Instead of spending my Tuesday morning at a "Scream 4" press screening, I showed up at my day job at a normal hour, then spent the evening leisurely making a dent in my Netflix queue.
I was actually disappointed when they called off the press screening the night before. Sure, I knew the movie was probably a train wreck--based not only on the last minute cancellation of the press screening, but also on the reports of friction during production that resulted in the franchise's brainchild Kevin Williamson (you can thank him for Katie Holmes and that guy who played Dawson) leaving the film halfway through the shoot.
But for me, revisiting the franchise after a decade was more an exercise in feel-good nostalgia than "cinema appreciation." I can still recall how thrilled I was by the 1996 original: the genuine shock when Drew Barrymore got herself gloriously hacked in the opening scene, the refreshing/bordering on annoying jabber of overly articulate teenage brats, the shameless waving of the movie geek freak flag..... the freshness of the experience was enough to let me love the original, endure the sequel, pretend the third didn't happen and, after a decade of sub-sub-sub par knockoffs and the genre's unfortunate plummet to torture porn, "Scream 4."
So here I sit, spouting opinions and ideas about the "Scream" franchise, without getting paid a dime. I doubt the Weinsteins have such problems - or at least they don't fret over such paltry amounts of lost income.
If you actually do fork over your hard-earned cash to see it, by all means make it a matinee--and tell me how it was.
Enjoy your weekend.
Scream 4 is basically Scream but WAY overthought. And just when Craven finds an ending that would be kind of cool, he ruins it. I didn't know Williamson walked off but after seeing the film, I totally get it. Almost every ounce of fun from the original was missing from this completely unnecessary excuse for the producers to buy another vacation home.
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