It’s time to scream again.
No, not just because it’s Halloween time, but because the fifth entry into the continually popular Scream” movie franchise is coming soon.
Titled simply “Scream” (with no sequel number designation attached), it’s the first in what fans have debated could be excitingly original or template-destroying changes to the franchise. The official trailer for the new film was released on Tuesday morning.
This will be the first “Scream” flick since 2011’s "Scream 4," but more importantly the first one not directed by legendary horror maven, Wes Craven, who passed away in 2015.
Co-directors of the new one, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, were confident they had a great script, but knew it depended on getting some of the original actors to agree to sign on to the project -- specifically Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, and David Arquette, reports Entertainment Weekly.
"It was a wildly anxiety-producing situation," said Gillett. "They were not disposable roles. They were very, very important and the heartbeat of what was great about the script. We couldn't imagine the movie without any of them and so not having that perfectly locked-in right off the bat was definitely scary."
Not to mention that the delicate balance of shrieks and laughs that have marked the franchise’s unique formula is a hard one to wrangle. But eventually, the three actors agreed to come back.
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"I genuinely was in two minds," said Neve Campbell about the reboot idea. "The idea of making these films without Wes Craven seemed challenging to me. I loved the man very much. But Matt and Tyler wrote me a letter, speaking of their appreciation and great respect for Wes Craven, and speaking of the fact that the very reason that they are directors today was because of these movies, and because of Wes, and that meant a great deal to me."
Probably most gratifying for fans is that Kevin Williamson, who wrote the original 1996 “Scream” movie and two of the sequels, is back as an executive producer on the new movie. And not just fans, but David Arquette.
"Knowing that Kevin Williamson was an executive producer on it set me at ease," said Arquette. "He really knows the tone. I mean, he set the whole world up!"
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The directors themselves sound like giddy fanboys while describing their first moments on the set.
"Showing up on set,” recalls Bettinelli-Olpin, “seeing Neve and David and Courteney for the first time, seeing Ghostface for the first time, it was surreal. It felt like we were having this weird, out-of-body fan experience, but we were also doing our adult job at the same time."
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The new movie has a new killer who puts on the Ghostface mask and begins targeting teenagers to resurrect secrets from Woodsboro's corpse-filled past.
One of the IRL scares of making the film involved ongoing COVID-19 concerns.
"The added pressure COVID on the filmmaking process,” explained Gillett, “which is already full of things you have to solve and surprises and ways that it can go wrong, was certainly weighing on us every day. I think we also ended up benefitting oddly from the circumstance of the pandemic. Everybody really came together. We couldn't have hoped for a better outcome in terms of just how everyone rallied around the project and really became a family with a really singular goal of making it across the finish line with this project."
The film’s shoot took place last fall in Wilmington, N.C. The three principal actors were joined by Marley Shelton, who played Deputy Judy Hicks in “Scream 4,” as well as franchise newcomers Kyle Gallner, Mason Gooding, Mikey Madison, Dylan Minnette, Jenna Ortega, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Sonia Ammar, Jack Quaid, and Melissa Barrera.
But don’t expect to get your “Scream” fix this Halloween month. The release date is set for January, 2022.
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