New Scream Featurette Asks What Makes a Good Scary Movie

The long-awaited fifth Scream movie is finally hitting theaters next month, making it the first film of the franchise in over ten years. Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, and David Arquette are all returning to their iconic roles, and directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillett (Ready or Not) are taking over for the late, great Wes Craven. The film, which is simply titled Scream, got some great character posters this week, and that’s not all. A new featurette was released, which starts with Arquette asking the question “What makes a good horror movie?”

In the video, Arquette answers his own question with, “I think a really strong villain.” The featurette then includes much of the film’s cast talking about Ghostface. “Can’t wait for the new #ScreamMovie? Here’s a little treat for you fans. See the new movie in theatres January 14, 2022,” the official Instagram account for Scream captioned the video. You can check it out below:

In a recent interview with US Weekly, Kevin Williamson, executive producer on the new film and writer of the original, explained the choice to cut the “5” from the title. 

“Well, it was always Scream 5 because it’s the fifth one,” Williamson explained. “So I think we just threw that name out, but I don’t think they ever seriously were going to call it a Scream 5. I don’t think anybody wanted to see the number five after something. You’d have to ask them – Paramount or whoever, but I think taking the 5 off and calling it Scream [works] because it’s brand new. There’s the legacy cast, and how they infuse this new world and there’s this whole new generation and a new cast of characters that are extremely fun. I think it was a great cast. It’s an amazing group of kids and young talent and they’re very, very good. They pop off the screen, and now our Sidneys and our mature characters who enter into it, they’re the adults. It works really really well.”

In addition to the original three stars, Scream will see the return of Scream 4‘s Marley Shelton as Deputy Judy Hicks. Jack Quaid leads an extended roster of newcomers that will appear in the film alongside Melissa Barrera, Dylan Minnette, Jenna Ortega, Mason Gooding, Kyle Gallner, Jasmin Savoy Brown, and Mikey Madison.

The new Scream is set to hit theaters on January 14, 2022.