25 years ago "scream", in the hands of Neve Campbell and Courteney Cox, reinvigorated horror with its self-conscious take on the genre that was increasingly formulaic and bloody.
This week, the latest installment of "scream", starring Campbell and Cox again, arrives in theaters with that same look, but now to show his vision of a genre that has taken another path.
"Thank goodness we’re working on a franchise, and in a universe where it’s okay for a movie to be very self-reflective."Production co-director Tyler Gillett told AFP.
Like the original 1996 film, the characters in the new "scream" they spend a good part of the plot discussing the horror classics, trying to guess which one of them will be the next to be killed.
They then realize that the target of the latest wave of attacks in their violent city, in California, is people linked to the original killers.
One of the characters explains the attraction that new audiences feel for "requirements", movies that relaunch franchises with a younger cast tied to the original leads.
Before the attentive gaze of his younger co-stars, actor David Arquette, also back for this production, warns: "There are certain rules to survive, believe me I know".
The film also visits settings that marked the franchise.
It begins with a scene that evokes the quick death of Drew Barrymore in the original, when he answers a call from the killer on the landline before the first credits of the film appear.
In the new opening scene, a Gen Z teenage girl is so indifferent to the ringing landline that she doesn’t answer.
"The contempt we have for landlines… for us it’s funny"said co-director Matt Bettinelli-Olpin.
"Being at the beginning of the movie, it already sets you up, it lets you know that we’re aware of this, the movie is aware of this, and we’re going to continue this together.".
"One of the things that ‘Scream’ does very well is that it never underestimates its audience.".
Who was?
Although the directors wanted to take the opportunity to produce a "Love Letter" to the late Wes Craven, who directed all four films in the franchise, Gillett said this installment could not be "just nostalgia".
Unlike the original, which emerged when slasher terror was losing strength -marked by the presence of a character who brutally murders young people-, the new "scream" It comes at a time when a new artistic terror is emerging, with a social conscience, from the hand of director Jordan Peele.
Characters in the film pompously discuss their appreciation for "artistic horror", mentioning movies like "The Babadook", "Hereditary", as well as "Flees!", from Peele.
"We are in a golden age. And we also hope that this movie will introduce people to those movies that they are not familiar with."Bettinelli-Olpin said.
"We are clearly playing and having fun with this idea of "art horror"Gillett added.
"Regardless of what you want to call it in order to feel good about watching a horror movie, for us it’s all about props. As long as people get excited about the stories, everything adds up for us".
One thing that hasn’t changed in the franchise "scream" it is the element of suspense, of identifying who is the murderer who hides behind the distinctive white mask that emulates a ghost.
To keep incognito, the filmmakers worked on the plot twists and on preventing the script from leaking.
At the audition, for example, the actors only had access to opening scenes of the film.
"Even when we had the cast, we gave them just the pages where their character went."said executive producer Chad Villella, who worked on the hit "bloody wedding", of 2019.
"They really embraced the suspense".
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