Nicely done

Rating: 5/10 (13 June 2005)

Tame, by the numbers slasher film still manages to earn some big scares and features an appealing cast. A group of teenagers shortly after graduation accidentally kill someone. Fearing police charges the kids take matters into their own hands by getting rid of the body. Flash forward one year, now the kids begin to receive threatening letters and are starting to disappear cause of a person who Screams. Rated R; Violence, Profanity, Mild Sexual Situations.
The biggest failing of the film is the performances. The murderer is not as effective as ones like Ghostface or Freddy - partly because he lacks screen presence but also because we all feel sorry for him - after all he's not crazy, he's only taking revenge. The teens in question make it worse - with the exception of Love Hewitt and maybe Prinze they are pretty unpleasant people - spoilt brats mainly. From the start onwards you want them to be killed - it makes it even harder to care about what's going on when you don't care if the characters live or die.
Overall this is a rather tame horror movie - low on bodycount and gore, only some action scenes are tense and exciting but most things you can see coming a mile away. The red-herrings are left unexplained at the end (why is Ray the only one not targeted?) and the end is both lazy and insulting - and of course leaves it open for a sequel. Great.