12. Scream
The meta-textual postmodern horror which expanded on ground covered by Wes Craven’s New Nightmare the previous year, Scream was the catalyst for a new avenue of self-aware scare flicks.
After the first two sequels arrived in the four years following, it took a decade-long break for Scream 4 to land to mixed reviews and critique. It brought in enough revenue for Harvey Weinstein though, as he stated that a Scream 5 could go ahead. Wes Craven is game, and last month on Twitter, David Arquette put forward that he’d love to work on another sequel.
Writer and creator Kevin Williamson was contractually obligated for Scream 4 and 5 with the option for a sixth. He had plotted out a storyline for the new trilogy but announced in February this year that if the series goes forward he will not be a part of it. As with Scream 3, the studio elbowed Williamson out mid-production and brought on rewriter Ehren Kruger to “punch up” the script. That’ll be that bridge burned, then.
With the fate of the fifth entry uncertain, MTV announced in June 2012 that they were developing a Scream TV series. Following in the steps of their success with the Teen Wolf TV adap, they’re hoping to expand the world of Ghostface into a weekly serial. Whether Craven or Williamson will be involved in this version is unknown but David Arquette tweeted that he would not take part.
Neve Campbell, when asked about the fate of Scream 5 told Collider in January 2013: “We’ll see. I’m not sure they’re going to make it, to be honest. If that were to come up again and they were to approach me, I’d have a chat with them about it.”
No details of a cast or release date have been announced for either project.
11. Nightbreed
Clive Barker’s subterranean otherworld opus, Cabal, which arrived on screens in 1990 as Nightbreed, was a box office flop. The story follows Boone, a mentally unstable man framed for a slew of murders committed by his psychiatrist, Decker. He seeks sanctuary in the underground world of monster-populated Midian.
Trouble emerged when Fox and Barker butted heads over the final cut running time: Barker’s submitted version ran to two-and-a-half-hours. Fox demanded an hour be cut. The heads at Morgan Creek didn’t even sit through the whole feature before engineering a misleading marketing campaign purporting Nightbreed to be a slasher. A bit like advertising Twilight as a kitchen sink drama.
Creek also refused to screen the film for critics, claiming people who watch horror don’t read reviews. When the film opened it bombed at the box office but still gathered a cult following.
Jump to 2012 and a film lecturer at the University of Derby in England (ahem, where this writer attended as a film student) assembled a new cut combining the lost footage from the 159-minute director’s cut (a VHS print was found on a shelf in Barker’s office) and the regular DVD version.
Re-integrating footage, stories and characters much loved by fans of the novel this new version has been dubbed Nightbreed: The Cabal Cut and is currently touring cinemas worldwide to raise funds for a full-blown Blu-Ray release.
Find a screening or request one near you at Occupy Midian.
Click below to continue reading…