SCRE4M

I can't even begin to describe how much I wanted to see this movie.  However, long ago, when they started letting word slip that there was another sequel in the works I was immediately scared that they would not try hard enough to make the perfect sequel and everything would be disappointing. I write here today to tell you that director Wes Craven (Scream Trilogy. A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Hills Have Eyes, Swamp Thing, People Under The Stairs, Vampire in Brooklyn and Red Eye - This guy is good) and writer Kevin Williamson (Scream & Scream 2, The Faculty, I Know What You Did Last Summer - also pretty good at what he does) have done it again. They have built a perfect sequel that fits like a puzzle piece into the Scream world and brings everything together for another bloody, fright-filled stab-a-thon.

Sydney Prescott has returned to Woodsboro for the last stop on her self-help book tour. It has been 10 years since the last round of butchering in poor Sydney's life and this last stop falls on the anniversary of the original massacre here in the hometown. The Ghostface killings are hailed as local legend in the small town of Woodsboro and Sydney is a star in most of the locals eyes. Within the confines of the Scream universe, the story of Sydney's tragedy has been made into a series of films simply called 'Stab'. The high school cinema club is hosting a Stab-a-Thon that evening and showing all the Stab movies back to back with lots of teenager cliches and drinking. There is a rather large problem though, someone is brutally murdering people in the same fashion as the first 'Stab' movie. And of course, at the end of 'Stab', at the big party, almost everyone dies.

Filled with homages to the original Scream trilogy as well as updating the rules of the horror movie, Scream 4 is excellent in execution and brilliantly unfolds into quite possibly the best addition to the series since the original. I couldn't even try to compare this to any of the other slasher films that have been made (or remade as the film pokes fun at) in the last 10 years. Scream 4 blows every other contender out of the water. The only thing that even seemed slightly strange was the killers motivation. But I won't elaborate on that because I have too much respect for the twists and turns this movie takes you on. I loved it. A lot.

Series stars Neve Campbell, David Arquette and Courtney Cox return for this next chapter of the horror comedy. Joining them are a new set of teenage targets and suspects including Emma Roberts, Hayden Panettiere, Marielle Jaffe, Erik Knudsen, Rory Culkin, and Nico Tortorella with other new additions such as Anthony Anderson, Adam Brody, Marley Shelton, Alison Brie, Kristen Bell and Anna Paquin.

With a cast that big you are guaranteed a massively larger body count and more interesting character development and situations. I am not going to give anything away about this movie because I think films like this one are the reason you go to the movies.

One more thing. See if you can figure out who the killer is. I dare you. And don't tell me you did guess it, because you're either lying or you took a stab in the dark (pun intended) and happened to be right. But you're not. You just guessed. Punk.

I give Scre4m 9 stabs out of 10.

"What's your favorite scary movie?"