Scream 4 - or Scre4m if you want to be pedantic

I see the poster says, "New Decade. New Rules" ... hmmm ... probably not. "New Decade. Homage to the first" might be more apt. Scream 4 pays huge dues to the original film in more ways than mere returning cast members.

1. There is lots of movie geek, I mean, movie buff flotsam floating about. This is okay if you can smirk/laugh along knowingly whilst patting yourself on the back for understanding all this self-referentialising (I'm allowed to make up words, it's in the blogger handbook). But like bloody Dawson, it gets a little trying ... less of the speaky more of the stabby please.

2. Replication of the original murders, even if they are in the movie within a movie. Scream 4 sadly peaks before the real movie starts. And from all perspectives - scares, dialogue, humour, gore.

3. Replication of plot. Even if they are nudging and winking - I've still been there, seen that. Although there was something quite comforting, and certainly less scary, to watch a "horror" film and know what is going to happen. I say "horror" in inverted commas, because it's really more of a comedy with some blood. Even Andrew's sister wanted to see it. And she is too afraid to see the Harry Potter movies. Say no more.

On this note. Surely a horror film is memorable for the manner in which the victims are slaughtered. I can't really quite remember what happened in the previous movies, nor who it was in the end. After a lengthy debate, it was finally agreed that it was Johnny Depp-lite Skeet Ulrich and the dude that plays Shaggy in Scooby Doo. But it's a horror film at the end of the day, you're not supposed to remember motivations or plot points - you really only need to remember how and in what manner the cast were killed. And I honestly couldn't tell you. Except to say, they were stabbed by Ghostface.

Any suspense was so self-referential (that word again - I can't avoid it) that it mitigated any true or visceral response. With nods to Gen Y - and everything we like to say about them - entitlement, self-absorbed, technically savvy, fame hungry, narcisitic, and even a disertation on the phenonemon of torture porn maskerading as horror. Okay we get it, but at the end of the day, you have to give me something more with your rant. The issue about 15 minutes of fame and that you don't have to do anything: 'what am I going to do - go to college and get a job' Emma Roberts sneers incredulously to Neve Campbell. I like the social media element - it doesn't happen unless someone is watching or reading ... she types into her online blog ... irony withstanding - I liked it, it was timely. But I think Scream 4 missed the mark. It just wasn't scary enough.