Movie Review: Something to Die "4"

As the "baby" of the family, I feel it is my job to be a thorn in the sides of my siblings.

My brother is 11 years my senior, my sister 6. My sister has always had significantly more patience than my brother. My sister and I are sometimes overly sentimental, tethered to traditions and nostalgia while my brother is overtly practical. When I have my head in the clouds about wanting to be a filmmaker, he secures anchors to my ankles to bring me back to earth, saying it'll never happen.

Despite my brother's innate interest in film, he never understood seeing them in the theater, considering it to be a waste of time and money. "You work at a hardware store, Adam. You don't have money to go to the movies." Imagine my surprise when he agreed to take time out of his day to see Scream 4 at the midnight showing.

I thought I would have to work on him, convince him. Maybe even bribe him by offering to pay for the tickets. Instead, he offered to take me to dinner to a high-end sushi place in Syracuse. I was half-convinced someone had gotten a hold of my brother's phone, was catfishing me and, when I went to his home, I'd be entering some kind of trap. All of this behavior was extremely out of the ordinary.

Before I left, I said to my mother, "I feel I should bring mace or bear spray or something."

"For what?"

"I don't know! I don't know if Brian has been taken possessed by a demon or abducted by aliens. You don't know that either."

"Adam, come on. He's being nice."

"You don't find that the least bit weird?"

My mother opened her mouth to answer, but paused. She saw me notice her hesitation and she hid it quickly. "I think he's just being nice, Adam."

"Yeah, well, when you see me on the news dead in a ditch, maybe then you'll realize you should have bought me mace."

"You gotta stop watching so many horror movies," she said, turning back to the TV.

"Well, that won't happen. Okay, guess I'm gonna go die now. Thanks for the mace!"

I walked out, got in my car and drove to my brother's house. After I parked, I got out and went to my brother's car. We made awkward small talk. Despite the fact that we're brothers, there's always been a strange divide between the two of us. Often, we would have to relearn how to communicate each time we'd see each other. It's as though that part of our memory got dumped every time we spent time away.

We arrived to the restaurant and were greeted by a beautiful, tall brunette. We'll call her Cynthia. Cynthia smiled wide when she saw my brother. Coyly, she said, "Hi, Brian. Who is this?"

My brother tripped on his words, something I'd never seen before. "Oh, him? This is my moron brother."

"I'm Adam."

Cynthia put out her hand. I shook it. She smiled, laughing. "I guess handsome runs in the family."

I looked at my brother, confused. He smiled, saying, "Handsome stopped with me."

Cynthia playfully slapped my brother on the shoulder. "Oh, stop! You're both handsome."

"No, he's right. I'm not," I said.

"Keep it up and you'll get a slap, too. Let me show you to your table," Cynthia said. She grabbed two menus and brought us to our seats.

It was a Thursday night around 7:30. It was decently busy, but not overwhelming. Quiet enough to have a conversation. Cynthia said, "Okay. Check out the drinks. Brian, I think you'll like this."

She pointed to something on his menu. My brother nodded and said, "Okay, yeah. I'll take one of those."

He never takes recommendations. What is going on here?

Cynthia glanced over at me. "What about you? What do you like?"

"I can...uh. Just like...I don't know. Do you have iced tea," I shrugged.

My brother said, "Get whatever you want. I'm buying."

It was at this point, my soul felt like it left my body and I was observing myself from above. As if I had just learned how to astral project.

He's what? Get whatever I...what is going on?

"What do you mean," I asked.

"Whatever you want," Cynthia repeated. "Take advantage of him."

"I don't like that phrasing," I sneered.

Cynthia let out a loud laugh. Loud enough all other patrons and staff turned to see her. Cynthia didn't care. She looked at my brother, pointing at me, "He's funny."

"Yeah, funny looking."

Cynthia hit my brother in the shoulder. "Oh, stop. You're bad."

"Just get him what I'm getting," my brother said.

"Sounds like a plan. I'll make his sweeter than yours," Cynthia smiled at me, then to my brother as she walked away.

I buried my head in the menu. I could feel my brother staring at me. I looked up to see he wasn't angry or upset, but pensive.

"What do you think of Cynthia?" he asked.

"Why are you nervous?" I asked.

"Don't...just. What do you think of Cynthia?"

I looked around to ensure she wasn't in earshot. I shrugged. "She seems very nice."

My brother deeply sighed. "Yeah, she's really nice."

"Seems a little..."

"...'a little' what?"

"...young. How old is she?"

He nods as if the number was ping-ponging between his ears, struggling to come out. "Twenty-two."

"She's a little young for me. Besides, I still have a crush on Margo, as you know."

"For you," he asked surprised. "I was thinking of asking her out. I didn't...no. I brought you to see what you thought of her."

"Brian, if she's too young for me, she's way too young for you."

"Age is just a number, Adam."

"Yeah, but your number is almost twice her number, Brian."

He laughed, shaking his head. I looked back at the menu.

Then it hit me.

I looked back up at him. "Did you bring me here to ask my advice?"

"Sheepish" isn't a word anyone would normally associate with my brother. As a matter of fact, if he cared even an iota about what I write and he found out about this, he would probably object to the description. But, in that moment, that's exactly what he was.

"I thought we could talk," he finally said.

"Brian, I am the wrong person to ask advice. Margo is married and I still have feelings for her. I'm chasing an ending that will never happen."

"Well, yeah, you're an idiot, but I don't know. It's stupid. Never mind." He looked at his menu.

I sighed, clearing my throat. "Do you think she likes you?"

He nodded. "I think so. She texts me all the time. Sometimes when she's drunk. She's always asking me to go to the bars with her."

"Well, you should have a conversation with her about it. I wrote a bunch of plays about Margo and the feelings I had for her but it only kicked the actual conversation I needed to have with her down the road. Now she's married."

"Didn't you ever tell her?"

"Yeah, it took a couple of drinks and some goading by a friend, but I called her. We talked a few days later."

I paused, upset about my mistakes. I looked back to my brother and he was staring at me. "What," I asked.

"So, what happened?"

"You know, this is the first time we've had this kind of conversation," I smiled.

"What kind of conversation?"

"About feelings."

"Yeah, and if you tell anyone about this, I'll deny it."

We both laughed. Eventually, Cynthia came with the drinks, continued to be flirtatious with my brother and brought us our order. We ate, drank and my brother left a tip. He never leaves tips.

As we got up to leave, Cynthia stood and gave my brother a hug. She walked to me, hugging me as well. It was very awkward. 

"It was very nice to meet you, Adam. Keep your brother out of trouble."

"I'll do my best. Enjoy your night."

I walked towards the exit while Brian lingered behind, speaking to Cynthia. I was by running water so I couldn't hear what the exchange was. They were both smiling, laughing. Brian pointed at me a few times and Cynthia put her whole back into laughing at me. They hugged again before my brother approached me near the door.

"You gonna sit there and gawk or are we going to a movie?"

We arrived to the theater, found our seats and, it sounds lame and a little mawkish, it might have been the first time I felt like I had a brother. We'd been through so much prior to that, but we never seemed on the same level, so to speak. He'd always speak to me from an assumed position of authority and constantly condescend to me.

But not this night. This night, April 14th, 2011, we were equals. That probably took a lot for him to feel open about it to talk to me. And, almost 15 years later, I'm nostalgic for that, though I very much doubt he is.

Human beings often look back to "the better times" while simultaneously being blind to the present. When Scream 4 was released, it had been a little over 11 years since the previous entry was released in theaters. Since then, a whole new wave of horror became popular. Remakes and what's colloquially known as "torture porn" led the horror box office. They were dark times with some good films, but none were fun like some of the Scream films were.

Scream 4 brings Sidney back to Woodsboro on a book tour. Gale and Dewey are living there as well as Sidney's cousin, Jill (Roberts). After evidence is left in the back of Sidney's rental car, Dewey suggests she stick around until things can get sorted out. Sidney stays with her aunt (McDonnell) and Jill. While there, Sidney begins to see parallels between her and Jill while Jill begins to be stalked by people in a GhostFace mask.

As with the three films that preceded it, Scream 4 levels its aim at the horror genre. With Kevin Williamson back writing the screenplay and Craven at the helm, the audience really feels like we're back in good hands. Craven, after having been seemingly censored in the last entry, comes back swinging with the violence in this. As always with Craven, he's a master of staging suspense sequences and action.

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As with all the Scream films, part of the fun is trying to guess who the killer is. Pretty early on, Charlie (Culkin) seems like a pretty good candidate. His reveal is incredibly effective, despite being pretty obvious. The idea of the killer staging the crime scenes to look similar to the ones from the original film is a stroke of brilliance. Craven and Williamson throw these references to the other films without seeming to be forced. They serve a purpose in the story.

But, what was Charlie's motivation? Did he work alone?

Turns out, no. His accomplice is none other than Sidney's cousin, Jill. This could be one of the best reveals of the series. The entire film, Jill plays it as though she's being stalked and she's the victim. And, that's her whole plan. She wants to be the new Sidney. But, in order to be the new Sidney, she has to kill Sidney. That's why so much of the film has so many references to the original. Jill is essentially the remake of Sidney.

She wants the fame, but she doesn't want to work for it. There are some pretty heavy satirical lines in this scene. They're commenting on that specific generation where the only way to be famous is to have something bad happen to them. 

At one point, after Sidney brings up the fact that Jill killed so many of her friends, Jill's response is chilling: "I don't need friends; I need fans."

This movie came out in 2011, well before many social media platforms became as ubiquitous as they are today. Yet, the film is prescient enough that they've basically predicted where we've gone since. Jill is unfortunately correct, to a degree. One of the best aspects of a villain in any kind of film is to have the audience identify with them, even a little bit. While we see Jill as being a spoiled rotten person, she makes a point. With the rise of reality TV and how it bled into people becoming "influencers", many people haven't done the work to earn their fame.

We get a final showdown at the hospital and Jill is ultimately vanquished by Sidney. The film ends on an incredibly cynical note with all the reporters talking about how Jill is a hero while the final shot of the film is Jill dead on the hospital floor. A clear comment on how the media is clearly overanxious to lionize individuals.

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The entire cast is fantastic save for one individual. Mary McDonnell seems like she's sleepwalking through the role. It's my understanding that she was originally given a larger part so maybe some of what we were supposed to see was taken out and had we seen it, maybe it would have made more sense. Maybe. I don't know, but it's a strange performance for sure.

Emma Roberts is good, but she plays the first half of the film a little bit better than after she's revealed to be one of the killers. Parts of her final monologue hit a specific vocal pitch which is a bit grating, but, it would make sense we're not supposed to like Jill. Maybe that was the point.

The returning cast are all good, as always. Hayden Panettiere is the standout of the new cast. She knows exactly what her character is supposed to be and, in a way, she's the gender swapped version of Randy. She plays scared well and she's able to shift between tones pretty effectively.

I also have to mention Nico Tortorella who plays Trevor, Jill's ex-boyfriend.

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His character is set up to be the next Billy Loomis. So, we're immediately suspicious of him while you're watching it for the first time. After you've seen it all the way through once, you realize that Trevor is kind of a pathetic character. Many of his scenes come off as just a dumb kid and not some conniving psychopath. Watching it knowing what Jill's plan is, Trevor turns out to be a somewhat likable character and Tortorella plays it very well.

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I think it will come as no surprise, but I'm a huge fan of this film. It takes narrative risks and is a solid entry. After the third, I didn't think we really needed a fourth, but I'm very glad to be wrong.

When we were leaving the theater, I asked my brother what he thought. He was less over-the-moon about it than I was. I think my enthusiasm soured his experience.

"You gotta get over yourself. It was okay. It wasn't great," he said.

I laughed.

"What's so funny?"

"Maybe I have my head in the clouds."

"You always do."

"You're right. Absolutely. Next thing you know, I'll start hanging out with someone drastically younger than me. Maybe a server at a high-end restaurant. And I'll do something I never do. I'll tip her," I said. "You think?"

My brother looked at me. He then said...well, let's just say he said something not fit to print. But, he said it with a grin. "You're lucky I don't make you walk home."

"Maybe Cynthia can give me a ride home."

"Keep it up and you will walk home."

"You could just, I don't know, admit you liked the movie."

"If it gets you to shut up, yeah, it was great. A masterpiece."

"I'm sure that felt great getting that off your chest."

He sighed deeply, smiling slightly.

We walked to his car and he drove back to his house. The whole trip back, we discussed the movie, Cynthia, Margo as well as our family. It felt like a real conversation between brothers. Maybe the first one we ever really had.

As I got out of his car and unlocked my driver's door, I said, "Hey, maybe you can take Cynthia to see Scream 4."

My brother smiled, shaking his head. "I don't know. Maybe. We'll see."

"Just make sure she knows how to spell your last name."

My brother turned, confused. "Why would she need to know that?"

"It's an R-rated movie, isn't it? It's probably wise to act like her parent or guardian to make sure she can get in," I smirked.

My brother shook his head. "Mom and Dad should have stopped after they had me."

I laughed as he closed the garage door in front of me. My status as family thorn in side remains in good standing to this day.

Scream 4 (2011)

Directed by Wes Craven

Cast: Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Emma Roberts, Hayden Panettiere, Marley Shelton, Rory Culkin, Erik Knudsen, Alison Brie, Nico Tortorella, Marielle Jaffe, Mary McDonnell, Anthony Anderson, Adam Brody, Lucy Hale, Shenae Grimes, Kristen Bell, Anna Paquin, Britt Robertson, Aimee Teegarden, Roger Jackson

Runtime: 111 minutes

MPAA Rating: R (for strong bloody violence, language and some teen drinking)

Rating (out of ****): ***1/2

Scream 4 is available on Paramount+ with a subscription as well as on all major streaming platforms to rent or buy. A 4K Blu-Ray is set to release in the next few months.