Scream 4 more

It's the horror film of a generation that left fans screaming for gore. More than 15-years later, Ghostface is back. I’m off to the Scream 4 premiere tonight, in a Ghostface costume no less, so I thought what better time to revisit the Scream series and what the latest instalment has to offer.

"What's your favourite scary movie?'' It was a simple, throw away line that become one of horror cinema's most quotable. The slasher flick was considered all but dead in 1996 when horror legend Wes Craven (A Nightmare On Elm Street, The Hills Have Eyes) came out with Scream; a knife-sharp, self-aware horror filmed that toyed with the conventions of the genre. From a cocktail of horror and comedy to an unforgettable villain in the Ghostface killer, it became a box-office success and spawned two equally successfully sequels.

It seem inevitable then, that the remaining cast members - Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox and David Arquette - would reunite with Wes Craven for a walk down memory pain in Scream 4. Craven says he was aching to pick up the stories of Sidney, Gale and Dewey, as well as the actors who play them.

``It's a relaxed family feel,'' Craven says of working with his trio of actors.

``I think I know how to bring out the best in them and they know how to bring out the best in me, in a way.

``The characters are known and they're rich.''

For 39-year-old Arquette, coming back to the franchise that changed his life was a no brainer. ``You don't get this experience that often in this business,'' he says.

``It's something special. ``I was supposed to die in Scream but Wes said `Lets do a take where we roll Dewey out and he's still kind of alive.' ``And that changed the rest of my life.''

But Scream would be nothing without Dawson's Creek scribe Kevin Williamson's witty script, full of horror in-jokes and tongue-in-cheek banter. Without him, fans might never have been aware of the three golden rules to surviving a horror film, as laid out by Randy (Jamie Kennedy) in the original; don't have sex, only virgins can outsmart the killer in the end, no drinking or drugs because, like rule one, they're sins and never say ``I'll be right back.'' Because you won't be.

Williamson is back on number four, with a script that Craven says was enough to reignite the franchise.

``You have to come back with something worthy of coming back,'' he says.

``You're addressing a generation of young fans, but also the generation that has gone with you for three, as well as a decade worth of other films.

``You have to be as good as or better than all those films.''

Early hype surrounding Scream 4 has it shaping up that way, with a young bevy of actors added to invigorate the cast line-up. Along with Emma Robert's as Sidney's niece Jill, there's Hayden Panettierre, Rory Culkin, Nico Tortorella, Erik Knudsen, Marielle Jaffe and Adam Brody. That's not to mention the mysterious addition of well-known actresses Anna Paquin, Kristen Bell, Shenae Grimes, Aimee Teegarden and Lucy Hall as characters who seem to set to share the fate of Drew Barrymore's character in the original. Not since Norman Bates got knife-happy with Janet Leigh in Psycho has there been such an unexpected offing of an A-List cast member.

Scream 4 opens tomorrow.