movie review: scream 4

The Scream storyline is nothing new. After all, when a movie has garnered a cult following like this one-and three prior sequels- it's easy to assume that the latest release from Wes Craven's horror flick franchise will be a carbon copy of the original.

But as we soon learn from the film, the point of this "shriek-rel" (get it?)  isn't just to relive the scary Ghostface  that haunted our childhoods. Just like the new Woodsboro killer doesn't want to commit exactly the same crimes as before, the movie intends to outdo its earlier incarnations.

Emma Roberts is Jill, the cousin of famed victim Sidney Prescott, who's stuck living under her shadow. When Sidney comes in town to promote her new book about being Ghostface's victim, things start to get seriously weird. On the anniversary of the original killings, Ghostface strikes back and his assaults are even bloodier, spookier, and campier than before.

With original Scream characters like David Arquette as Sheriff Dewey Riley and Courtney Cox as Gale Weathers, along with a slew of new hot highschoolers like Hayden Panettiere, Rory Culkin, and Kristen Bell (to name a few), it's the perfect mesh of old and new. Because the characters grew up in hearing stories of Ghostface, there are plenty of  throwbacks to the early films and classic horror flicks, making the movie self-referential in the best way possible.

And with modern touches like a Ghostface App (like autotune, but for the killer's voice), portable webcams recording the whole thing, and a major twist at the end, there's no doubt this is Scream for the next generation- and it totally works.

Scream 4 opens in theaters today.