Scream Featurette Looks Back At The Legacy Of Director Wes Craven

Paramount Pictures has released a new featurette for their #12ScreamsForTheHolidays social campaign. Today's present is a video with the cast and crew paying tribute to the horror icon himself, Wes Craven. Craven, who passed away in 2015 (RIP, good sir), directed the first four films in the series. He was absolutely beloved, which the interviews in the featurette make very clear. Before you watch, here is the info on the new film:

Twenty-five years after a streak of brutal murders shocked the quiet town of Woodsboro, a new killer has donned the Ghostface mask and begins targeting a group of teenagers to resurrect secrets from the town's deadly past. Neve Campbell (Sidney Prescott), Courteney Cox (Gale Weathers) and David Arquette (Dewey Riley) return to their iconic roles in Scream alongside Melissa Barrera, Kyle Gallner, Mason Gooding, Mikey Madison, Dylan Minnette, Jenna Ortega, Jack Quaid, Marley Shelton, Jasmin Savoy Brown, and Sonia Ammar.

For the 25th anniversary of the first "Scream" film, the studio is using the hashtag #ForWes and the new film will be dedicated to Craven, as it should be. In the video, the cast speaks about him in glowing terms. Courtney Cox who is reprising the role of Gale Weathers says: 

"Wes Craven, you always think of him as the King of Horror. He is an incredible director, but he's also an incredible human ... I've done four ['Scream' movies] with Wes Craven. I was like, oh wow, what a perfect way to reinvent this movie." 

That's pretty glowing, and Cox wasn't the only one who was happy to return. David Arquette, who will reprise the role of Dewey Riley, said he might start crying talking about Craven, but was happy with the new take, saying, "When I got the script for the new 'Scream,' I was really impressed by Matt and Tyler and how much Wes had had an impression on them."

In fact, director Tyler Gillett says their Craven fandom is high. Director Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, meanwhile, says, "He made horror cool ... anything we got right in this movie is because of Wes Craven."

Neve Campbell, who will reprise the role of Sidney Prescott, had this to say about Craven: "He was like a father in a lot of ways, to all of us ... I had been apprehensive about doing another one without Wes, but Matt and Tyler really wanted to honor him, so it was fun to get into it again."

It's a really lovely tribute and definitely worth a watch. "Scream" will hit theaters on January 14, 2022.