thoughts on Scream 4 (mild spoilers)

I don't like scary movies. However, I didn't realize this until my mid-twenties, because some of the first scary movies that I ever saw and liked (the ones that came out during my teen years, a.k.a. my prime scary movie watching years) were, as I sensed at the time and would later confirm, not like other scary movies. Scream, its sequels, and even the not-quite-as-good-but-still-entertaining wannabe movies that followed it (I Know What You Did Last Summer, Urban Legend, etc.) were more fun than the average scary movie. They interspersed some funny moments in with the gore. They had entertaining characters. They (and I'm including both Scream and its followers, here) featured lots of the actors I liked from my favorite TV shows (including-- but not limited to-- Neve Campbell and Jennifer Love Hewitt from Party of Five; Courteney Cox from Friends; and Joshua Jackson from Dawson's Creek). So, I entered my twenties thinking that I liked scary movies, only to go on to watch "real" scary movies and find myself grossed out, disturbed, and well...scared. I stopped watching scary movies. I hadn't seen one in the theater since The Ring in 2002.

Then, Scream 4 came out. I was interested in seeing it, but not as interested as I was in seeing other stuff that came out at the same time, I guess, because I didn't see it until today, after it had arrived at Showplace Cinemas South, a.k.a. "the cheap theater." I am happy to say that it didn't disappoint. The fun (including not one but two "fakeout" opening scenes)! The familiar actors (including the stars of the original Scream movies and actors from current TV shows, like Lucy Hale from Pretty Little Liars, Aimee Teegarden from Friday Night Lights, and Alison Brie from Community)! And a storyline-- and characters-- that expressed not only a knowledge of the horror genre, but a knowledge of current teen culture: a culture where, as one character notes, everyone lives their lives in public, and you don't have to achieve anything to be famous-- you just have to have messed up stuff happened to you. I don't want to give too much away here, but let me just say that not only does it not disappoint, but that I could totally get behind a new Scream movie coming out every five or ten years or so. I'd definitely recommend this one, everyone.