Can you believe that the first installment of Scream was 15 years ago? Yup, Scream (part I) was released in 1996. Wow, I was still in high school back then. Look how far we've come. Anyways, I was at the cinema yesterday with a bunch of Nuffnangers catching the Premiere Screening of Scream 4, which is due in Malaysian cinemas on April 15th.
To me, sequels are never as exciting or as surprising as the first movie. There's always something that takes the "awesomeness" away. Be it the character or the plot or the location or the camera angle, there's always that lack of something, in the exception of a few very good movies with sequels such as Lord Of The Rings or Star Wars. Movies with sequels like Die Hard, Harry Potter and even Pirates Of The Caribbean seemed to have something wrong or not enough or too much in the installments. I wonder why...
It is obvious that I wasn't into this movie. Even though the gang - Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox) and Sheriff Dewey (David Arquette) - are back, the reason for the horror to return to Woodsboro was so calculated. I knew from the 1/3 of the movie that the perpetrator has got to be Sidney's family member. And since the last two Scream installments were completely plotless, I was immediately turned off from the beginning of this movie because it reminded me more of Scary Movie instead. I mean, Scream and it's sequels are supposed to be a serious movie, so why are they looking so much like it's parody?
The only positive thing I can say is that Courtney Cox don't look a day above 40. Other than that, I am not impressed. Oh, and there are times when the dialogues are exactly what they are - dialogues. If a maniac starts slashing a bunch of people in a small town, are the cops going to just make stupid jokes with each other in the middle of the night and risk being killed? And at times when you know there's a psycho stabbing people to death, will you walk in a quiet car park all by yourself as if you're invincible? Oh gosh, I feel like slapping all those dead victims, shake them and scream, "why are you such a moron and let yourself be killed so easily?" Really, do people react this way to murderers?
Yeah, I've watched too much Criminal Minds to buy this movie's stupid dialogues and plots.
I suppose I can check the "startled" box though. There are some parts that made us jerk in our seats thanks to the sudden loud sound and element of surprise. But I guess that wasn't enough for me. After the awesome Scream (part I), I wanted more than this from the creator of The Hills Have Eyes and Nightmare On Elm Street. I'm sorry Wes Craven, this one is BAD.
For what it's worth, if you're a fan of Scream, you can just go to the cinema and celebrate the 15th year of this movie franchise. To the Malaysian movie-goers, be prepared for some serious editing and censorship. For now, I'd let you enjoy some still photos instead.
Movie Rating : 5/10
