Wes Craven's Scream is one of the rare horror franchises that has done well with its sequels — not just once, either, but twice, with Scream 2 being edged out ever so slightly by Scream 4, which functions as both a spiritual reboot and a better direct sequel all at once.
Long-running horror movie franchises are par for the course, but in 1996, director Wes Craven proved that lightning could strike twice when he released Scream to a '90s audience. Craven's bold claims of what horror movies could be effectively rejuvenated the stale tropes of the slasher sub-genre that dominated the 1980s. The director even saw success during what is often considered to be one of horror's golden ages with another slasher franchise: A Nightmare on Elm Street. It was this insider knowledge that led Craven to pair up with screenwriter Kevin Williamson to comment on why the genre can falter and get repetitive. Scream showed horror's weak points and, beyond that, corrected and even reveled in them. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that Scream 2, which released only a year later, commented on the failures of horror movie sequels. This meta take on horror franchises carried throughout the Scream franchise, although it took a downward turn for the third movie. Scream 3 famously pushed comedy to the forefront and missed the point, failing to resonate with audiences.
However, in 2011, Scream 4 brought Craven and Williamson back for one last scare, this time with commentary on the state of horror movie remakes. Remakes were a rising trend in the 2000s, and reached an all-time high right before Scream 4 came out. However, Scream 4 wasn't as well-received as the other installments, and has only seen greater praise in hindsight, years later. This hindsight opens a clear pathway to prove that, when viewed back-to-back, Scream 4 actually functions as the better direct sequel to Craven's original movie. Not only did Scream 4 provide a formula for a new horror movie trend in the late 2010s, but honors the spirit of the original movie in a way that feels more unique than a direct sequel can be.
Scream 4 functions as a remake in its own way—despite the inclusion of legacy characters—but it's also the best sequel in the Scream franchise. This strange dichotomy lends Scream 4 an edge over Scream 2, which is a better movie overall, but really only serves the purpose of acting as a sequel. The sequel in a horror movie usually brings back characters from the first movie, establishes a continuing relationship with the killer or killers, and provides a new environment or group of friends who can function as fodder for the killer before they face off with the movie's survivors — in the case of slasher movies, the final girl. In some cases, a horror movie sequel will go the route of Halloween, continuing the events directly on the same night and building on the legacy between the final girl and killer. In other instances, a horror movie sequel will transport the final girl or characters to a new environment—a tropical island, college, a new city—and find a reason for the killer to follow them there. The focus is on how to continue the story from the first movie.
The purpose of a remake is, in essence, to fix the mistakes of its predecessor or try to update a movie or franchise for a modern audience. Scream 4 tackles the remake angle by giving Sidney a teenage relative—whose friends function as the modern counterparts of Sidney and her friends from the original movie—but nods to sequel elements by bringing Sidney and her friends back to Woodsboro to contend with a terrifying figure from their past: Ghostface. Scream 4 learned from its mistakes by leaning away from comedy, finding lighter beats that strike with purpose like the original did, and also embraced ways of amplifying scares for a modern audience.
Scream 4 also provided a formula that other horror movie franchises used to reinvent themselves in the late 2010s. David Gordon Green's Halloween embraced its legacy by bringing Laurie Strode back to Haddonfield to face off with Michael Myers 40 years after the original movie took place — effectively, it functioned as a direct sequel to the original movie and a remake all at once. Scream will see another update with 2022's Scream, which is also bringing back legacy characters, but for the moment, Scream 4 sits as the best direct sequel to date.
- Scream 5 (2022)Release date: Jan 14, 2022
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December 27, 2020 at 01:30AM
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Why Scream 4 Is A Better Direct Sequel Than Scream 2 - Screen Rant
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