Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson’s groundbreaking slasher Scream series was always the most cerebral of the horror movies. The first Scream (1996) being a homage of the whole slasher genre, Scream 2 (1997) being a send off of horror sequels and the third and the least successful of the franchise, Scream 3 (2000), looked at the arc of trilogy conventions. 

Here we are in June 2009, nine years after the series ended, and over a decade since screenwriter Williamson wrote a single word for this universe (he didn’t write the third movie) and we know that Williamson has just completed a screenplay for a fourth movie. At the moment, we are left wondering just what theme he is going to pursue and we should remind ourselves that no-one had been banging down on his door to make this film. He obviously has an idea he wants to share here, he is the one who went to The Weinsteins and made a deal to resurrect this series long after it was buried, so he obviously has something he wants to say.

So naturally, with the modern state of horror, you immediately think “remakes” would be the theme as Williamson who hasn’t wrote a feature film script in four years has seen franchises he grew up loving (Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Friday the 13th and Prom Night) all remade recently, but then we have also heard previously that Williamson was thinking of a new trilogy, based once again on young adults with only cameo’s for the previous cast. 

Entertainment Weekly don’t really provide us with many answers in their write up today, reporting that David Arquette and his wife and on screen Scream lover Courtney Cox Arquette have been offered the chance to reprise their roles for the new movie. No deals have yet been signed and it’s unknown as to whether Neve Campbell is to be offered the same chance to return, or any of the other surviving (or dead) members of the previous films. 

Interestingly, EW use the word “reboot”. Now it could just be a slip of the tongue, and a reporter who doesn’t know any better or maybe they know something that we don’t. 

Which actually got me excited over an idea that I had for this series some time ago, and that’s not to remake Scream with the original cast and crew, though my idea would revolve around Neve Campebell, David Arquette, Courtney Cox Arquette, James Kennedy, Rose McGowan, Matthew Lillard, and Drew Barrymore all returning. 

If I mention, A Nightmare on Elm Street’s sixth sequel, Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994), you might get a sense of what I’m talking about.

That movie, the second best in the series (after the excellent original), doesn’t take place in the same continuity as the rest of the series as it’s set in the “real world” where Freddy Krueger is an iconic movie villain, as he was in the mid 90’s, and of course still is in today’s popular culture. So if you imagine that the previous movies had simply been just that, it enhanced the creepiness factor when original actress Heather Langenkamp was being stalked by Krueger. 

Why not try that with the Scream series?

It would keep up the series intent to be fresh and original but would also be a homage to Craven’s own past franchise, and I think it would make a gazillion dollars for the studio when they see the complete original cast from 1996 return. Of course it really would need the whole cast to return, and it simply wouldn’t work if it was just a few actors returning. They all need to come back. 

Why not have Neve Campbell playing Neve Campbell, Drew Barrymore playing Drew Barrymore in the new movie. Why not have them playing themselves, the movie stars they are?

Think about it. You could have a movie obsessed killer, someone who wants to remake something from his childhood,. I.E. remake Scream, the images that he saw in his head when he was younger. But he gets pissed that Craven and Williamson stopped making movies at the turn of century, you could even have Wes Craven involved in the movie as a character and the tantalising prospect of including Robert Englund as Robert Englund, which would just continue to add the meta-physicality of this movie. 

In Roger Ebert’s great review of Wes Craven’s New Nightmare, he mentions that the movie asks the question, “Don’t you people ever think about the effect your movies have on the people who watch them?”

That would be the theme I would tackle here. 

Imagine for a second if Scream 4 began with Drew Barrymore, at home with her boyfriend (if she is still dating Justin Long, this would work brilliantly, cast him too) and she gets a call late at night. The killer doing the same routine from Scream, “what’s your favourite scary movie”, etc. 

That would work for the audience on a larger level than simply a remake, especially if she doesn’t die in that opening because…

A) It would show this universe something different can happen, and their loyalty would be with the actress who played the character in the original, and not the original character, which in a weird kind of way makes absolute sense. 

B) It would be an interesting way to do a remake, as with the Star Trek series, this is almost like another reality. 

Plots, themes and everything would all be different. 

I’m not saying it’s the absolute best idea for a Scream 4, and personally I think Williamson would be wise to set the new movie based around a completely new cast and crew, however, I have a small spot for this idea. And Williamson is a very smart screenwriter, his script from the original movie was one of the best genre pieces I read in the 90’s and I would love to see how he would pull this off.

Thoughts?