Scream 4 loses top spot at box office despite the hype

Ghostface returns to kill some more.  The original team and cast reunite for Scream 4, which was released last Friday. The film has been highly anticipated by loyal fans of the original and sequels.

Fifteen years later after the original, Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) returns to Woodsboro to promote her book “Out of Darkness,” which is about her dealing with the dreadful ordeals she survived and are now supposedly in the past.  With the town reminded of the tragic murders, her celebrity status is not lost on Ghostface, who sees her homecoming as an opportunity to bring out his blade and live up to his reputation.  As usual for the series, everyone is a suspect (even Sidney herself).

Scream 4 also offers fresh blood. The cast is joined with other likely suspects including Sidney’s cousin Jill (Emma Roberts), who is obsessed with her famous relative, and her friends Olivia (Marielle Jaffe) and Kirby (Hayden Panettiere).  While those who appear in horror movies aren’t always praised for their acting ability, the newcomers are quite convincing. They say that all of that screaming can actually be very difficult to convey convincingly on-screen.

At the Scream 4 Premiere, Panettiere said, “Having a creepy masked figure chasing you helps, though, there’s something really terrifying about that mask, a lot of masks nowadays, they have the boils and they just look gruesome and icky. There’s something so simple about that [‘Scream’] mask, but so frightening. It’s eerie.”

Roberts said, “The trick lies in really committing to the emotion and not giving in to the worry that it might make you look stupid to do so.  You have to go for it. You can’t hold back. You just gotta do it. Because otherwise, you look silly.”

Still in Woodsboro and back for more are Dewey Riley (David Arquette), now sheriff, and his wife Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox), the former reporter and now struggling author who wrote the books that served as the source material for the “Stab” movie series based on Sidney’s experiences.  Weathers sees the new killing spree as a chance to bust out of her severe writer’s bloc, a depression that might be connected to the fact that she’s married to the sweatily incompetent Sheriff Dewey.

Neve Campbell was very happy to reunite with costars Courteney Cox and David Arquette.  “It’s great working with Courteney and David again; it’s like summer camp. The biggest change is this younger cast we have, and they’re great,” she said of new additions such as Emma Roberts and Hayden Panettiere.

Make sure to check out Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Emma Roberts, Hayden Panettiere, Anthony Anderson, Adam Brody and many more return to the fictional town of Woodsboro, where Campbell’s Sidney Prescott inspires homicide en masse.  In the official trailer, director Wes Craven makes good on those rumored cameos — Kristen Bell, Anna Paquin, Shenae Grimes and “Pretty Little Liars” star Lucy Hale all show up.  Don’t miss the latest “Scream” installment out in theaters now and watch the official trailer below.

Scream 4 turned out to be very entertaining with a shocking conclusion.  The plot line was interesting and clever enough to remain fresh despite it being sequel number three.  With that said, it of course was not better than the original Scream but still worth watching especially for those loyal fans out there.

You’re guaranteed a good time even if you are scared out of your mind.  The movie was not that scary but focused more on the “who dunn it” murder mystery angle.  It was ripe with funny moments and included multiple references to technology today including the fictional “Ghostface” app, which can turn your voice into Ghostfaces’ when making a call.

Despite the hype, Scream 4 did not end up on top at this weekend’s box office.  The children’s movie “Rio” dominated, taking the number one spot.  Rio features Blu who is a domesticated Macaw that never learned to fly.  He lives with his best friend Linda in the small town of Moose Lake, Minnesota.

Blu believes he is the last of his kind but when he learns about another macaw living in Rio de Janeiro, he sets out ona mission to find Jewel, his female counterpart.  However, the journey does not go exactly according to plan. Blu encounters obstacles that he must overcome in order to return home safely while trying to find the courage to learn how to fly.  Make sure to check out Rio, the number one hit of the box office, now in theaters.  The trailer is below

Photo from Looking Glass via Flickr