Review Detail

Scream 4 is a film that has some good ideas but is brought down by a lot of bad dialogue and some poor acting. The effort here to trim much of those away is very appreciated. On the other hand, a lot of the deleted scenes and extended material is added back IN (a big difference from other edits) and honestly: most of it isn't that good.

The quality of the editing here is fantastic (although I had the same error another poster mentioned: the post-credit audio was not synced). Many of the choices about how to restructure the narrative are creative and clever. What we're left with is a very worthy successor for the middle part of the film. There is meta-narrative, red herrings, some good hints but good choices about things to exclude so as not to make it too easy to figure out.

However, the original material is just very weak in the beginning and ending. I personally think Emma Roberts' acting veers more into her dad's ability (Eric) than her aunt's (Julia), and that REALLY comes out as a weak point in the end, even with the edits here. The two actresses in the beginning also do not manage to sell the poor writing their saddled with, and it's some of the worst executed directing of Craven's, too. I'd honestly prefer an edit that just disposes of the too-clever beginning entirely and starts on Sidney returning to town. Then include brief scenes of the original killings as flashbacks when SHE finds out. Similarly, if there's a way to trim even MORE of Roberts after she changes up her acting style, that would be helpful for the film.

So what we have here is almost six of one, half a dozen of the other. Good omissions, but not enough. A few good additions, but mostly bad stuff. I can recommend this as better than the theatrical cut, but (for me) it's not the best possible "fix" for the movie.