When people started delving into the misguided realm of way-too-early ’90s nostalgia, a franchise the inevitably came — god knows why — was the monumentally overrated “Scream” series by Kevin Williamson, either because the post-Tarantino pop culture chattiness was still in vogue or the self-reflexive Kevin Smith winky-winky disease condition was still rampant, but whatever the reason, we found it hyper obnoxious (OK, admittedly, the original “Scream” was a nice blast of adrenaline to the horror genre, but the rest of the series is so piss-poor it almost invalidates the whole).
Surely not a popular opinion among the hooray for movies crowd, oh well. So now comes word that a new Kevin Williamson “reboot” ‘Scream’ trilogy is being planned via EW. Dear lord, why??? How do you “reboot” something that is less than 10 years old (“Scream 3” came out in 2000) or is it just the dreaded “reboot” tag being thrown around because using “Scream 4” as a title would further invalidate its relevance — studios hate using prequel numbers these days; “Terminator Salvation,” not “Terminator 4,” mind you. Always gotta make it appear fresh, even though it’s been in the freezer for years.
The answer for one is simple. When was the last time Williamson”s name was relevant and on your radar? Exactly. He’s done nothing significant enough to penetrate the zeitgeist (or even significant enough to realize he was still breathing) and he either is desperate to do so or those mansion mortgage payments are finally catching up with him.
OR, perhaps he wants to genuinely revisit that world and self-referential-milieu again, after all EW says Williamson does seem to want to tap Courtney Cox and David Arquette again — two made for each other nothing-actors who are probably perfect for what quickly became the sitcom horror tone of these goofy and annoying pictures never half as clever as they self-satisfyingly thought they were. Deals for the two actors have yet to be signed though, just fyi.
But good luck, that ship has sailed and if he’s going to excavate the time-and-place mien, it’s likely going to feel incredibly dated. Capturing lightning in a bottle twice is impossible. Just ask George Lucas, Indiana Jones, the Smashing Pumpkins, etc., (for just random examples that come to mind) but if you want to be the laughing stock of you field, by all means, let’s not stop you. Are studios really this desperate? According to the report, no studio is mentioned, but clearly someone would like to cash in on those old “Scream” dollars and milk whatever blood from a stone they can.