December 20th of this year will mark the 25th anniversary of Wes Craven’s Scream, so it’s a little fitting that the hybrid of sequel and reboot with exactly the same title is arriving just a few weeks later, looking to reinvigorate the brand with its fifth installment, first in more than a decade, and maiden voyage since Craven’s passing in 2015.
Scream went down in horror history as one of the genre’s most important titles of the modern era, reviving a stagnant form of filmmaking that had long since fallen victim to the slasher tropes, of which Craven had a huge hand in as creator of the Nightmare on Elm Street series. Taking everything he knew and turning it on its head, the filmmaker crafted a smart, scary, subversive and self-aware frightener that punctured the zeitgeist and became a cultural landmark, hauling in $176 million at the box office on a $15 million budget for good measure.
Surprisingly, the law of diminishing returns didn’t set in too badly during the second, third and fourth installments, with 2022’s Scream boasting a more than capable directing duo in Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, who’ve got previous experience reinventing tired archetypes thanks to their breakout feature Ready or Not.
A leaked pre-order listing currently has a 25th anniversary 4K Ultra HD release of Scream down for October 12th, which is admittedly a couple of months shy of the movie’s actual theatrical debut, but just in time for spooky season where folks are a lot more willing to shell out for scary content. There’s no word on special features quite yet, and it’s not been officially confirmed by rights holders Paramount, either, but it definitely makes sense from a commercial perspective.
