1551 - Scream 4

I was in high school when the original film came out, and it was one that I revisited over and over.  It's a really damn good, smart film - and even though I knew everything that was coming - I dug it.  There's a fun irony to some of the characters in this film having the same affection for the original "Stab" film. 
So I'll try to keep this spoiler free, but I'll give you a heads up if I feel like it's going to veer into that category.  So this series took a much needed break after the disaster that was Scream 3, besides just being a return to the original local, this one is smart by taking us back to basics.  The film has a pretty damn great opening and has a lot of fun with it's self aware meta-attitude - one might worry from this opening that the film might entirely be about this - but luckily the commentary about films, horrors, remakes, sequels, etc... are used sparingly and it isn't a case of overkill.  To add to the pros column (which, by the way, I think it stacked high enough to recommend this film), is a really well done ending - which, let's face it, is what this series is all about - the reveal!  And as good as it was, this also leads us into the cons conversation - which will probably contains some form of spoiler - but I won't be specific.
First off, this is the kind of film where it's designed for everyone to be a red herring, so anyone walking away saying that they figured out who the killer (or killers) are is, I'm sure in some way telling the truth, but I'm sure no one walked away declaring it as being obvious.  It's not a shocker by any means, and as interesting as it was, it's not the most original idea for this series - and not in a self mocking way - they're actually repeating themself in kind of an annoying way - but I'll let it slide since it ties in so nicely and, in a way, brings the series full circle.  I suppose that the biggest problem I had was that I barely got involved in the characters - Kirby was probably the only character that I really got behind (Hayden Panettiere was great).  We didn't really follow them along the way we did in the other series and so it was hard to connect, and therefore, hard to care about them - so by default I cared about our original core cast - but never for a moment felt like they were in danger - even when they were attacked.
So to summarize - I liked it - it was pretty decent, and probably the second best of the series (the original still being the best) although I'm not sure anything beats the scene in the second film where Sydney has to get herself out of the back of a police car.
If you're a fan of the original series you'll probably see this anyway - if you're new then at least go back and watch the original film first.  Enjoy!