Leif’s review published on Letterboxd:
Hooptober V: Day 19
Wes Craven's final film is an unfortunately weak sendoff. The first half provides very little expansion or intrigue to the franchise by giving its original characters practically nothing to do, while new characters are merely shadows of their counterparts from the first film. The latter is a somewhat deliberate move, but they aren't given the ability to grow or stand out in any way.
The obligatory 'film club' scene feels more on the nose than ever, as if the film's pitch was copy+pasted into the mouths of a new crop of disposable teens: two interchangeable film geeks, a trio of girls that I can't fathom would ever hang out with them, and one of the most forgettable boyfriends in the history of the genre. Perhaps if this was given another half hour, we could have grown to understand these characters and relate to them in some way.
Scre4m lacks the personality of the first two entries, which is probably because Williamson's script was taken away and reworked last-minute by Harvey Weinstein and hack writer Ehren Kruger. As messy as the third act is, writing most of the legacy characters out was the best thing to do, and frankly should have been done earlier and more conclusive. A few of the ideas surrounding remakes begin to take form near the end, but the film falls back on the tropes of the franchise too hard, and comes out looking lazy and tired. It's obvious this was simply a failed test for a second run in the franchise. Sorry Wes!
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