The FAT Website est. 1999
Considering the original Scream single-handedly revived the horror genre in Hollywood fifteen years ago, its somewhat ironic and perhaps fitting that the franchise has now mimmicked the sequel fatigue of the cult classic films it took influence from.
Scream 4 is a really unremarkable horror film. There is nothing special about it. It’s predecessors and dozens of contemporary horror films have been more creative, more interesting and more pointed in delivering any form of social commentary. Given that the original film was a razor sharp satire of Eighties horror, its kind of depressing that this version is just a paint-by-the-numbers example of a lazy sequel.
The film appears to be made by people who have seen many horror films but don’t understand what made the best ones so good. It has a real workmanlike pace, with a death every ten minutes. It’s so predictable that it lacks any tension whatsoever. It’s most unforgivable crime is that its boring. It’s a looong two hours. Scream 3 was pretty bad and Scream 4 just kills the franchise dead. So I expect at least two more sequels, maybe straight to DVD ones, before anyone has the sense to leave this once great franchise alone.
