ANN ARBOR – In 2011, Wes Craven and the team behind the "Scream" franchise returned to the series in an effort to revive the story and characters with a new sequel, "Scream 4." While the film was a modest success at best, it remains as one of the stronger sequels in the series and it holds a special place in this writer's heart because it was shot in and around Ann Arbor.
I remember when I first started hearing rumors of a possible sequel and later when I found out - much to my excitement - that the production would be coming to the mitten to benefit from Michigan's film tax incentives. I'll admit up front that part of my appreciation for this film comes from the fact that it was filmed locally, as I don't feel enough movies are shot here.
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"Scream 4" used the Michigan locales to stand in for the fictional town of Woodsboro, California (the setting of the original "Scream"), making this entry feel like a true return to form. The neighborhoods and houses that the characters occupy were all filmed in Ann Arbor, and given the city's small-town feel (depending on what part you're in), the locations truly become a character within the film. "Scream 4," in other words, brings the story back to its roots.
Sydney (Neve Campbell) is now a writer who returns to Woodsboro to promote her new book; Dewey (David Arquette) is the chief of police and married to Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox); and the town itself is populated with a new generation of characters, all of whom are varying degrees of interesting. The standout character in the new group, however, is Kirby (played with wonderful sarcasm by Hayden Panettiere). She brings a lighthearted, comical element to her scenes, particularly when she interacts with Dewey, which helps with the film's overall tone.
The thing about the "Scream" franchise is that the murders are always intensely violent, yet the scenes surrounding them often play as somewhat comedic. The characters themselves talk about the rules of surviving a horror movie and seem to recognize the lunacy of their respective predicaments. "Scream 3" pushed the comedy a little too hard, from my perspective, primarily because that film did not have a screenplay from Kevin Williamson, the writer of the other films in the franchise. Williamson and Craven together know how to get the tone exactly right with "Scream 4" illustrating everything that went wrong in "Scream 3."
I'll admit that I hadn't watched "Scream 4" in some time and that the violence and gore affected me more this time around. The older I get, the harder it is to watch the violence displayed in a film like this, but I would still recommend this sequel to anyone looking to have a marathon of scary slasher movies for Halloween.
If you've seen the other three films, you know what you're in for. If you haven't, "Scream 4" stands on its own as both a sequel and a reboot. Perhaps I'm biased, but out of the four movies, this one feels the most authentic because of the local production. While it is not set in Michigan, Ann Arbor (and the surrounding locations) gives the film character; a look and feel different from the others. Simply put: it's fun to see our beloved city and state in a movie like this. The fact that it's a horror film doesn't tarnish Ann Arbor's image. Quite the contrary, actually. As photographed by cinematographer Peter Deming, the locations all look incredible.
"Scream 4" can be dark at times - a killer in a Ghostface costume is murdering people - but its characters and locations brighten what could have easily become a dreary movie. Isn't that one of many reasons we love Ann Arbor? Even on a day as cold as this, we still find excuses to go out and walk around. In this case, we'll give you a free pass if you choose to stay in to see Ann Arbor proudly displayed in a horror film. It is Halloween, after all.