frustrating. On account of his steady hand, the last act is as good as could be expected: skillfully conceived and entertaining in its preposterousness.

April 15, 2011 Full Review Source: Slate | Comments (7)
Slate
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Scream 4 is a total hoot. Assuming you can find the humor in knife stabbings.

April 15, 2011 Full Review Source: Detroit News
Detroit News
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Compared with so many of the rebooted slasher flicks, Scream 4 remains a cut above. No, that is not an intended pun.

April 15, 2011 Full Review Source: Denver Post | Comment (1)
Denver Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

On its own terms, Scre4m is pretty good.

April 15, 2011 Full Review Source: TIME Magazine | Comments (23)
TIME Magazine
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A perfectly acceptable Friday night, Scream 4 delivers plenty of scares without consequences, murder without depth, and a flood of legacy laughs.

April 15, 2011 Full Review Source: Film.com
Film.com
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Weak plot, half-assed performances and lacking any originality make this a lame and uninspired film.

April 21, 2013 Full Review Source: We Got This Covered
We Got This Covered

Fails at chills, stumbles as satire. Tired. Played out.

January 15, 2013 Full Review Source: McClatchy-Tribune News Service
McClatchy-Tribune News Service

Everybody is still a suspect and everybody is still a victim, but narrowing down our Ghostface has become easier than ever.

October 2, 2012 Full Review Source: Gordon and the Whale
Gordon and the Whale

Returning horror fans should enjoy Scream 4. The series remains smartly unapologetic in toying with meta-references and horror-film expectations.

October 2, 2012 Full Review Source: ScreenRant
ScreenRant

Brutal? Funny? Clever? You get the feeling that maybe, just maybe, Randy would have approved after all.

September 28, 2012 Full Review Source: TheShiznit.co.uk
TheShiznit.co.uk

"Scream 4" continues to show that the series has passed its prime.

September 20, 2012 Full Review Source: Examiner.com | Comment (1)
Examiner.com

As a commentary on the ongoing (d)evolution of horror cinema and infotainment culture since the last film, it's sharp, perceptive, and funny.

January 30, 2012 Full Review Source: TheMovieReport.com
TheMovieReport.com

If you only watch Scream 4 once, it might prove satisfying. But the film fails to hold any value beyond its first screening, largely thanks to a sloppy script that feels like a rough draft.

January 29, 2012 Full Review Source: IGN DVD
IGN DVD

... Basically back to the same old, same old. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing in this age of endless "Saw" sequels.

November 5, 2011 Full Review Source: Star-Democrat (Easton, MD)
Star-Democrat (Easton, MD)

The characters grapple with the 'rules of horror' films, but the number one rule that I am sure everyone involved with 'Scream 4' knew but refused to say: The fourth installment always and forever sucks.

October 20, 2011 Full Review Source: BET.com
BET.com

Scream 4 bucks the horror trend by retaining a level of quality rarely seen this many sequels in to a series.

October 11, 2011 Full Review Source: The Standard

It's hardly up to Wes Craven's usual flair level, but it could have been My Soul to Take 2.

October 11, 2011 Full Review Source: Horror.com
Horror.com

even more self-regardingly postmodern than the earlier films, although Williamson is smart enough to include a gripping whodunnit frame to prevent viewers from becoming totally lost in his hall of mirrors.

August 22, 2011 Full Review Source: Eye for Film
Eye for Film

It's great fun.

July 14, 2011 Full Review Source: Digital Spy
Digital Spy

Why do teenage boys like to watch pretty girls get eviscerated and why do the would-be victims get off on watching their proxies get butchered?

June 28, 2011 Full Review Source: The Ooh Tray | Comments (2)
The Ooh Tray

Made more for fans of the original than for new audiences, this installment has plenty of fun and horror goodness to please them while possibly picking up a handful of new converts.

June 9, 2011 Full Review Source: Cinema Sight
Cinema Sight

The Scream movies are generally thought of as horror-comedies, but one of the things that makes them such fun is the fact that they're also mysteries.

May 27, 2011 Full Review Source: Movies.com | Comments (2)
Movies.com

Like its predecessors, it's the horror movie for people who don't want to be on the edge of their seats throughout the whole film.

May 24, 2011 Full Review Source: Gazette (MD)

Audience Reviews for Scream 4

A lot has changed since the original 1996 "Scream," and this fourth installment in the franchise is apt to point every one of those changes out time and again. Original director Wes Craven and original screenwriter Kevin Williamson come back for more, and do so with the willingness of an entirely new cast and the old one, an unprecedented feat seeing as how the last film was made eleven years prior. The original film celebrated the diverse inclinations of the horror genre, while also poking fun at it thanks to veteran director Craven helming the vehicle. What was great about the original was that it knew what it was (Meta) and nearly broke the fourth wall time and again by addressing itself over and over. More than its cheekiness though was that "Scream" simply was an amazing horror movie: it utilized new technologies for ingenious kills, had two manic and yet unsuspecting killers, and had thoughtfully written and entertaining characters. This sequel does willingly give itself make to Meta, and with gusto, bringing in an entirely new cast to replace the archetypes of the original and jumpstarting the original's breadth of knowledge on horror films. The horror film obsessed generation that we're introduced to in this version though are not enjoyably familiar, only agitating and crass. The original cast, in conjunction, only mirrors some of their more prominent characteristics, including Gale's tenacity, Dewey's slovenly ineptitude, and Sidney's propensity for being a victim. The film does not reboot itself, does not do much that's new in the way of kills, and doesn't distract from two killers, only makes us wait until they're eventually unmasked. I will say that the ending, with its distractions and climactic turns, was unprecedented and did something many reboots are too cowardly to do. That's what's great about the "Scream" franchise, and after the bitter taste of the third, this is a great retelling of an age old story. Though I don't think it's an unnecessary sequel, I do agree with a quote from the last moments of the film: "You forgot the first rule of remakes. Don't fuck with the original!"
October 10, 2010
FrizzDrop

Super Reviewer

If Kevin McCallister were in Scream franchise, the Ghostface killer was already in prison.
June 20, 2012
Lucas Martins

Super Reviewer

    1. Gale Weathers: So, you two are the boys that run the movie club at Woodsboro High, huh?
    2. Robbie Mercer: Oh, Charlie, rents it. I'm just VP, in case he takes a bullet.
    3. Charlie Walker: It's called Cinema Club.
    4. Gale Weathers: So you must have a very unique insight into the movie buffs at your school?
    5. Charlie Walker: Maybe.
    – Submitted by Rawballs B (23 days ago)
    1. Gale Weathers-Riley: Excuse me, are you recording with that thing?
    2. Charlie Walker: My video blog upload. He's webcasting right now.
    3. Gale Weathers-Riley: Mind turning it off? A little old school off the record?
    4. Robbie Mercer: Can't owe it to my audience.
    5. Gale Weathers-Riley: Turn that fucking thing off.
    – Submitted by Rawballs B (33 days ago)
    1. Rachel: Fucking kidding me.
    2. Chloe: What?
    3. Rachel: That was so fucking stupid. Pure horse shit. A death of horror right in front of us!
    4. Chloe: I jumped. It scared me.
    5. Rachel: A fucking Facebook killer? You're kidding me right?
    6. Chloe: I guess now it would be Twitter. That'd make more sense.
    – Submitted by Rawballs B (55 days ago)
    1. Jill Roberts: Is this how it's going to be, Sid? The ending of the movie was suppose to be at the house. This is just [clinching teeth] silly.
    2. Sidney Prescott: Consider this an alternate ending.
    – Submitted by Marco M (4 months ago)
    1. Trevor Sheldon: Did you guys see Jill coming inside?
    2. Kirby Reed: Yes, Trevor she is upstairs. Thank God you are here to protect her when you can't even find her.
    – Submitted by Marco M (4 months ago)
    1. Deputy Hoss: Cops guarding the house, they always get it. It's a movie cop rule. It sucks to be a cop in a movie unless you're Bruce Willis.
    2. Deputy Perkins: Not all cops die in movies.
    3. Deputy Hoss: No, but if it's your last day before retirement, you do. Or if you're a rookie and just found out your wife is pregnant, you do. Or if your partner is better looking than you, you do.
    4. Deputy Perkins: I win that one. Tell ya what, I'm gonna take the next perimeter, I'll be right back. [holds still] Shit. I know this one. You're not suppose to say that, are you?
    – Submitted by Marco M (4 months ago)

Discussion Forum

Topic Last Post Replies
What does meta mean? 2 months ago 0

Latest News on Scream 4

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