Scre4m

After a 12-year break, the fourth instalment in the Scream franchise is largely predicated on the spurious "new rules" that now apply to the very slasher movies it knowingly parodies. Neve Campbell's perpetual survivor is now a boring adult who's on a tour to promote her self-help book. This, of course, brings her back to suburban Woodsboro, where Courteney Cox's reporter and David Arquette's sheriff still reside. And, as expected, a new generation of photogenic high schoolers - notably Emma Roberts and Heroes alumnus Hayden Panettiere - get sucked into the latest killing spree by a Ghostface-masked psycho, the mystery of whose identity props up a saggy, repetitive plot. The obligatory film geeks (Rory Culkin, Erik Knudsen) provide commentary on recent genre developments, but beyond more blood, coarser language and references to internet fame, original writer Kevin Williamson and director Wes Craven fail to convert cleverness into on-screen originality or daring. Characters keep mentioning the trendy term "reboot", but Scre4m is really just a rehash.