BEFORE: Saw this one coming, did you? That reminds me, I should consider the "Saw" films for some future October chain - next year's already booked up, though, so I'm going to keep my eyes open over the next 12 months to see what other horror films come my way, either on cable or streaming, so I can try to put a chain together for 2023 - more on that later.
Courteney Cox and David Arquette carry over again from "Scream 3"
THE PLOT: Ten years have passed and Sidney Prescott, who has put herself back together thanks in part to her writing, is visited again by the Ghostface Killer.
AFTER: Well, I think this series clearly demonstrated the Law of Diminishing Returns - did there NEED to be a third sequel? No, there did not, especially if each new one tended to be a little worse than the last one, not when they had nothing to add to the story of Sidney's mother, which seemed to be the thing motivating all the murders decades later. There's barely a mention here of Sidney's mother OR father, so then how can you say these new murders are even connected?
Oh, right, we're back in Woodsboro, when Sidney, now an author herself of a self-help book, comes back to town to do a book signing, and basically show up Gale Weathers, who hasn't written a hit novel in years. But the "Stab" franchise is still going strong (how can there be SEVEN "Stab" movies when there haven't even been FOUR "Scream" movies?) so I guess Gale is still seeing a piece of that action, as the writer of the original novel. Gale and Dewey are having difficulties in their marriage, which of course predicted the real-life break-up between Cox and Arquette. And every year around this time, the high-school kids in Woodsboro put Ghostface costumes on all the town lampposts and also host a secret underground "Stab-a-Thon" screening of the infamous movies-within-the-movies.
This would be a terrible time for a new person to adopt the Ghostface mantle and start killing again - but really, is there ever really a GOOD time for that? Sidney comes back to town, people start getting killed, it's almost like she's causing the killings to happen. (You don't suppose...nah!). Once again, it's probably someone who hates Sidney and wants to get back at her by killing her family and friends - you'd think she'd be used that that by now.
There was an 11 year gap between "Scream 3" and "Scream 4", which might be good in a way because a whole new crop of teen-ish stars became available, but also might be bad in another way because it looks like such a blatant cash-grab, an attempt to resurrect the franchise, but without staying true to the spirit of the original. And this is NOT a good sign for "Scream 5" (or whatever they'll call it) which is due out next year.
I forgot to mention that "Scream 4" starts with a series of fake-out beginnings, which apparently are part of the films-within-the-film "Stab 6" and "Stab 7", so it's honestly a while here before the REAL story starts, and that all feels like another cheap ploy. Plus, one of them puts forward the notion that it's OK to stab your friend in the gut if she talks too much during a movie, and that's really not a good notion to put out there for the susceptible youths.
The whole endeavor's not really sending a great message out to the kids, I get that - it always seems to be that someone's under the impression that if they're the last person alive in their social circle, that they've somehow "won" something, but have they? Sure, they get a few years of everybody feeling sorry for them because all their friends are dead, but wouldn't they rather have living friends? Why design your movie to make murder look trendy? Besides, teens are already doing enough damage to themselves with drugs, alcohol, skateboarding and taking the TidePod challenge, you don't have to hurry them along with a knife in their back.
At the point this was made (unlike the first "Scream" film), telephone and voice-changing technology had progressed to the point where the killer could literally be anybody, calling from anywhere, still sounding like the infamous killer from the first film. Still, it's odd that the voice-changers all seem to have that as the default setting. But when the revelation comes this time about who's behind it all, I'm not sure that I found it all that satisfying, it sure didn't explain as much as that same knowledge did in the previous films.
Now, my dilemma for tomorrow is whether to continue with the chain as planned, or make an alteration. Tomorrow's originally planned film is optional, in that if I drop it from the chain, "Scream 4" also links to the next film in line, and the chain would close up around it. This, however, would cause me to be one film short for the remainder of 2021. I could drop tomorrow's film and re-add the last film I dropped, or I could make room for something else, like "Dune" - I've got two Oscar Isaac films planned for right after Thanksgiving, and I COULD slip "Dune" in between them. But, on the other hand, I'll have plenty of opportunities to watch "Dune" next year, and I'm not sure if I'll get another chance to watch tomorrow's planned film. I've got a feeling that it could help with my linking, not next year but maybe in 2023 - ah, but that's a lame excuse, I should just watch it and dealing with future linking in the future. Better to cross off a classic film, as that's the reason I'm doing this blog in the first place. So that settles it - or DOES it?
Also starring Neve Campbell (also carrying over from "Scream 3"), Emma Roberts (last seen in "Little Italy"), Hayden Panettiere (last heard in "Dinosaur"), Anthony Anderson (last heard in "Ferdinand"), Adam Brody (last seen in "The Last Blockbuster"), Rory Culkin (last seen in "The Chumscrubber"), Mary McDonnell (last seen in "Blue Chips"), Marley Shelton (last seen in "Just a Kiss"), Alison Brie (last seen in "Save the Date"), Marielle Jaffe, Nico Tortorella, Erik Knudsen (last seen in "The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio"), Anna Paquin (last seen in "The Irishman"), Kristen Bell (last seen in "Like Father"), Lucy Hale (last seen in "Fantasy Island"), Shenae Grimes, Britt Robertson (last seen in "The Space Between Us"), Aimee Teegarden, Dane Farwell (last seen in "The Onion Movie"), Gordon Michaels (last seen in "This Must Be the Place"), John Lepard, Mark Aaron Buerkle with another cameo from Nancy O'Dell (also carrying over from "Scream 3"), archive footage of Simon Pegg (last seen in "The Reckoning"), Nick Frost (last seen in "Fighting with My Family") and Heather Graham (last seen in "Scream 2"), and the voice of Roger L. Jackson (also carrying over from "Scream 3")
RATING: 3 out of 10 lemon squares
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