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From setting to characters to cheeky lingo that makes you giggle while you groan, “Scream 4” reworks what always worked best in this self-reflexive slasher franchise: The ground-laying, if not quite groundbreaking, elements of the first installment. Coinciding with the hometown leg of a book tour for star-survivor-turned-tell-all-author Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), the events unfold in good ol’ Woodsboro, Calif., where married series regulars Dewey Riley (David Arquette) and Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) have settled down amidst a new generation of cinephiles and scream queens.
Written and directed, respectively, by returning duo Kevin Williamson and Wes Craven, the satisfying fourquel calls attention to how well the Mayberry-esque locale lent itself to the spirit and suspense of the 15-year-old original, with its fast-traveling whispers, its cozy microcosm of suspects, its hearkening back to more iconic towns like Haddonfield, N.J., and its handsome, expansive homes, whose large windows and intriguing floor plans welcome curious cameras and bumps in the night.
More “screammake” than “shriekquel” (to quote a new resident geek), “Scream 4” also recasts volume one’s principals with fresh meat (including game dames like Hayden Panettiere and Emma Roberts), and it’s the first of the follow-ups to come close to the hipness and humor that initially slayed audiences. It’s instantly dated by technology overkill (live-feed webcasts, Ghostface voice apps), which hogs the creativity that should’ve gone into the death scenes (it’s all just fast and furious stabbings). But not since Billy Loomis and his lanky henchman diced up their peers have the homicidal motives been more convincing, or the whodunit process more rewarding.
Intended to kick off a new trilogy, “4” further repairs the film-within-a-film device that crippled “2” and gutted “3,” plausibly reintroducing it as a midnight-showing sensation a la “Rocky Horror,” of which the on-screen teen community proudly takes ownership.
Real-life Ghostface buffs can finally do the same with a “Scream” sequel. The latest is a bloody valentine to fans of the first — which is more than this fan hoped for.
Scream 4
R
Now playing in area theaters
Three reels out of four
Recommended Rental
The King’s Speech
R
Now available
While it certainly didn’t deserve to walk away with the Oscar for Best Picture, the pristine period drama “The King’s Speech” boasts a heroic lead performance from Colin Firth, who brings great sensitivity to the role of stuttering royal King George VI.
The latest in a lineage of films that serve to humanize heads of state, “Speech” makes up for its lack of risk with fine acting and technical prowess. SPR
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