By Scott Martin

Scream 4, USA, 2011

Directed by Wes Craven

There are few things worth an eleven year wait, and I was on the fence about Scream 4, at least until the trailer came out. Ever since, I hopped off the fence and onto the bandwagon. I’ll admit that, while I’m a huge fan of the series, only the first Scream (1996) was worth anything until now. Scream 2 (1997) and 3 (2000), while loads of silly fun, are redundant and small compared to the original, which was a game changer for the horror scene at the time. Kevin Williamson’s screenplay is mostly to thank for that, as it dissected pretty much everything audiences then knew about modern horror movies, and again this year, Williamson took the genre back under the knife, grabbiing the clichés we see every weekend and turning them upside down. Make no mistake, this movie is pure formula; we’ve seen it already, hundreds of times. What makes it fun is Wes Craven’s approach to it. He’s still a master of suspense, after all.

It’s been a long time since Craven was the best horror director around; every director has their misfires. He won’t always direct movies like The Last House on the Left (1972) or Red Eye (2005), but it’s good to know that he still has it in him to pump out a solid thriller. Even lately, or at least since ’96, he’s displayed a genuine flair for comedy and being an actor’s director; maybe not in the strictest sense, but his actors are always having fun. Even in his lesser fare, like Cursed (2005), you can tell that the people involved are having a blast. What makes the Scream series so vividly entertaining, however, has always been the screenplays. Even when Kevin Williamson didn’t write Scream 3, his touch was all over it; he’s a smart writer with a flair for quick dialogue. Read More