In “Scream 4,” the recently-released thriller directed by Wes Craven, a publicist refers to Sydney Prescott (Neve Campbell) as a “victim for life.” For Prescott, who was attacked and nearly murdered in the original “Scream”  trilogy, the characterization rings true. In “Scream 4,” victimhood and the publicity that accompanies it are major themes as a new killer emerges in Woodsboro, the site of the original murders.

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On a publicity tour to promote her new book “Out of Darkness,” Prescott returns to Woodsboro where she reunites with former tabloid reporter Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) and Dewey Riley (David Arquette). Weathers and Riley are married and while the former is writing a novel, the latter spends his time as the town sheriff. Even before Prescott starts signing books at a local store, a new killer has already struck. That killer is soon hunting down some of the local teenagers and trying to murder Prescott.  

As I previously noted, I enjoyed the original “Scream” trilogy. Like a lot of horror movies, the series features a lot of violence and gore but the stories are well-told. The trilogy was created to serve a certain audience and they do that well. While “Scream 2” was the best of the original trilogy, “Scream 3” was the weakest. “Scream 4” should be rated beneath the original two “Screams” but above “Scream 3.”

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After more than a decade, the long-awaited fourth entry in the “Scream” catalog arrives in theaters this weekend. The original “Scream,” which was released in 1996, launched this suspenseful series about a woman named Sydney Prescott who is being hunted down by a killer wearing a ghost-face mask. In preparation for “Scream 4,” I pulled out my VHS copies of the first three movies and watched the trilogy this past weekend.

As a long time fan of the series, I am hoping that “Scream 4” is more like the first two installments rather than the inferior third.

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Scream (1996): I was thirteen-years-old when the first “Scream” was released so I didn’t see it in theaters. However, after hearing about it a few years later, I was excited to watch it and loved its mix of suspense and witty humor. “Scream” starts out with a seemingly innocuous phone call that turns deadly for a high school teen (Drew Barrymore), who is murdered in her own front yard. It is eventually revealed that the killer’s main target is Sydney Prescott (Neve Campbell), whose mother had been murdered a year earlier.

If you like slasher films, the first “Scream” is a great one with self-referential humor and characters who understand the horror genre even as they are being hunted by a killer themselves. Henry Winkler has a neat role as a high school principal but the biggest scene-stealer in the movie is Courteney Cox, who appears as the despicable and manipulative television reporter Gale Weathers. (more…)

So, during that week while the world was fixated on “important” matters like trapped miners and political debates, a more monumental event took place: David Arquette and the chick from Friends separated.

Yep. This news sent shock waves through my soul, as I could only wonder if a drill bit existed that could extricate Mr. Arquette from the deep, deep hole his mouth dragged him into.

I speak of his interview with Howard Stern a few days ago. In it, Arquette spilled the beans on his marital troubles. He told the world that his wife initiated the separation, quoting her telling him, “I don’t want to be your mother anymore.” He then confessed they didn’t have sex for five months and that after they split up -he had casual sex with “the girl in the paper.” He differentiated sex with her and sex with his wife, in a manner that did him no favors.

You can find what he said, here. 

And so the disarming, goofy actor made the biggest mistake a married man could ever make: he was honest. (more…)