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Home , Scream (franchise), Scream 3, Scream 4, Sidney Prescott

movies April 15, 2011 ‘’ returns, and (surprise!) movies people are dying movies By Wesley Morris changed in the intervening 11 GLOBE STAFF years, but, sadly, not the hen ‘‘’’ ‘‘Scream’’ franchise, which has ‘Scream’ returns, arrived in 2000, Bill coughed up a needless fourth Clinton was still in installment that coasts on the the White House, winking ironies and Teflon self- W GEMMA LA MANA// ‘Scream’ retumostrns,cellphones could make only awareness of its predecessors. I and (surprise!) calls, reality television was a don’t need to tell you ‘‘’’ is one of a handful of stars who appear in ’s ‘‘Scream 4.’’ novelty, and Lady Gaga was just is unnecessary. The movie spends some girl named Stefani from the most of its running time in a explaining how the slasher-genre MOVIE REVIEW you rarely see in a slasher-movie and (surprise!)Upper West Side. Everything’s state of antic self-justification, rules that the series so cleverly blonde. 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Methuen 888-AMC-4FUN Danvers 978-777-4000 Hingham 781-749-8780 COMMONWest Newton19617-964-6060 REGAL CINEMAS Boston 888-AMC-4FUN DEDHAM LEXINGTON VENUE BELLINGHAM 14 the tabloid-TV reporter Gail den Panettiere, who plays Jill’s AMC Lexington Bellingham 800-326-3264 #443 COMMUNITY 781-861-6161 Weathers (Courteney Cox), is best friend and wears her hair Wesley Morris can be reached at 16 BL[HE BOS[TN GLOBE L9PRIL 15, 2011FRAMINGHAM 16 Dedham REGAL CINEMAS Framingham 888-AMC-4FUN 781-326-0409 PATRIOT CINEMAS SOLOMON POND MALL 15 struggling to write another one. short and swept back. Panettiere [email protected] or followed AMC LOEWS HOLLYWOOD HITS AT THE HINGHAM Marlborough 800-326-3264 #448 METHUEN 20 PREMIERE THEATRE SHIPYARD WEST NEWTON CINEMA The discovery of two dead, for- has a tough, dignified glamour on Twitter: @wesley_morris. Methuen 888-AMC-4FUN Danvers 978-777-4000 Hingham 781-749-8780 West Newton 617-964-6060

16 BL[HE BOS[TN GLOBE L9PRIL 15, 2011 April 15, 2011

Sidney is one of the strangest characters to appear in an American movie. She continues to come back to this bloody primal scene and every time the death toll rises, she can't believe it's happening again. Campbell seems too smart a woman for this be a problem of intelligence. It's more a matter of pathology: Will this be the movie I don't survive? Campbell applies her unique battle-weary poise to everything from donkey-kicking approaching assailants to sipping mugs of tea. The movie's overpopulated with potential victims and suspects − Mary McDonnell, , Adam Brody, , Rory Culkin, on down. The best of them is , who plays Jill's best friend and wears her hair short and swept back. Panettiere has a tough, dignified glamour you rarely see in a slasher-movie blonde. She and the underused Cox are the only two who appear to be enjoying themselves. The first two movies were horror films having a caffeinated conversation with its audience about the genre's cliches. Their high-wire act was fun: Could a scary movie mock itself and still scare? The limited fun of the third, which Ehren Kruger wrote, was watching the series cannibalize itself. "Scream 4" has a smart beginning, featuring and Kristen Bell, and one well-delivered line at the end that would have brought down the house in a better movie. But Williamson appears to be at a loss for what he'd like to say with a fourth "Scream" beyond "ka-ching." Eleven years ago Williamson was a still in-demand writer and producer. He had an annoying way with sentence construction, but his verbose young people became the model for lots of the verbose young people we're still stuck with. Where would the CW be without him? "Scream 4" feels like the work of people who haven't noticed how much popular culture and the horror genre have changed since the first "Scream" arrived in 1996. Despite some topical gags about social media and Channing Tatum's erstwhile abs, the new movie feels so two decades ago. Yes, there's a big speech at the end about how dirt-cheap fame has become in 2011. It sounds desperate nonetheless. You'd believe it a lot more were it delivered by a Kardashian. Wesley Morris can be reached at [email protected] or followed on Twitter: @wesley_morris.