Scream 4 MPAA Rating: R Entertainment: +2 Content: -4

Neve Campell, Courtney Cox-Arquette, David Arquette, Emma Roberts, Hayden Panettiere, Rory Culkin, Anthony Anderson, Adam Brody, Mary McDonnell, Marley Shelton, Nico Tortorella, Marielle Jaffe, Kristen Bell, Lucy Hale. Horror/thriller. Written by Kevin Williamson. Directed Wes Craven.

FILM SYNOPSIS: In Scream 4, Sidney Prescott, now the author of a self-help book, returns home to Woodsboro on the last stop of her book tour. There she reconnects with Sheriff Dewey and Gale, who are now married, as well as her cousin Jill (played by Emma Roberts) and her Aunt Kate (Mary McDonnell). Unfortunately Sidney’s appearance also brings about the return of Ghostface, putting Sidney, Gale, and Dewey, along with Jill, her friends, and the whole town of Woodsboro, in danger.

PREVIEW REVIEW: Well, I have to give the filmmakers credit. Considering this is the third sequel to a horror movie, it’s actually arm-gripping entertainment. This is a town filled to the brim with pretty, young and fit women. And as with any chase-and-hack spookfest, they are prone to grisly demises. For some reason, this has become what’s known as entertainment. We see countless women not just in need of rescuing from the evil-doer by the film’s hunk, but stabbed to bloody death, one after the other.

Amid the crude sexual comments and the gory knife thrusts, Scream 4 contains what has become accepted verbal content, with enough obscene language to appease most standup comedians. Doesn’t anybody in Hollywood know how to express frustration and fear without using the s- and f-words? Evidently not.

I know you’re tired of my battle against cinema swearing, but I can’t just ignore it here. First, it’s not creative, and believe me, Hollywood loves to call movies “a creative art form.” And it is. But too often movies are more a commodity than a creative expression. Plus, hearing crude and offensive language from nearly every movie star now presiding in Tinseltown seems to make it more acceptable amid society. I think it can successfully be argued that the past 40 years of obscenity-laced dialogue in the movies has aided in dumbing down and cruding up our culture. Then there’s that pesky old Bible verse that tells us, “Don’t use bad language. Say only what is good and helpful to those you are talking to, and what will give them a blessing” (Ephesians 4:29).

Well, I know for some young people and many who have just left their teen years, the thought of passing on a funny horror flick by Wes Craven, one populated with the likes of Emma Roberts, Hayden Panettiere, Rory Culkin, Kristen Bell and Lucy Hale, is hard to do. But besides all the s- and f-words that easily pop out of each and every one of these young ladies’ mouths, there’s also the profane and dismissive use of God’s name and Christ’s on several occasions. And to top that, one actress in the film actually utters a blasphemy. Are we now as desensitized to blasphemy as we are to profanity?

DEFINITIONS

Profanity – God’s name followed by a curse or the abusive use of Christ’s name.
Blasphemy –the belittling of God or sacred things; any irreverent act or utterance.
Obscenity – A swear word, indecent language.

Though the film attempts to lampoon young people’s dependence on electronics, from smart phones to portable video cameras, the message becomes somewhat murky, with cells phones and other devices actually aiding the victims, further cementing their social necessity rather than ridiculing a generation’s dependence upon them.

Now, about the violence. The joke is, these films are always populated by people dumber than a bagful of hammers. They know they shouldn’t open the door or go into the basement. But you know darn well they will. So when they get whacked for their stupidity, we laugh, even though we are laughing at the gruesome visuals of slit throats and stabbed stomachs. After far too many punctured bodies and gallons of blood sprayed about the room and vomited out of every victim’s mouth, suddenly, it’s difficult to find any humor. At least it was for me. Not sure about others at the screening.

It’s a gruesome movie experience, one with more humor than other slice-and-dice thrillers, but ultimately less satisfying than spooky movies that rely on eeriness rather than gruesomeness.

Tired of curse words aired on television? There’s a solution. For details, go to www.tvguardian.com.

Preview Reviewer: Phil Boatwright
Distributor: Dimension Films