‘Scream 4’ More New Footage!

It was fourteen years ago when Scream hit theaters and revamped the way Hollywood made horror movies.  For the highly anticipated fourth installment, director Wes Craven returns with the surviving stars of the first three films: Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, and David Arquette, due out April 2011. After the jump you’ll find footage from the upcoming movie, an interview with Neve Campbell and details about Craven’s new flick.

Along with original Scream-writer Kevin Williamson, a variety of new faces from the big screen and television fame are joining the mix, including Hayden Panettiere (Heroes), Emma Roberts (It‘s Kind of a Funny Story), Anna Paquin (True Blood), Kristen Bell (You Again), Rory Culkin (Signs), Marley Shelton (Grindhouse), Mary McDonnell (Battlestar Galactica), Adam Brody (Jennifer‘s Body), Anthony Anderson (Law & Order), Shenae Grimes (90210), Lucy Hale (Pretty Little Liars), Aimee Teegarden (Friday Night Lights), Brittany Robertson (Life Unexpected), Erik Knudsen (Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World), and Alison Brie (Community).

The film reveals that all these years later, Campbell’s Sidney Prescott is rumored to be a Woodsboro high school guidance counselor, and reclusive writer.  She has a semi-normal life again, until the famed Ghost Face killer returns and kills a local student.  Roberts plays Jill, Sidney’s cousin, and probably her only remaining family member still living.  Real-life husband and wife duo, Cox and Arquette, reprise their roles as Gale and Dewey, who are now married.  Gale has retired from the news anchor scene and is bored with her life and marriage to the lovable deputy.

While Roberts told MTV.com that she thinks this is “the best one” of the Scream franchise, Craven recently told Nightline that this film has the highest death rate compared to the previous movies.  HorrorYearbook.com concludes that this will lead to about 12 -13 deaths, or more, which would explain such a large cast of famous, young faces.

According to WorstPreviews.com, Matthew Lillard, who played Stu, one of the film’s original killers, was spotted on the Scream 4 set in Michigan back in August.  This sparked rumors of Stu’s return, even though he died from multiple stabbings and a television set falling onto his face during Scream’s climactic finale.  Craven claimed that Lillard’s on-set appearance was merely a friendly visit since he was in the area shooting at the same time.

The first three films grossed over $500 million worldwide and gave birth to a new era of horror films during the 1990s with I Know What You Did Last Summer, The Sixth Sense, and The Blair Witch Project.  Also, without Scream, the Scary Movie parodies would never have existed.  With the suspense of modern day Alfred Hitchcock, all the gore from classics like Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th, and the entertainingly quick-talking teen banter (much like what emerged on shows like Dawson’s Creek and Buffy, The Vampire Slayer), Scream 4 will certainly be a 21st century reinvention of the horror genre, picking up where thrillers like The Ring films and Saw franchise have left off.

Check out the footage below from Entertainment Tonight Canada for more scoop!