Rating 15
Length 1h 51
Release 15.4.2011
Director Wes Craven
About At the end of her book tour, Sidney visits her home town after ten long years. As she catches up with old friends, her return not only brings back memories but also beckons the return of Ghostface.
The Good
- Emma Roberts has that ability to be believable in many forms. Perhaps that wasn’t as true back in 2011, but now that she has a chocked full CV, you can see that she’s versatile and creative. That final act is where she truly shines. In fact, its the final act that makes this film, almost, bearable.
- Totally forgot Hayden Panettiere was in this movie and she was delightful. She pathed the way for the tv series character Audrey. The idea that there was a trilogy in which Panettiere continued to star sounds amazing and it is just a shame this bombed.
- I love the concept they bring to the film about technology. The use of it, the commentary on it. Brilliant. Its execution in the plot is not fully invested so it feels more like lip service, outside of a few scenes.
The Bad
- I still don’t buy Sidney Prescott as an actress. I always find that a bizarre conclusion, but she’s just too… internal and shy.
- Mary McDonnell as Kate Roberts irks me. She seems to be in a completely different movie to everyone else.
- How wasted was Adam Brody?! I kind of get the feeling he was cast when his character had a bigger role. I remember it being announced he was going to be in the film and then being so disappointed.
- Those fake openings were bordering on Scary Movie territory. I sort of see what it was trying to achieve, but it didn’t quite get over the lampooning the lampoon to belong in this movie.
The Ugly
- The film hasn’t aged well for me and suffers a similar fate to Ghostbusters Answer the Call (2016). It relies too much on the past and almost tries to belittle it in order to bring in a new audience.
It’s not a ‘pass the torch’, so the focus upon the teens in Woodsboro feels a little contrived and shallow. Yet, its not really a film about the original characters either; we get too little about what they’ve been doing for that to be the case. - The bigger issue with this film is that it unbalances a trilogy and lacks enough to bring it into the franchise to make a quadrilogy.
Final Thoughts
Each time I rewatch this film, I kind of hope that it’s better than it actually is. Every time I end up disappointed and promising myself I won’t waste any more time watching it again.
My advice is to stick to the trilogy, or if you want to branch out, check out the tv series.
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