Rumors have been circulating for months that a new Scream could be on the way, with Discussing Film now claiming that Ready or Not directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett will be helming the new entry into the franchise, with original writer Kevin Williamson serving as a producer. The production will reportedly be moving forward in May. The first four films in the series were directed by Wes Craven, though with his passing in 2015, it’s unclear if this new film will be a continuation of the Neve Campbell-starring series or if the upcoming film will be a reimagining of the source material.
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The filmmakers proved with last year’s Ready or Not that they have the skills to effectively blend humor with horror as effectively as Craven did with his films, but what comes as a surprise is that the filmmakers have previously expressed their interest in developing their own narratives.
“I’m not sure if we’ve given any thought specifically to existing franchises that do that, but I know that we like to surprise ourselves,” Gillett shared with ComicBook.com when asked about what horror franchise they would be interested in reviving. “I think a lot of what excites us and keeps us motivated creatively is when we feel like we are not only mentally part of telling a story that feels a little bit different, but that in the telling of it we’re going to get to have a different experience. We’re going to engage characters we haven’t really seen before, a dynamic that we haven’t really seen before.”
He added, “I think, speaking specifically to the lineage of all the work that we’ve made, I think the thing for us that we love the most is what allows us to do this crazy tonal dance and really pull the rug out from under the audience. Telling stories that essentially are about normal people, right? People that we recognize, people that we see ourselves in and then putting them in just totally bat-sh-t crazy situations or circumstances that they have to fight their way out of or fight their way through.”
When the original Scream debuted in 1996, part of what made it a success was that it took tropes of the slasher subgenre and used them to their advantage to circumvent expectations. In that regard, a new take on the premise would fall in line with their creative outlook.
“It feels like in the movies that exist in the franchises that we love also tend to do that,” the filmmaker pointed out. “They, instead of steering towards the superficial spectacle stuff, they actually look inward and they’re more about the characters and those emotional stories and I think that’s where we grow most of our ideas from. That’s how we like to start.”
Stay tuned for details on the Scream franchise.
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