The problem with the first Scream film in over a decade, Scream 4 (AKA Scre4m, 2011), is that it is too much of a Scary Movie (2000-2009) and not enough of a scary movie. The first film, directed by Craven off of a script by Kevin Williamson, was released in 1996 (when the target demographic for the fourth installment was still in diapers) and provided viewers with a refreshing bridge between comedic, self-reflexive cinephilia and genuine horror. At the time, it was groundbreaking formula and it re-vamped the horror genre in the same way Quentin Tarantino de and re-constructed the crime thriller. Over the span of three films and four years however, the “Scream” franchise slowly lost its way. When the parodies of a parody arrived in the form of the “Scary Movie” films, the final nail seemed to have been placed into the Scream coffin. Yet, unfortunately for those nostalgic for the magic of the first film, the killer in Scream 4 is Wes Craven. He took a beautiful, young genre in the form of self-reflexive horror and gutted it for all eyes to see.
