Ghostface: Time for your last question: name the remake of the groundbreaking…

Kirby Reed: Halloween, Texas Chainsaw, Dawn of the Dead, The Hills Have Eyes, Amityville Horror, Black Christmas, House of Wax, Prom Night, My Bloody Valentine! It’s one of those, right?

Ghostface: None of the above!

Director: Wes Craven

Writer: Kevin Williamson

Starring: Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, David Arquette, Emma Roberts, Hayden Panettiere

As the Scream trilogy ended in 2000 we have gotten the successful parody from the Wayan’s Brothers – Scary Movie (as well as four sequels) and the horror genre had evolved from the 90s to less original ideas and more remakes, reboots and sequels. By 2010 the most popular horror movies were the Saw films, Halloween reboot and Final Destination sequels. The cleverness of the original Scream trilogy was a hard task to top in 2011. The film had to address the new wave of horror while sticking to its slasher roots. The opening comes straight out of a parody Scary Movie with multiple twists which involve scenes from the films based on the film within a film, Stab V, Stab VI, etc. They feature the hottest television actresses of the 2010’s including Lucy Hale from televisions Pretty Little Liars, Shenae Grimes-Beech from televisions 90210 (reboot), Anna Paquin from televisions True Blood and Kristin Bell from televisions Veronica Mars all hits of the late 2000s. The opening isn’t scary though as the comedy Scary Movie had dulled our horror taste. Watching multiple girls get stabbed wasn’t as scary to watch as it was in the 90s. Also the staging and editing weren’t as strong as the previous entries.

Thankfully as we move past the opening and are re-introduced to the core three, Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), Gale Weathers-Riley (Courtney Cox) and Dewey Riley (David Arquette) things improve. Courtney Cox and David Arquette are clearly enjoying being back in the franchise and Neve Campbell brings more of her mopey schtick as she did in the original trilogy. The new set of characters are a real treat with a great supporting cast from the early 2010’s including Hayden Panettiere, Marley Shelton, Alison Brie, Anthony Anderson, Adam Brody, Rory Culkin and Emma Roberts. 

These new characters much like the original are all aware of horror conventions, meta language and are all possible suspects to be the new killer. This film could have been a great reboot or legasequel like Star Wars and Creed with new characters taking over however they decide to stick with the original cast and murder most of the new cast which is a shame because most of them really popped especially Hayden Panettiere. They could have developed a cool new trilogy which could have carried the franchise through the 2010s. However the film wasn’t very popular and the franchise had died until ten years later.

The film overall isn’t as scary as the original and even though it’s definitely more gruesome than the originals we aren’t as invested in the deaths as by the end we know the original characters will get through it. I think a more daring approach would’ve been to have Sidney or Gale as the killer or at least get murdered.

By the end it becomes overly convoluted and the ending drags on way too long. Some good ideas but definitely the weakest in the series.

Rating: C-