I decided to give the movie industry one more chance by going to see the fourth installment of the “Scream” saga. Big mistake.

“Scream 4” was everything I expected and nothing I wanted.

When I first saw that Wes Craven had signed on for not only “Scream 4,” but also a whole new “Scream” trilogy, I was devastated beyond belief.

I was 7 years old when my love affair with horror movies began and movies have been a part of my life ever since.

I can still remember watching Stephen King’s “It” in the basement of my cousin’s house and from then on I was fascinated with the horror genre, but I would never look at clowns the same way.

It is my belief that horror movies have the most versatile and creative group of actors and writers compared to any other genre in the industry.

Or that was my belief before I realized Hollywood had quickly lost its innovative drive and plunged its followers into the “decade of the remake.”

Horror films allow audiences to share jointly in an emotion that we usually bottle up when we are in the presence of others – fear.

“Poltergeist,” “The Exorcist,” “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” “Night of the Living Dead” and “I Know What You Did Last Summer,” are all classics because they were the first movies to really explore their own individual splice of horror.

After I would watch these films, I would know the directors, producers, writers and actors did the best job they could have done, but lately I have left every movie tearing plots apart.

Horror films have quickly replaced plots with unnecessary blood and guts.

“Scream 4” brought me to the realization that the age of good movies – maybe in general – is dead.

Gone are the days where I would worry for the entire cast even though I would know two-thirds of them would end up dying in the shower or being skewered by a hunting knife.

Instead I find myself rooting for the killer- who seems to be the only one making intelligent decisions.

I mean, seriously, how many times do characters have to watch their friends die before they realize they should not have sex in the woods because everyone knows only virgins survive horror movies?

The movie industry has quickly become like reality television where one person steps out of the box and then suddenly everyone is watching “The Real Housewives of Charleston” because there is nothing better playing.

Go to any movie theater and I can almost guarantee that at least half of the movies are either a remake or some type of book turned feature film.

The original cast of Scream were relatively unknown -“Party of Five” does not count- and that was the beauty of the film because we got to form bonds to characters we did not know.

The young Hollywood-packed cast of “Scream 4” did little to gain my interest until the less than startlingly “twist” that left me thinking: “Oh my God, why not just put the original ‘Scream’ back on the big screen?”

For those of you who have watched the movie, you know what I am referring to and those of you who do not – go see the movie or Google it.

This is my plea to any theater or film major on campus: after you have graduated and un-friended random acquaintances on Facebook- remember to always look for different ways of expression.

If every film is being seen in IMAX then make a black and white film.

Nike Ogunbodede can be reached at 581-2812 or

ovogunbodede@eiu.edu.