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I Am Number Four is an adaptation of the popular young adult novel of the same name. It concerns Number Four (Alex 'Stormbreaker' Pettyfer), the fourth in a line of aliens that have fled their planet, taking refuge on Earth. The bad guys they are fleeing arrive on Earth to finish them off. They kill the first three aliens, imaginatively named Number One, Two and Three, and start on their hunt for Number Four. This leads Four to flee with his guardian (Timothy Olyphant) and settle in Paradise (sigh), Ohio.

Sigh. This film. There are three things I liked about this film:

SPOILER FREE

I’ve been waiting for this film for 11 years. The first one is my favorite horror movie ever so I went into this with a sense of excitement and apprehension – which is an odd mixture of emotions when walking into my local cinema-plex. Was I right to be wary of this film? No. Was it worth the 11 year wait? Hell yes.

I was only 12 years old the first time I watched Scream but I remember exactly where I was, who I was with and what I’d eaten during it (a delicious Meat Feast pizza in case you were wondering). Scream was the film that introduced me to the Horror genre and provided me with a world outside of Disney and Chick Flicks. Basically, it was a huge part of my younger years so my hopes for this instalment were very, very high.

Most horror films are lucky to have 2 or 3 big names; this one has loads which is a testament to how much people love the franchise. Firstly, there’s Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox and David Arquette from the first 3 and then a whole host of newbie’s... Shenae Grimes, Britt Robertson Kirsten Bell, Anna Paquin, Hayden Panatierre, Emma Roberts and Rory McCaulkin to name a few (these are just the ones that I can remember).

Without giving anything away, the storyline revolves around the fact that Sidney (Neve Campbell) has come back to Woodsboro to promote her book 10 years after the first movie. As you can imagine, that’s when it all goes tits-up. I really don’t want to give you any hints so I’m not going into the story any more than that. I’m not telling you who dies, who lives or who the killer is but just know that the final reveal is totally awesome. It was not who I thought it was and none of the people I was with guessed who it was either.

Obviously the first 3 all had rules you had to follow to survive and this is no different however, because it’s the whole “New Decade, New Rules” thing, there's only one way to survive and I can tell you it’s hilarious... you’ll know what I mean you see it.

Scream used what had gone before and reinvented it, that’s why it worked so well. Scre4m does the same. It uses the fact that the only horror films to get green lit in Hollywood anymore are remakes/reboots and sequels. It uses this to its advantage and frequently highlights how absurd it is – making references to the many Saw and Final Destination films as well as the the long list of recent remakes (Which pretty much get listed in thorough detail by Hayden Panatierre at one point). I can’t tell if it’s being cavalier about it or tongue-in-cheek. Either way, it works.

There are also some really good scares... not all of them though, some were predictable and kind of a letdown but the majority of them were brilliant. The opening sequence has a genuine WTF moment that completely confused the person I was sitting next to which I thought was great (It does actually makes sense, she was just slow on the uptake).

Overall, it was exactly what I had hoped it would be... funny, sharp and exciting. I highly recommend you go and see this. Hopefully, if the rumours are true, it’ll be the start of a new trilogy.

Rating: 8 out of 10.

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