‘Scream’ – Ranking the Entries of the Killer Franchise
4 – Scream 4
If there’s a franchise that can take a stab at reboots it’s this one and Scream 4 proves it. While other classic horror movies are being rebooted and failing to do so (see Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street), Scream understands the assignment. It brings the original cast back while introducing new characters who come across as the new trio. The kills of the movie connect to the original with a modern-day twist.
It also updates the rules of horror with everything that’s changed within the decade. This time the kills are uploading to the internet so the killers can gain notoriety. However, there’s more to it. The killers turn out to be Jill Roberts and Charlie Walker. Emma Roberts plays Jill – the cousin of scream queen Sidney Prescott. She hates the fame Sidney has and wants it for herself.
The third act is different to the usual Scream movies. Jill succeeds when she’s revealed and kills her accomplice to pin everything on him. She ends up in the hospital after injuring herself where Sidney’s also recovering. Until then, Jill thinks Sidney’s dead so she tries to finish the job. That’s when Dewey and Gale come for the save.
Moreover, Sidney’s doing a book tour for her biography about the Ghost Face killings. This puts her in a different place than before. She’s a survivor who takes control of her narrative whereas in the previous movies she’s hidden from the limelight. This is the grown-up Sidney who refuses to let her trauma beat her.
Scream 4 is only the second-lowest movie because I enjoy the others more, not because it’s a bad movie. If it wasn’t for this movie, Hayden Paniterre wouldn’t be in the franchise. Thankfully, the next installment is bringing her back. Let’s just hope they don’t kill her off.
