{"id":5846,"date":"2013-04-28T20:23:00","date_gmt":"2013-04-29T00:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/?p=5846"},"modified":"2022-09-11T11:15:24","modified_gmt":"2022-09-11T15:15:24","slug":"scream-4-makes-a-few-half-hearted-stabs-at-relevance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/scream-4-makes-a-few-half-hearted-stabs-at-relevance\/","title":{"rendered":"Scream 4 makes a few half-hearted stabs… at relevance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By the time Scream 4<\/em> appeared, over a decade after the original trilogy began, the horror genre had moved on from the ironic, winking mode the series popularized. A character in Scream 4<\/em> complains that most horror movies traffic more in outright gore (“I hate that torture porn shit”). On television, The Walking Dead<\/em> characters are so divorced from pop culture that they don’t even know the word “zombie”. How does the usual tone of the Scream<\/em> movies play to today’s audiences?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this context, Scream 4<\/em> would seem old fashioned throwback to the ironic 90s, were it not significantly more cynical than its predecessors. Scream 2<\/a><\/em> overtly critiqued sequels, Scream 3<\/a><\/em> deconstructed trilogies, and now Scream 4<\/em> openly uses the word “franchise”. Movies are more the product of big business than ever before, and now that’s the subject of the movies themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scream 4<\/em> does make a few half-hearted stabs (sorry) at relevance by roping in social media (one kid liveblogs the whole thing), and celebrity culture. The murderers’ motivation has moved on from sex and revenge to desire to the kind of instant celebrity enjoyed today by the likes of teenage murderers and socialite drunks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amusingly, Scream 4<\/em> self-mythologizes itself with the movie-within-the-movie Stab<\/em>, amusingly credited to Robert Rodriguez. Actually, I think I’d rather see that movie.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By the time Scream 4 appeared, over a decade after the original trilogy began, the horror genre had moved on from the ironic, winking mode the series popularized. A character in Scream 4 complains that most horror movies traffic more in outright gore (“I hate that torture porn shit”). On television, The Walking Dead characters […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5847,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,2],"tags":[1550,90,446,1998,1341],"class_list":["post-5846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2-stars","category-movies","tag-1550","tag-horror","tag-robert-rodriguez","tag-scream","tag-wes-craven"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/scream-4.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa9lhB-1wi","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5840,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/scream-2-is-a-self-fulfilling-prophecy\/","url_meta":{"origin":5846,"position":0},"title":"Scream 2 is a self-fulfilling prophecy","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"April 27, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"There's nowhere else the Scream franchise could have gone other than here: an ironic, self-aware sequel to an ironic, self-aware horror film. When one the characters states \"Sequels suck! Oh please, please! By definition alone, sequels are inferior films!\", it's something of a self-fulfilling prophecy. There's a fine line between\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"2 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/2-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Scream 2","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/scream-2-1997.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/scream-2-1997.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/scream-2-1997.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/scream-2-1997.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/scream-2-1997.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5837,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/once-revolutionary-scream-now-feels-quaint\/","url_meta":{"origin":5846,"position":1},"title":"Once revolutionary, Scream now feels quaint","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"April 26, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"It's easy to forget how revolutionary Wes Craven's Scream seemed in 1996, and how influential it\u2019s been since. Rewatching it 17 years later, I'm struck by how\u2026 well,\u00a0quaint\u00a0it seems in retrospect. Now every post-Scream horror movie is required to be a postmodern deconstruction of the genre. Maybe the trend reached\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "3 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"3 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/3-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Scream","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/scream-1996.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/scream-1996.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/scream-1996.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/scream-1996.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/scream-1996.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5843,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/scream-3-is-the-movie-of-the-book-within-the-movie\/","url_meta":{"origin":5846,"position":2},"title":"Scream 3 is the movie-of-the-book-within-the-movie","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"April 28, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The Scream franchise disappears even further up its own backside as the action moves to a Hollywood studio making a movie dramatizing a book relating the events seen in the original movie. We're invited to take the moral point of view that the book-within-the-movie and the movie-of-the-book-within-the-movie are exploiting tragedy,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"2 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/2-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Scream 3","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/scream-3.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/scream-3.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/scream-3.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/scream-3.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/scream-3.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1918,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/pod-people-film-festival-faculty\/","url_meta":{"origin":5846,"position":3},"title":"The Pod People Film Festival: The Faculty","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"October 19, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"We interrupt this retrospective look at the four official feature film adaptations of Jack Finney's novel The Body Snatchers with a kind of bonus track, a remake in all but name, Robert Rodri\u00adguez's The Faculty. It may be a touch campy, but hugely entertaining. All four official versions are deadly\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "3 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"3 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/3-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Faculty","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/faculty-1998.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/faculty-1998.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/faculty-1998.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/faculty-1998.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/faculty-1998.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3505,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/romero-crazies\/","url_meta":{"origin":5846,"position":4},"title":"People Are Vectors: George A. Romero’s The Crazies","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"February 26, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"George A. Romero practically invented the lucrative zombie subgenre with Night of the Living Dead in 1968, simultaneously trapping himself within it for most of his subsequent career. Romero's zombies served him well enough for six films and counting, at least two of which transcended the genre and are still\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "1 Star"","block_context":{"text":"1 Star","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/1-star\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/crazies.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/crazies.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/crazies.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/crazies.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/crazies.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1229,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/mist\/","url_meta":{"origin":5846,"position":5},"title":"There’s Something in the Mist: Frank Darabont’s The Mist","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"October 14, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Has writer\/director Frank Darabont been weighed down by the heavy legacy of his first feature film? The Shawshank Redemption remains one of the most popular movies ever made, if not quite (yet?) accepted into the canon. The Mist, after The Green Mile, is Darabont's third Stephen King adaptation, so far\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"2 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/2-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Mist","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/the-mist.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/the-mist.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/the-mist.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/the-mist.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/the-mist.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5846"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5848,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5846\/revisions\/5848"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}