Product Details

• Actors: Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Hayden Panettiere, Emma Roberts
• Directors: Wes Craven
• Format: Color, NTSC, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: The Weinstein Company and Anchor Bay Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: October 4, 2011
• Run Time: 103 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (205 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B004LWZW2O
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,693 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "Scream 4" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Without a refresher viewing, the details of Scream, the 1996 collaboration between horror-meister director Wes Craven and writer Kevin Williamson (who also famously chronicled the ways of wayward teens without so much bloodshed as creator of the TV sensation Dawson's Creek) might be a little hazy. But even through the fog of memory, it's a pretty sure thing that texting, Facebook, live video streams on smart phones, and references to the Saw movie franchise were not major narrative devices. Even so, there is a common thread that yanks this inventive resurrection of the series back to life and ties it quite cleverly to the first, second, and third Scream installments. Summed up, that reach is captured in the word meta, which is pretty much what makes Scream 4 such a hoot as it scampers along on such a high plane of conceptual ingenuity. That several characters use the word in describing the action they're participating in makes the entirety of circular plot points, referential dialogue, and general level of self-reflexive action all the more exuberant. There are a few causes for honest screams in the action, even though the obvious raison d'être for Craven and Williamson's reteaming is to make audiences yelp with delight that trumps genuine fear pretty much every time.

Original cast members Courteney Cox, David Arquette, and Neve Campbell have all returned for the reunion, which also introduces (and largely kills off) a new set of young but very familiar faces recruited for the festivities. The sizable ensemble cast includes Anna Paquin, Kristen Bell, Alison Brie, Hayden Panettiere, Marley Shelton, Rory Culkin, Adam Brody, Mary McDonnell, and Heather Graham, among many others who make up visitors or inhabitants of the imaginary town of Woodsboro, USA, scene of the meta-movie carnage that began 15 years ago. The excuse for this round of action is the return of original surviving victim Sidney Prescott (Campbell), who is making a hometown stop on her book tour. As the heroic survivor of the various incarnations of Ghostface, the knife-wielding killer in Scream's first trilogy, Sidney has become a celebrity and purposefully shrugged off the victim label, but still lives on as a folk hero. Turns out she's especially popular with Woodsboro's high-school population and the many horror film buffs who constantly analyze their every activity in relation to the behaviors of movie characters and the rights and wrongs of what to do when there's a killer on the loose. It therefore surprises no one that Ghostface has returned to haunt Sidney, including retired reporter Gale Weathers (Cox), her now-husband Sheriff Dewey Riley (Arquette), and the assortment of teenage dopes who saturate the entire venture with theatrical gouts of gooey, black blood. The movie-within-a-movie franchise Stab is also a major player in Scream 4. Its sequel count is now up to seven as we discover in the briskly crafted and very funny opening scenes. In fact, Scream 4 is constructed with smarter precision than any of its predecessors and would require a lot of brain power for someone who feels up to the task of trying to figure out who Ghostface is this time and why the killing has started again. But taking the story seriously pretty much defeats the purpose of the absurdly entertaining formal achievement that Craven and Williamson have created. All the stabbing and screaming and intricate (il)logic of horror movie conventions are simply part of the mysterious amusement of a concept that will not die, now delightfully retooled for a new generation. --Ted Fry

Product Description

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 Ghost Face, putting Sidney, Gale, and Dewey, along with Jill, her friends, and the whole town of Woodsboro in danger.

The newest installment in the acclaimed franchise that ushered in a new wave of horror in the 1990s is written by series creator Kevin Williamson and directed by suspense master and director of the first trilogy, Wes Craven. The film stars Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Emma Roberts, Hayden Panettiere, Rory Culkin, Anthony Anderson, Adam Brody, Mary McDonnell, Marley Shelton, Nico Tortorella, Marielle Jaffe, Kristen Bell, Anna Paquin, Lucy Hale, Shanae Grimes, Aimee Teegarden and Brittany Robertson.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

68 of 76 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars The Best since the First! April 15, 2011

By Jim

Format:DVD

Now a popular author of a self-help book, Sydney Prescott (Neve Campbell) returns to her hometown Woodsboro for a book tour.Sydney is quickly reunited with her good friends Sheriff Dewey Riley (DavidArquette), and Gail Weather (Courtney Cox) who have now married.When a new Ghost-face killer is on the loose , Gale, who once was a reporter, is given the chance to become a reporter again, but Sheriff Dewey and his loyal Deputy Judy Hicks (Marley Shelton) are sharing as little with her about the case as they possibly can. Since she wants to solve the case with him and find the killer as a team like they used to, but he doesn't want her to get hurt. Desperate for information, Gale teams up with Charlie Walker (Rory Culkin), a film geek that seems to know a lot about scary movies and remakes.
Sydney who is now under police protection due to that the killings started when she returned and since she's always the target of the Ghost-face killer; is basically protecting herself, while protecting her cousin Jill (Emma Roberts) and her friends from the new killer. Since Jill and her friends have been getting threatening calls from the killer and are a target as well.
With Scream 4, Director, Wes Craven, and screenwriter, Kevin Williamson, have a great time entertaining as well as scaring their audience. From the start the director and writer duo offer many clever twists and turns that are impossible to see coming. But sometimes the film is too goofy for it's own good as far as the laughs go. For instance, in a surreal and hilarious murder scene where someone takes forever to die, you'll laugh while also thinking "that's pretty stupid." Then in other scenes the movie can be so violent that it's disturbing with innocent teens brutally killed. So the comedy and violence isn't as well balanced as it is in the earlier films.
Still, Scream 4 is one of the best in the series since it will make you jump and a lot of the laughs are pretty clever, especially the ones about horror remakes.

37 of 45 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Scream 4 delivers what we fans love again!!!! May 15, 2011

By E.Most

Format:DVD

I am a big fan of the Scream trilogy!!! Scream 4 brings back Courtney Cox, Neve Campbell and David Arquette as well as some well known young actors that balance very well throughout the entire movie. If you are a fan of this trilogy, you will definitely love the fourth installment. It gives you what you come to love about the other films of this great trilogy. I could even see them making another installment, Hopefully!!! I really enjoy these films and I know other fans will as well. Can't wait for the dvd!!!

42 of 52 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome!!! April 16, 2011

By Nathan Chamberlain

Format:Blu-ray

I am a huge fan of the Scream franchise, so I have to be honest that when they announced this movie, and even as I walked into the theater to see it last night, I had my doubts that it would be any good. I was wrong! At first it seemed cheesy, but there was a reason and it turned out to be awesome! The kills were much more violent and to me that made it more intense than the previous three. The plot was the same as the the others, but they seemed to tackle it with enough action and violence to make it okay, and besides, why do we watch slasher movies? It seems to be that its our way of indulging in violence and mindless murder without actually either being in danger or going to prison. I thought this movie had the PERFECT mix of comedy and intensity that makes a movie like this great. I laughed as much as I was afraid and lets face it, that is how horror movies are today, a mix of comedy and horror and only a few movies ever balance that correctly. This one definitely did! I was surprised to find who the killers were and I think a part of that was due to the lack of character development on the new characters in the film. In the first Scream we had Billy and Stu constantly interacting with each other and in tiny places throughout the movie there were winks toward them as the killers, this film had nothing of the sort and I thought it had that going for it. Character development is important, but not necessarily in a slasher movie, and aside from that we already know who Sid, Gale, and Dewey are. The best things this movie had going for it were its comedic edge, action scenes, the killer was tougher, faster, and more psychotic, and it takes a tongue in cheek approach to today's horror blunders just as the first Scream did with the originals. In my opinion, this is one of the best in the series. I was not that impressed with Scream 2 or 3, but this one brought me back and I'm loving it. It did what Scream set out to do in 1996, make an awesome slasher movie that didn't rely on sex to push its story line along, and Scream and Scream 4 does it perfectly!!