Reviews

Fiveteen years ago, Wes Craven directed the film that changed slasher horror films all together, and it instantly became a classic. In 1997, we found out that sequels can actually work, and Scream 2 worked fantastically well. Unfortunately the threequal proved to be rather weak and ended the Scream series all together, or so we thought.

Having survived three films with barely any scratches. Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) returns to Woodsboro to promote her bestseller book only to find her hometown being terrorised again by the famous Ghostface.

When Scream 4 was announced, horror fans were probably jumping up and down in delight. The fourth film brings back its three main characters. Sidney (Neve Campbell) who we notice is a more tougher character than the previous films. Gale (Courtney Cox) who once again doesn't disappoint and delivers humorous one liners, even though she looks like she should cut down on the botox. Dewey (David Arquette) who we also see as more of a stronger character, but is still his likable self. But in this new generation also brings some new fresh faces (Emma Roberts, Hayden Panettiere) who instead of deciding what's hot and what's not, have to deal with numerous bloody murders.

The film's opening has a different take from the previous Scream's, although it doesn't come close to the perfection of the first film's opening. Fortunately, the opening makes itself stand out with plenty of humour and scares with celebrity cameos (Shanae Grimes, Lucy Hale, Anna Paquin, Kristen Bell, ???, ???).

The film has a good balance between the scares and the humour, but we see it falling into self parody, which was the main problem in Scream 3. Apart from a gruesome scene where two characters watch another get brutally savaged from an opposite window, and a suspenseful car parking lot scene, the film is rarely horrifying. Fans will also be pleased that the film has many references to the first film, a noticeable one involves Hayden Panettiere's horror loving character Kirby in a live or die movie quiz situation.

When comparing the film to other slasher horrors, Scream 4 does a good job showing them how its supposed to be done. But when comparing it to the previous Scream films, well, at least it was a huge improvement on the third installment.

What we can always count on with the Scream films is that they never disappoint in the twists, and we find one which highlights in the third act.

In conclusion, hardcore fans MAY find themselves disappointed, but the film is throughally enjoyable and keeps you entertained throughout with enough gory kills and humour.

This new Friday movie has those references to the early Friday films, which is a massive positive. Here's my number one thing I look for in any remake: It holds true to the original, but it brings new, insightful, and creative elements to the table.

That's exactly what this Friday the 13th did. It took elements from the originals and expanded on them. The opening credit sequence was A) some of the best editing I've seen in a film lately, and B) tension-filled. Very rarely in horror films am I in awe, first of all, and secondly, scared. For some reason, this opening scene had my heart beating. Could have been the loudness, the flashing, the black-and-white, I don't know, but it was something this film had to offer - i.e. respectable.

The scene following immediately was another scene where I could not believe my eyes. The dialogue was REAL. That is how people that age talk, that is how my friends and I talk, it was real. That was entertaining. That was comedy. This movie took us to a level where we are able to care about these characters, not because they're just going to bang and die, but because these people are just like the people we know. We would be shocked if this happened to our friends, obviously.

Jason, in this scene, is brutal. He burns a girl as she's in a sleeping bag hanging over a fire, he uses a bear-trap to trap a victim, rather than just stalk and kill, like he's Rambo. This is a NEW Jason. Get that, people. He's NEW. This is a revamp. This is believable. This is where the new Halloween failed, guys. Halloween expanded on that childhood and made us empathize even though the new Michael was a pyschopath. Jason, on the other hand, is a hunter. He is a killer. He is pyschotic and human, i.e. terrifying.

The rest of this movie offers laughs, tension, terror, blood, but not too much, and you know what? Now, that's refreshing. Too often do movies use gore and blood as a crutch. A movie like The Hills Have Eyes offered a lot of blood and gore, a lot of shocks and terror, but it was actually really good.

And I'm not someone who loves every remake, because I don't. I hated Halloween, and I hated Texas Chainsaw. Both failed in my mind because, well, I've stated Halloween's reason already, but TCM failed because it was just... too much of a remake. Not a lot was brought to the table, and strangely, it was slow. It's as if the writers and director (yes, I realize they're the same as Friday), wanted to do that kind of indie-film technique and slow it down, pace it, etc. But, Friday the 13th did that, and it was very well done. There are parts that are slow and attempt to calm us down as the audience, and there are parts that are relentless. That is needed. And because of that slowness and relentlessness at different times, this film IS reminiscent of the original series. It has that indie-quality, yet is Hollywood with a budget.

The only thing I would change, going with the Hollywood thing, is the ending. My perfect ending would have been to let Jason keep his head bouncing on the chipper. The two take a breather and watch him. Perhaps one last close up of Jason? The final two characters begin to walk as the guy puts his arm around his kid sister's shoulder. They limp out of the barn as the light leaves them in silhouette outside. Jason's head bounces still to the left of frame. We slowly fade to black.

I didn't hate the ending of this one. But I just love the fact of having a stand-alone movie. This ending has an open-ending, by the way, but no studio would use it because it doesn't have that punch. To me, that punch happened in the chain sequence. We needed that unwind throughout them leaving and the credits. Then reflect, and love it.