Scream 4 vs. Scream 5 (spoilers)

[spanky87]

The last two Scream sequels. Both play around with the ideas of remakes/soft-reboots. Scream 4 condemns them and ends up killing off the new generation of characters, and has Sid, Gale, Dewey stand tall at the end with the emphatic statement: “Don’t **** with the original”, whereas Scream 5 ends up being the expected soft-reboot/legacy sequel with the old cast playing a smaller role and one of them being killed off.

Which was the better Scream sequel?

I’m putting this here because the poll sub-forum is a mess with random polls.

[levcore]

Originally Posted by spanky87

I’m putting this here because the poll sub-forum is a mess with random polls.

But that forum is the place for it lol.

[DR Herbert West]

Scream 4

[spanky87]

Originally Posted by levcore

But that forum is the place for it lol.

Quiet you.

[dallywhitty]

Scream 4 ftw.

[MuffinMcFluffin]

This sounds bad, but Scream 4 would win if it didn't have minor, easily fixable moments for me:

- The opening had one too many gags, and the best characters were the Stab 6 characters rather than our own. But really, Stab 7 just doesn't make sense. If we go and watch Scream 7 next year in theaters and the opening to Scream 6 plays, I'll start WTF'ing out loud and leave the theater to ask the manager to put in the right film. But the fact that even Marnie and Jenny's opening still has people question whether it's the real one or maybe if it's Stab 8 means Craven didn't properly convey a more serious tone in that moment. I noticed it was real, because (1) you don't do it three times in a row, though twice was already too many, and (2) their conversation about Woodsboro should've been enough... but if you watch enough reaction videos, maybe they're dumb but the director should hit that lowest common denominator as well.

- The filters on the image that looks like the whites are blown out with a diffuse glow appearance, and everything is touched up/softened to gives this pure clean digital look. The fact that this was shot on film and gives zero impression of it is sad. Even Woodsboro is unrecognizable as a setting (not by location, just by feel and tone). This was an incredibly terrible decision by Craven and Deming, and what makes matters worse is there's nothing we can do in the editing room to address it, especially with Craven having now left us and not having a new say on his vision should a UHD release indicate they wanted to address it. It is hideous, and often times when I pop in the film I am forgetful of the fact it'll be there until it suddenly shows up in the first shot. This would've been a nice way for Stab 6 & 7 to differentiate themselves from Scream 4, though... give them such distinguished passes, and then give Scream 4 a nice, gritty, filmic look. It's a shame.

- The eye-rolling comedy bits make this film feel like a parody sometimes. Not a satire, not meta, just a parody. Anthony Anderson is laughing during his death scene, and they take out the impact of what otherwise was an awesome shot and death of being stabbed through the forehead with comedic lines such as "**** Bruce Willis" (although it's a different part of the brain, we saw what a "good death" should look like in Omar Epps' character in Scream 2 and the seriousness of the moment). Deputy Judy Hicks has her "Wear the vest, save your chest" line, which admittedly is fine to say, but the acting in the moment with her dramatically collapsing needed another take. Scream is known for its comedy and even some of its ditzy characters, but that comedy shouldn't override narrative logic, nor should it serve the audience at the expense of the situation.


These are small, nitpicky items, and not only that but they can be easily addressed. Perhaps others disagree with these, and that's why we all have opinions as I wanted to state mine. Scream 4 is the more Scream-like film in many other ways and didn't pander as often as Scream 5 did, but these moments were detracting to my overall experience. I love the film, but notches get brought down with these moments in play. Scream 5, on the other hand, has a wonderful opening and had the gall to be serious enough by killing Dewey, and I was all for that (didn't expect it either). I don't like how Dewey died in that Ghostface relied on something that was out of their control (plus the fact that Dewey has a more serious matter to attend to), but I like that they treated the moment right and we were served with heavy impact in doing so. This and Scream 6 were indeed shot digitally and have a cooler color timing than you'd see in Scream 1-4, and if it were up to me I'd love to see us go back to a more vintage filmic look, but Scream 4 was obnoxious about it whilst S5 was simply modern.

Scream 4 had significantly better killers though, especially when I don't believe the Richie and Amber relationship (nor was it necessary) and throughout the film I was expecting Stu to reveal himself because of the nods toward his name. I'll forgive the last point though when I am now more convinced than ever than Scream 5-7 was meant to be a trilogy that also served as a legacy-capper where S7 has Stu return ultimately, so they can still redeem themselves there. Everything is now changing because of what happened with Melissa Barrera, but I'm still holding onto hope they can make that occur. Although as an overall, Ghostface had better dialogue in Scream 5. I thought S4's dialogue was too try-hard, though I have to remind myself it is the individuals making the call (in this case, Jill and Charlie) and it's not just some singular figure in all of them so I forgive it, but that doesn't make the dialogue itself better as a whole.

Anyway, I'd have more points to make as an overall, but for me Scream 4 had more negatives affect me than Scream 5 did, though S5 made me feel like S4 became the redheaded stepchild of the series (in that minus Judy and Kirby, you could skip right past it and not notice you missed anything) and it basically did the same thing by having reboot/requel rules with a new set of characters, but since they carried on with the bore four it means that S5 canonically matters much more than Scream 4 as an overall, and lasting impact also matters. Scream 5 wins by enough, but nothing will touch my precious Scream 2 and 1 (in that order) until they can return to form a little more. Hopefully Scream 7 finds a way to do that with Kevin Williamson at the helm.

[Guy87]

I'd have to re-watch Scream 5, I've only seen it once.

But on the whole might find it hard to decide. I mean...Scream is Scream is Scream.

[Lehnhart]

5 is still too fresh for me to have a strong opinion on which I like more. Really really like 4. And really enjoyed 5 too. I'll give it another watch before deciding but they both are very close.

[rooboy78]

Scream 4 was wildly disappointing for me and is my least fave sequel. I actually hate so many things about it (most of the characters, the acting, the ugly filter, the misplaced comedy).

Scream 5 was way better and reinvigorated my love of the franchise.

[jeff BD]

Originally Posted by rooboy78

Scream 4 was wildly disappointing for me and is my least fave sequel. I actually hate so many things about it (most of the characters, the acting, the ugly filter, the misplaced comedy).

Scream 5 was way better and reinvigorated my love of the franchise.

I couldn’t have said it better myself. Might i add the casting besides Kirby was terrible as well. Theres a good movie in there and that’s what alot of ppl claim to see but unfortunately its not on the surface for me

[AnthonyGG]

Scream 4 all the way...and Screams 1,2 and 3 as well

[Pouyan]

Scream 5 characters/plot > Scream 4 characters/plot
Scream 4 killers/motivation > Scream 5 killers/motivation

[DenOfEarth]

Scream 4 was mediocre but had a couple of likable characters despite some other lame new characters and at least the remaining original characters were treated with actual respect and didn't get crapped on like in the new movie. The direction in that is at least solid despite a mixed script as i felt Scream 3 was a nice way to end the franchise. But 4 wasn't too bad despite it's a HELL of a lot better than 5.

5 on the other hand was a shockingly bad piece of shit and the worst Scream movie yet. A passionless moneygrab with flat direction (despite the directors did well on Ready or Not which has better direction than this), the screenplay sucks as it's bankrupt on ideas like this movie is and the characters aren't likable and are like cardboard cutouts then human beings like in the first 3 movies as the acting by the new cast is trash. The old characters are used as props in this movie, even Dewey has gotten The Last Jedi and Bill and Ted face the music syndrome done to him as a beloved likable character like Dewey is now a loser and ass hole, that made me wanna tear the screen in the downtown Vegas theater apart after seeing that as luckily i didn't pay a dime to see this movie in a theater but used a free ticket to see it.

The writing was substandard even halfassed and poor pacing as the characters sucked, even the main girl couldn't act her way out of a Ghostface mask. The meta moments and attempts at satire here were better in the first 3 movies and done better in Final Girls, Behind the Mask, Tragedy Girls and a few others as this was a tedious stab in the ass for the franchise and a middle finger to fans of the franchise. Plus the way they killed off Dewey was lazy and not in a heroic sacrifice fashion but just for cheap shock value. This movie didn't help Scream, it killed it.

One of my most despised sequels with Alien 3, Creepshow 3, Robocop 3, Halloween 5, Alien Covanant, The Last Jedi, The Hidden II, Home Sweet Home Alone, Speed 2, Friday The 13th part 8 Jason Takes Manhattan, Elm Street 5 Dream Child, Cult of Chucky, Ninja Turtles III, Dark Knight Rises, Batman and Robin, Spider-Man 3, X-Men 3, Mortal Kombat Annhilation, Star Trek Generations, Terminator Dark Fate, Superman IV and more

[Guy87]

Nah it was fine.

[doctor1313]

I liked the characters in 4 more, and the motivation made more sense. Plus Sidney was important in 4, whereas she added nothing to 5. Nice to see her, but the plot would be the same without her.

And 4 is Wes's last movie.

[Pounder]

Scream 4 easily.

[Winslow Leach]

SCREAM (2022)

I thought it was a strong sequel. I didn't care for SCREAM 4. It's the worst in the franchise to me. The killers were disappointing, and the ending was weak. SCREAM '22 was entertaining from start to finish.

[Steedeel]

Both were quite forgettable and don’t come even remotely close to replicating the first two film’s brilliance.

[rooboy78]

Scream 2022 did a MUCH better job replicating the “Scream feeling” for me than Scream 4 did. And Gale and Dewey were fantastic in 2022 and actually felt like the same characters from the first two movies as opposed to Scream 4 where it seems the writers had no idea what to do with them or how to write them. Their time in Scream ‘22 was perfection to me.

[oubukibun]

I liked Scream 5, but Scream 4 tops it for me. It's really that simple (and THAT kill is just the best kind of Craven nastiness, something I had missed from the previous two despite my absolute adoration for the second installment, which is ranked first for me).

HOWEVER: If Scream 5's gore had not received the trims it did and they had given the Wes character what almost proved to be a worthwhile stalking/chase sequence and framed him even more as the "dumb blonde" kill some of the cinematic language kept framing around him...

It would've been a much closer call.

But as it is, that third act was just lazy. I never had an issue with the OG kill, but they didn't even spend time giving it its due, even on the level of filmmaking (editing, music, etc.), so it didn't linger. Arquette didn't do himself any favors, either—easily the worst of his performances as Dewey, even with the weirdo slapstick reactions from the fourth.