Scream IV is the continuation of the Scream franchise and is the closing movie in the second Scream Trilogy.
This was by far one of my most anticipated movies of the year, maybe even my most anticipated of the year, and I walked out of that theater more mixed than I would have liked.
Now, it's a good movie, it works as a sequel to Scream (2022) and a sequel to Scream 2,3, and 4. It acknowledges them in a neat way, but I do wish they had brought a little more meaning to the story. Still glad they got their mentions though.
Where this movie fails spectacularly is it's ending, which I'll get into more in a minute, but I feel the most important part of any movie is its ending. It's what you are left with at the end of going on a journey with characters you cherish, a story that doesn't stop surprising you with new and fun ideas, and even cool set pieces that WOW you with how much time and effort are put into them. Not a lot of that matters though if your ending is garbage.
It's easily the worst ending of this series. If you thought the Mrs. Loomis twist from Scream 2 was bad, oh boy are you gonna hate this.
That's really all I can say without diving into spoilers though. If you are a fan of the franchise or horror movies in general, I recommend you check this one out and gather your own thoughts on it.
Now onto the juicy spoiler bits, we'll start by taking a look at the characters, starting with our returning faces.
Let's start with Sam. Now, I hated Sam in Scream (2022). I though Melissa Barrera turned in a terrible performance and her character was as flat as a piece of paper. However, they significantly improved her here. She has somewhat of a personality in this one that was fun and had a spooky side to her that scared me. Ultimately, they didn't do much I liked with her spooky side in the end, but she was a much more tolerable character here.
Tara, was another character I didn't find all that interesting in this film, but she is also given much more to work with in this one. She has a really sweet relationship with Chad and gets some badass moments. They don't do as much with the dilemma she has with her sister as I would have liked, but it was enough for me in the end.
Speaking of Chad, he is the highlight of this movie. I already really liked him in Scream (2022) but they did him even better here. Putting him in a very sweet relationship with Tara was not something I expected, and I ended up really liking the choice there. He's just as witty, awesome, and caring as he was in Scream (2022) and my favorite part of the movie.
Then Chad's sister, Mindy, is also given some nice moments here and there, but does feel a bit sidelined for most of the movie. However, she once again has a great moment explaining the rules of the movie, which is a staple of the series.
As for the legacy characters, we'll start with Kirby, as I have more positive things to say about her.
I really loved that Hayden Panettiere wanted to come back for this movie and for more of a prominent role than I thought she would have had. She was my favorite new addition in Scream 4 and it's really nice to have her back in this franchise. However, she doesn't really feel like the Kirby we knew from Scream 4 and there are big parts of her life we've missed. The movie just expects us to already know about it. Hopefully, they'll likely lean into that more with Scream 7, which I'm sure will happen seeing how this movie is making crazy good money at the box office.
Anyway, our biggest legacy character, Gale... did pretty much nothing but piss me off. I thought they set up a nice ending for Gale in Scream (2022) and allowed her a great opportunity to grow more as a character following Dewey's death...but instead she reverts back into a Gale that felt similar to how she acted in Scream 1&2. She lied about writing a book about Dewey, going back to being Gale the pretentious journalist, and ultimately was added into the movie to provide stakes in the marketing. It undoes everything the previous movies did to grow Gale as a character. Perhaps killing her off in a respectful way would maybe have brought something to redeem her character, but she's still alive by the end. I just don't want to see Gale back in this franchise unless they give her some real screen time and something to change her... again.
Another legacy character (kind of) is Ghostface! I love Roger L. Jacksons' sick and twisted voice that he lends to the character as always -- easily the most consistent part of this franchise. But for Ghostface himself in the movie... it's the same old Ghostface, only this time he doesn't trip over himself or get stuff thrown at him as much. Maybe just a splash more brutal than usual too. There's nothing that makes him stand out besides his mask, which ends up being tied to the worst part of this movie. The marketing and team behind this movie all were hyping up the fact that this Ghostface was more brutal, stronger, and faster, but the best he can do is jump over a couch.... Really?!?! That was one of the things I was looking forward to the most here, and he's ultimately not much more different than the others were. Even the kills were disappointing. It really lacked anything the marketing was pushing.
One other small thing, Skeet Ulrich comes back for two scenes that are just used to incriminate Sam and add nothing to the movie. Nice to see him come back again, but he added nothing.
Moving on to our new characters, Laura, played by Samara Weaving is one of the opening kills here. She plays a very insignificant role, but I guess it's nice to see her, as I do really like her work.
Tony Revolori plays a Ghostface in this movie... kinda? See, he's a Ghostface in the opening of the movie. He takes out Samara Weaving's character and attempts to start a new series of killings with another Ghostface, who we don't really see, and trying to finish what Richie and Amber from Scream (2022) started. I don't totally know how I feel about that. I like the idea, but there are parts of the opening scene that didn't totally work for me. It just caught me way off guard and was an odd way to start the movie. That said, it might grow on me given time.
Back to the characters though, Devyn Nekoda is a nice addition even if she was in very little of the movie. I liked her presence and thought she was pretty funny; unfortunately, she didn't make it out alive.
Josh Segarra plays a somewhat important role as Sam's new boyfriend. He's pretty funny and seems like a good person; we really didn't get to know much about him though other than he's a good person.
But the moment I was waiting for and my favorite part of any Scream movie, the killer reveal! NOOOOOOO!!!!! It's easily the dumbest thing to come out of this franchise yet. The family of another Ghostface?!?! Really?!?!
Jack Champion played Ethan, a nerdy and very shy character that was just a throwaway character everyone expected to get killed off before he is revealed to be one of the Ghostfaces and tries to channel a Stu/Mickey energy, but it comes of as pretentious and way too over-the-top. No hate towards the actor, but ... it's so cringy.
Then the second Ghostface, Quinn, who was another throwaway character thought to be killed off earlier in the story, comes back to be revealed as the second Ghostface. Her character was the weakest of any of the characters here and she brought absolutely nothing to the movie besides another tally to the bodycount.
Our final and third Ghostface is Detective Bailey who turns out to be the father of Richie Kirsche, Who was one of the killers in Scream(2022), Quinn, and Ethan.
Now on paper, it's not the worst thing they could have come up with, but it was easily the least interesting. We had teases that maybe Sam had more of that dark side to her that we didn't know about. Maybe it could be her doing all these killings in this movie and maybe even killed some of the victims in Scream (2022), or it could be her boyfriend again to subvert expectations and give a reason why Ghostface is a little bit stronger now, maybe even Tara who holds a grudge against Sam for abandoning her when she needed her most. Nope, Richie's never before mentioned family. Maybe it'll grow on me with a rewatch, but as for right now, its the worst thing ever featured in a Scream movie.
Even Mrs. Loomis, Mickey, Roman, or Charlie had somewhat decent motives and they were some of the worst Ghostfaces of the franchise. All three of these new Ghostfaces easily make their way all they way to the bottom of the Ghostface killers of the franchise. It is so dumb.
As for the ending, our leads are fine, everyone thought to be dead is alive, the killers got what they deserved, Sidney is somewhere out there, and everyone else is dead.
The final thing I have to say before I sum up my thoughts is not important, but is a nitpick I had. They don't mention the current Stab movies at all. If you don't know, Stab is the franchise within the universe of Scream that bases its movies on the events that happen in the Scream storyline. It was an idea thrown into Scream 2 and has stuck throughout the franchise since... until this movie. They don't mention it at all and for whatever reason it did end up bothering me. Again, it's a total nitpick, but I can't help but be bugged by it.
Overall, I really dug the new vibe this movie brings. Some of the character moments we got here are some of the best of the franchise. It has some great chase scenes and great set-ups for a killer finale, but ultimately it doesn't deliver. The journey to the end was incredibly entertaining, but the ending...meh.
Scream IV gets a B-.
P.S. Stu is confirmed to be dead in this movie. Darn...
Comments