What’s your favorite scary movie?” When audiences were first subjected to that not-so-innocuous question in 1996, they were also given a refreshing and trendsetting take on a tired subgenre, and a kickstart for what had been, up until then, a dry decade for good terror.

Now, 15 years, three sequels and seven SAWs (what?!) removed from that bona fide contemporary horror classic, a whole generation of filmgoers could readily answer the inquiry with SCREAM itself, or at least cite it as the gateway drug (à la HALLOWEEN or FRIDAY THE 13TH for ’80s genre fanatics) that shaped both their love of the macabre and dry, postmodern sense of humor. On April 15, those audiences and many more will finally see the arrival of the long-awaited, oft-rumored fourth installment—a film that will take them back to Woodsboro and its roots, lovingly tackling the last decade’s cinema and pop culture the way only a SCREAM film, director Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson’s acerbic wit can.

SCREAM 4 sees series heroine Sidney Prescott (returning Neve Campbell) taking a trip home, where she reunites with the now-married Gale and Dewey (Courteney Cox and David Arquette, also back) and must contend with the latest incarnation of Ghostface. “The call came sometime over a year ago—October 2009, I believe,” Craven says of his own return to Woodsboro. “It came early, before Kevin really had a script, so then I think the first part of the script came around just before Christmas. By the time Bob [Weinstein] called me, everybody was pretty much on board. There were some calls to me from the cast asking if I was going to do it, and I said, ‘I’m certainly up to it if the script is good.’ Everybody pretty much had their deals in place by the time I came on board. I waited until I saw a good chunk of the screenplay, and I think everybody was glad that I came on.”

“They came to me, it must have been a year and a half ago or so, or maybe even more than that,” Campbell recalls. “It took me about seven months to make the decision to do the film. I was a little apprehensive and unsure whether it was something worth going back to. I didn’t know that audiences would want to revisit it, but when the rumors went out about the possibility of the film, it was amazing what happened on the Internet with all the buzz, and then all my friends said I had to do it [laughs]. Inevitably, what it came down to was Kevin Williamson approaching me with the idea and giving me his pitch, and I realized it was quite intelligent and could be a lot of fun to make.”

For the whole story, pick up FANGORIA #302, on sale this month. Go here for full issue details, and here to order the issue or subscribe to the magazine!

 

Fangoria - Terror Tidbits