Scream Four-mula still works

Scre4m is everything you expect from the fourth in a sequel from Wes Craven’s re-defining slasher movies. So ‘meta’ it hurts, with layers so deep even Inception has been out done.

Cox and Arquette wake up in the same bed, and for the rest of the picture their relationship is self-referentially strained, each trying to one up the other posing as hysterical caricatures of the self-involved journalist and hopeless Sheriff. The beauty of this picture is it shows the futility of spoofs like Scary Movie (and the rest…) – who needs parody when the real thing can do it better?

Not only does Scre4m parody the teen horror flick, but parodies the parodying of youth culture. Cell phones and mobile Facebook offer inventive and mobile solutions for Ghostface to taunt his victims, and the use of webcams adds an extra modern thrill. Scre4m keeps its audience on the edge of their seat, and is as jumpy as ever.

During the film’s obsession with discussing the modern horror flick the characters discuss the fact that zombies, vampires and creative mass murderers a la Jigsaw just don’t do it for them – and it’s true, there really is nothing quite as scary as a man running around with a knife. Far from the predictability you would be expecting – ‘new decade, new rules’ means Scre4m utilises all that gut slashing you expect from Craven but with some unexpected, and more often than not, hilarious, twists.

Scre4m was completely entertaining throughout – from the classic opening ‘What’s your favourite scary movie’ hot teenage girls terrorised by an unknown psycho, to the endless plethora of tongue-in-cheek one liners, including a victim telling the infamous phone voice ‘This isn’t funny’ and him chiding ‘This isn’t a comedy, it’s a horror film’ and Sidney ‘the survivor’ Prescott’s inspiring words ‘Don’t fuck with the original’.

This is one of the funniest films to be released this year. Go and see it, take your sense of humour, and enjoy the gore fest.