The appeal of the Scream films (well, the first two – Scream 3 was an abject failure) is their diversity. Each is a slasher, a whodunit and a satirical take on the horror genre; even if they fail in one, they normally manage to be entertaining in another.
Scre4m fails as a slasher film – it’s rarely scary (and doesn’t seem to be trying to be) – and is only moderately successful as a whodunit.
As a satire it’s …inconsistent. The attempts to skewer modern horror fall flat, with a token reference to torture porn and the post-Scream meta-horror films, “rules” that don’t seem related to actual horror films (the gay person doesn’t die? Since when?) and a suggestion that they’ll reference handheld camera films (Rec, Cloverfield etc) that never eventuates.
It is successful when taking on the idea of horror remakes/reboots (particularly when satirizing Scream itself), however, and I wish this had been the focus of the film. The killer in this film has the most interesting agenda of any of the films, and I think making this film a dedicated reboot, focusing on Jill’s character from the get-go (requiring some clever writing, admittedly) would have made for a much better film.
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