By MICHAEL GINGOLD
News broke today about a trio of high-profile horror projects. (Well, we’re assuming that genre for one of them…)
It’s been a big news day for fright projects at Variety. After a few key players exited SCREAM 7 for various, much-talked-about reasons, Neve Campbell confirmed that she’ll be returning to the franchise for its next film. After she sat out SCREAM VI due to salary disputes, Campbell is back in the slasher saga. Variety reports on Campbell’s Instagram post today, in which she writes, “Sidney Prescott is coming back!!!!” Campbell posted on Instagram Tuesday. “It’s always been such a blast and an honor to get to play Sidney in the ‘Scream’ movies. My appreciation for these films and for what they have meant to me, has never waned. I’m very happy and proud to say I’ve been asked, in the most respectful way, to bring Sidney back to the screen and I couldn’t be more thrilled.”
The new film is a true reunion from the 1996 original SCREAM, as Kevin Williamson, who wrote that film as well as SCREAMs 2 and 4, is directing SCREAM 7 from a screenplay by Guy Busick, who co-scripted the fifth and sixth entries. “It’s been nearly 30 years since my very first script, ‘Scream,’ was directed by the legendary Wes Craven,” Williamson wrote on his own Instagram. “I never would have predicted what it would become. Or that I would be directing the seventh installment of the franchise. I am overcome with gratitude and excitement, and I can’t wait to take this journey with Neve and the entire ‘Scream’ family as we bring back Sidney Prescott in the next chapter of the ‘Scream’ franchise. Thank you to all the ‘Scream’ fans. You are the gift that keeps giving.”
Meanwhile, the inevitable has occurred: SALEM’S LOT, the new feature-film adaptation of Stephen King’s classic novel, has been confirmed as skipping theaters in favor of a streaming premiere on Max this year. Written and directed by Gary Dauberman, whose previous scripting credits include the IT and IT: CHAPTER TWO, shot his LOT for Warner Bros./New Line in fall 2021, and the movie was originally set to follow the IT duo as a September release the next year. Instead, COVID-related issues led it to be rescheduled for April 21, 2023, before it was replaced in that slot with EVIL DEAD RISE. It’s been in limbo since, with many speculating that it would be shunted off to streaming. But look at the bright side: SALEM’S LOT, which stars Lewis Pullman, Alfre Woodard, Makenzie Leigh, Bill Camp, Spencer Treat Clark, Pilou Asbæk and John Benjamin Hickey, could have suffered the fate of Warners’ BATGIRL and COYOTE VS. ACME and not been released at all.
A distributor that can be trusted to treat genre fare right is A24, which has announced the cast for EDDINGTON, the latest project from writer/director Ari Aster (HEREDITARY, MIDSOMMAR). So far, all that has been revealed about the plot is that it “follows a small-town New Mexico sheriff with higher aspirations,” but let’s just figure things will get scary. That ensemble is truly impressive: Joaquin Phoenix from Aster’s BEAU IS AFRAID, Emma Stone, who just won as Oscar for POOR THINGS, Austin Butler, who can currently be seen getting truly scary in DUNE: PART TWO, THE LAST OF US’ Pedro Pascal, Luke Grimes, Deirdre O’Connell, Micheal Ward and Clifton Collins Jr. Aster and Lars Kundsen are producing EDDINGTON, and the cinematographer is Darius Khondji (SE7EN, THE NINTH GATE, PANIC ROOM)—the latter a good indication that this one’s gonna get dark.
