Hayden Panettiere Helped Launch A Major Horror Franchise Into A New Era
“Come on Mr. Ghostface, whisper to me! Aren't you supposed to ask me a question?”
Back in 1996, Scream sent the horror movie into its postmodern era. Slashers were still alive and well, but the new rage was self-aware horror, which tried to deconstruct or subvert the tropes that made the genre famous. Scream famously accomplished this with an opening where Ghostface quizzes his victim on scary movies, while also featuring a cast of characters who knew their way around the genre’s archetypes.
That was novel, but by the 2010s, the self-referential horror movie was old hat. Still, in 2011, Scream 4 managed to find a fresh take on the story. Featuring a refreshing performance by Hayden Panettiere, who recently passed away at 36, it was a groundbreaking movie that deserves a rewatch.
Scream 4 begins by quite literally doubling down on its meta approach. An opening involving Lucy Hale and Shenae Grimes transitions into another opening with Anna Paquin and Kristen Bell, which finally brings us back to Woodsboro.
This time, the focus isn’t on Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), who’s off on a book tour with her opportunistic publicist Rebecca (Alison Brie). Instead, the spotlight is now on Jill Roberts, Sidney’s younger cousin, who, along with her best friend Kirby (Panettiere), is next in Ghostface’s sights. But just like in every other scream movie, the truth behind the mask-wearing murderer isn’t a simple one.
Scream 4 brought the Woodsboro murders to a new crop of high schoolers.
Scream recognizes its own place in pop culture. Scream 2 debated the merits of sequels, while Scream 3 put the microscope on the Hollywood machine. With all the best ideas used up, Scream 4 took a different tack by rebooting the franchise with a satire of reboots. As Bell says in one of the fake openings, “The whole self-aware, postmodern meta-s*** is over. Stick a fork in 1996 already.”
It’s a lot of irony for one movie, but the cast, including Panettiere’s Kirby, can handle it. Kirby, like many Scream characters, is a horror movie fanatic, but she’s different from the constantly yapping stock character who establishes the movie’s rules. Instead, she’s cynical, snarky, and full of heart. She may ultimately place her trust in the wrong person, but she proves that reboots are nothing without respect for what came before.
Scream 4 has not just one but two false openings.
And instead of leaning on nostalgia-bait, Scream 4 had an eye toward the future, integrating live streaming before it became as common as it is now. The franchise may be in limbo right now, but if it was able to get itself back on the rails once, it can do so again.
