Scream 4 (2011)
TOMATOMETER
AUDIENCE SCORE
Critic Consensus: The franchise is showing its age, but Scream 4 is undeniably an improvement over its predecessor, with just enough meta humor and clever kills.
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Cast
as Sidney Prescott
as Gale Weathers-Riley
as Dewey Riley
as Jill Roberts
as Kirby Reed
as Charlie Walker
as Deputy Perkins
as Deputy Hoss
as Kate Roberts
as Deputy Judy Hicks
as Trevor Sheldon
as Olivia Morris
as Sherrie
as Chloe
as Rachel
as Sherrie
as Trudie
as Jenny Randall
as Marnie Cooper
as Robbie Mercer
as Ghostface
as Rebecca Walters
as Deputy Jenkins
as Casey
as Mr. Baker
as Dr. Orth
as Film Geek
as Film Geek
as Cocky Student
as TV Host
as Reporter #1
as Reporter #2
as Reporter #3
as Reporter #4
as Reporter #5
as Reporter #6
as Reporter #7
as The Voice
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Critic Reviews for Scream 4
All Critics (175) | Top Critics (38) | Fresh (103) | Rotten (72) | DVD (3)
"Scream 4" lacks the qualities that would make it a masterpiece, but it testifies to the cyclical nature of commercial storytelling in sharp, nearly timeless fashion.
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.
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
Scream 4 is a total hoot. Assuming you can find the humor in knife stabbings.
Compared with so many of the rebooted slasher flicks, Scream 4 remains a cut above. No, that is not an intended pun.
On its own terms, Scre4m is pretty good.
Audience Reviews for Scream 4
There was a great opportunity for the meta element here, considering the changes in horror movies along the past ten years, but this useless reboot is never original and basically redoes the same slasher of fifteen years ago. Besides, the only actor who is actually good is Hayden Panettiere.
Super Reviewer
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!"
Super Reviewer
If Kevin McCallister were in Scream franchise, the Ghostface killer was already in prison.
Super Reviewer
Scream 4 Quotes
| Charlie Walker: | What about Sidney? |
| Gale Weathers: | What about Sidney? |
| Robbie Mercer: | Hey, you know her, right? I am, you're friends with her? |
| Charlie Walker: | No offense, but that'd be a big deal for Cinema Club. A visit by Sidney Prescott, I mean, she's the star. |
| Gale Weathers: | Ooh... Yes, she's Daniel Radcliffe to my J.K. Rowling. |
| Charlie Walker: | What about Sidney? |
| Gale Weathers: | What about Sidney? |
| Robbie Mercer: | Hey, you know her, right? I am, you're friends with her? |
| Charlie Walker: | No offense, but that'd be a big deal for Cinema Club. A visit by Sidney Prescott, I mean she’s the star. |
| Gale Weathers: | Ooh… Yes, she's Daniel Radcliffe to my J.K. Rowling. |
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