Will Scream 4 Ever Happen?

 

It was a cool fall night in 1995 when my uncle had decided to force the family to watch The Rock.  He took out the videocassette tape out of the red ‘new release rental’ box from Blockbuster, slammed it into the VCR and pushed play. Moments into the upcoming attractions, the crackling sound of Jiffy Pop would forebode my borderline obsession with a series of films that would later redefine and resurrect the horror genre—and that series would be the much beloved Scream Trilogy. 

Scream was definitely not my first foray into the horror genre, but it reminded me why I loved the genre so much and I instantly became fixated on everything Scream. Kevin Williamson’s name became as well known to me as the name ‘Hagaan Daz’ is to a single woman on Valentine’s Day. I had the first film videotaped from ‘Pay Per View’ which was the nineties equivalent to downloading movies. I also became immersed with each actor that I sought out all films from their filmographies, (from Skeet Ulrich’s Touch to Jamie Kennedy’s dreaded Sparkler) and even created a shrine in my room from the series. Yup, if I had a cell phone back then (because then it was still uncommon to see a tween with a cell) it would have had Red Right Hand as its ringtone. Looking back on it now, it’s a miracle that I ever got laid as a teenager.

My compulsion for the Wes Craven series also became responsible for my love for movie web sites as I was enduring dial up internet connections like a horny guy seeking out porn just to get the latest news, rumors, pictures, script pages and theories the net had to offer. 

Now in 2009, you would think the fan web sites would be booming with information from the long rumored Scream 4, but besides Kevin Williamson’s frustrated tweeting, The “Coquettes” cheerleading and reports on Neve Campbell’s utter disdain for the series, the only thing fans have been witness to are cheap fan made teasers and posters from Adobe PhotoShop. 

It has been nine years since viewers were disappointed with the unsatisfactory finale from Scream 3 and just like listening to an obese person preaching about getting into shape, we have learned to take any news with a grain of salt.  Even though I was the biggest fan of the trilogy, even I roll my eyes when having to hear about Neve “I love doing straight to DVD dance movies no one watches” Campbell’s flakiness about returning to reprise the role of Sidney Prescott and then running away from the project all together as if she were a commitment phobic man fleeing from a relationship. (Even though the films were her claim to fame in the first place.)

Scream 4 has become the Indiana Jones 4 of the horror genre and I fear if the fans wait as long as fan did for that film, we might be witness to Dewey Riley and Gale Weathers swinging on vines with the monkeys to escape from Mr. Ghostface while watching a dead Randy Meeks recite rules on how to survive a tired franchise from Gale’s iphone.

Now that I have to report the news on the web rather than just read it, I have to say I am growing quite tired of hearing about this project stuck in developmental hell. I would rather hear nothing at all then to have to report on some luke warm rumor. If the studio waits any longer, the remake will be out before a new installment. So please, speaking as a true aficionada of the series, no more talk about Scream 4 until I see the status change from ‘rumored’ to ‘pre-production’ on its IMDB page.

What do you guys’ think?