Plot: What’s it about?
In the spring of 1997, a friend of mine told me that I should see the movie “Scream.” I was in college at the time and with little or nothing to do in Manhattan, Kansas I figured that it might be a good idea. “Scream” for those that don’t know (but should if you’re reading this review) was a parody of the cult teen/horror/slasher films of the 70’s and 80’s. As time has told, “Scream” went onto become a commercial and critical success and obviously inspired not only three sequels but a number of spin-offs as well; namely “I Know What You Did Last Summer.” It’s hard to believe that was fifteen years ago, but it was. So after seeing the movie “127 Hours” in the theater I glanced over and saw a movie poster for “Scream 4” or as they spell it “Scre4m.” Re-booting a franchise seems to be en vogue in Hollywood these days, so the question was simply if it would work. As of this writing the movie has taken in nearly $100 million dollars and, while impressive, it’s more than the original but far less than the sequel, “Scream 2.” Enough about that, let’s see what it’s all about.
Fifteen years have passed since Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) escaped the murders in Woodsboro and she’s now written a self-help book. It’s the last stop of her tour and, ironically enough, it’s in her old home town. Not a whole lot has changed. Dewey (David Arquette) is now sheriff and is married to Gale (Courtney Cox). But the “Scream” movies have always been about the teens so we meet Sidney’s cousin, Jill (Emma Roberts) and her web of friends. The local A/V club is having a “Stab” movie fest with “Stab” being the fictional movie inspired by the Woodsboro murders. As we might expect our old friend Ghostface (Dane Farwell) shows up and, well, starts killing off the members of the cast. So it’s once again up to Sidney, Dewey and Gale to try and find out who’s killing the innocents in Woodsboro and bring it to a halt. But it’s been fifteen years. They’re older and weaker. Can they do it?
The thing that’s always made the “Scream” movies work is their ability to make fun of themselves or at least the genre. While the first three movies made fun of the genre, I felt that “Scream 4” made fun of the previous three movies. Now that’s a novel concept and I felt it worked. If you look at it, the movie is essentially the same as the first one minus the originality. The same team that was behind the original is back for this one with Kevin Williamson’s screenplay being directed by none other than Wes Craven himself. And, truthfully, the living members of the first three movies are all back so as much as they were trying to re-create the original but it’s just hard to do. “Scream 4” is as much a part of the franchise as any other, but to me I kept wanting to put in the original while watching this one. This is passable, but it’s not a scream, baby!
Video: How does it look?
“Scream 4” comes to Blu-ray with the same very wide 2.40:1 AVC HD transfer that the first trio were equipped with. This is, by and large, a very strong transfer though it seemed to have a bit of grain with some of the scenes. I also noticed some sort of lens flare that I can only recall in older movies like “Die Hard.” It’s a hard thing to describe and I don’t think it was a fault of the transfer, though it was a bit distracting. Colors seemed bold and as you can imagine there’s plenty of red in this film. Flesh tones seem a bit on the saturated side, though detail is as we might expect – great. It’s a good transfer, but I was expecting just a bit better for a movie that’s new to the format.
Audio: How does it sound?
If the video was a bit lacking, it’s more than made up for by the DTS HD Master Audio soundtrack. Vocals are consistent and strong throughout the duration of the movie. Surrounds are quite active and the discrete effects (namely the knife being “unsheathed” though there’s never a sheath) sound simply marvelous. There are a number of ambient effects as well that occur in the rear channels like a dog barking and the like. All of this is done to throw you off and put you in the victim’s point of view and it works.
Supplements: What are the extras?
The movie comes to Blu-ray with a decent selection of extras, but nothing that really stands out as a “must watch.” We start out with a commentary by director Wes Craven who’s joined by actresses Emma Roberts and Hayden Panettiere who offer up a decent commentary. Neve Campbell joins by phone about midway through (is she really that busy?) and the foursome do a decent job of describing what’s on the screen. “The Making of ‘Scream 4′” is the obligatory making-of featurette that doesn’t really shed a lot of light on the film, namely just some behind the scenes footage. We get some outtakes, nearly thirty minutes of deleted scenes and a trailer for the mobile game. There’s also a second disc that contains a DVD of the film as well as a digital copy for your portable device(s).
